Physical Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure

RE: 2015-NPFO-00124

Dear Mr. King:

This acknowledges receipt of your January 14, 2015, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for Any documents, correspondence, reports, and presentations containing data on physical security attacks against critical infrastructure from November 2008 to February 2014. Your request was received in this office on the same date.

You have requested a fee waiver. The DHS FOIA Regulations at 6 CFR § 5.11(k)(2), set forth six factors DHS is required to evaluate in determining whether the applicable legal standard for a fee waiver has been met: (1) Whether the subject of the requested records concerns ''the operations or activities of the government;'' (2) Whether the disclosure is ''likely to contribute'' to an understanding of government operations or activities; (3) Whether disclosure of the requested information will contribute to the understanding of the public at large, as opposed to the individual understanding of the requestor or a narrow segment of interested persons; (4) Whether the contribution to public understanding of government operations or activities will be ''significant;'' (5) Whether the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure; and (6) Whether the magnitude of any identified commercial interest to the requestor is sufficiently large in comparison with the public interest in disclosure, that disclosure is primarily in the commercial interest of the requestor.

Upon review of the subject matter of your request, and an evaluation of the six factors identified above, we have determined that we will conditionally grant your request for a fee waiver. The fee waiver determination will be based upon a sampling of the responsive documents received from the various DHS program offices as a result of the searches conducted in response to your FOIA request. We will, pursuant to DHS regulations applicable to other requestors, provide two hours of search time and process the first 100 pages at no charge to you. If upon review of these documents, if we determine that the disclosure of the information contained in those documents does not meet the factors permitting us to waive the fees then we will at that time either deny your request for a fee waiver entirely or allow for a percentage reduction in the amount of the fees corresponding to the amount of relevant material found that meets the factors allowing for a fee waiver. In either case, we will promptly notify you of our final decision regarding your request for a fee waiver and provide you with the responsive records as required by DHS regulations. In the event that your fee waiver is denied, and you determine that you still want the records we shall charge you 10-cents a page for duplication for records and the per quarter-hour rate of the searcher in accordance with the DHS Interim FOIA regulations as they apply to other requestors.

We have queried the Office of Infrastructure Protection for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. Please be assured that one of the processors in our office will respond to your request as expeditiously as possible. We appreciate your patience as we proceed with your request.

If you need to contact our office again about this matter, please refer to FOIA case number 2015-NPFO-00124. This office can be reached at 703-235-2211.

Sincerely,

Gayle Worthy
Deputy Chief, FOIA Operations
Fax: 703-235-2052

Warning: This communication, along with any attachments, is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information such as found under 49 CFR 1520 or the Privacy Act of 1974. It should not be communicated to any person, or agency, unless disclosure is in performance of official DHS duties and there exists a valid need to know. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you.

RE: 2015-NPFO-00124

Dear Mr. King:

After careful review of your FOIA request, we determined that we need clarification regarding the records which you are seeking. Please define "physical security attack". Records must be described in reasonably sufficient detail to enable government employees who are familiar with the subject area to locate records without placing an unreasonable burden upon the agency. For this reason, §5.3(b) of the DHS regulations, 6 C.F.R. Part 5, require that you describe the records you are seeking with as much information as possible to ensure that our search can locate them with a reasonable amount of effort. Whenever possible, a request should include specific information about each record sought, such as the date, title or name, author, recipients, and subject matter of the records, if known, or the DHS component or office you believe created and/or controls the record. The FOIA does not require an agency to create new records, answer questions posed by requesters, or attempt to interpret a request that does not identify specific records.

Please resubmit your request containing a reasonable description of the records you are seeking.

If you can reach this office at 703-235-2211.

Sincerely,

NPPD FOIA
Fax: 703-235-2052

Warning: This communication, along with any attachments, is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information such as found under 49 CFR 1520 or the Privacy Act of 1974. It should not be communicated to any person, or agency, unless disclosure is in performance of official DHS duties and there exists a valid need to know. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you.

Re: 2015-NPFO-00365 (FORMERLY 2015-NPFO-00124)

Dear Mr. King:

This acknowledges receipt of your January 14, 2015, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for Any documents, correspondence,
reports, and presentations containing data on physical security attacks against critical infrastructure from November 2008 to February 2014. This office acknowledged your request on January 28, 2015.

Re: 2015-NPFO-00365

Dear Mr. King:

This responds to your November 11, 2015, e-mail in which you requested an update as to the status of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Your request sought any documents, correspondence, reports, and presentations containing data on physical security attacks against critical infrastructure from November 2008 to February 2014.

By letter dated, September 10, 2015, we advised you that due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we would encounter some delay in processing your request. Requests are processed in chronological order based on the date we received a perfected request.

For your information, we have queried the appropriate component of DHS for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. We will process your request as expeditiously as possible. Upon completion of the processing, all documents that can be released will be made available to you at the earliest possible date. We sincerely apologize for the delay you are experiencing and appreciate your continued patience.

Sincerely,

NPPD FOIA OFFICE

Re: 2015-NPFO-00365

Dear Mr. King:

This responds to your February 12, 2016, e-mail in which you requested an update as to the status of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Your request sought any documents, correspondence, reports, and presentations containing data on physical security attacks against critical infrastructure from November 2008 to February 2014.

By letter dated, September 10, 2015, we advised you that due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we would encounter some delay in processing your request. Requests are processed in chronological order based on the date we received a perfected request.

For your information, we have queried the appropriate component of DHS for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. We will process your request as expeditiously as possible. Upon completion of the processing, all documents that can be released will be made available to you at the earliest possible date. We sincerely apologize for the delay you are experiencing and appreciate your continued patience.

Sincerely,

NPPD FOIA OFFICE

Warning: This communication, along with any attachments, is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information such as found under 49 CFR 1520 or the Privacy Act of 1974. It should not be communicated to any person, or agency, unless disclosure is in performance of official DHS duties and there exists a valid need to know. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you.

Re: 2015-NPFO-00365
Dear Mr. King:
This responds to your March 21, 2016, e-mail in which you requested an update as to the status of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Your request sought any documents, correspondence, reports, and presentations containing data on physical security attacks against critical infrastructure from November 2008 to February 2014.
By letter dated, September 10, 2015, we advised you that due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we would encounter some delay in processing your request. Requests are processed in chronological order based on the date we received a perfected request.
For your information, we have queried the appropriate component of DHS for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. We will process your request as expeditiously as possible. Upon completion of the processing, all documents that can be released will be made available to you at the earliest possible date. We sincerely apologize for the delay you are experiencing and appreciate your continued patience.
Sincerely,
NPPD FOIA OFFICE

Warning: This communication, along with any attachments, is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information such as found under 49 CFR 1520 or the Privacy Act of 1974. It should not be communicated to any person, or agency, unless disclosure is in performance of official DHS duties and there exists a valid need to know. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you.

Re: 2015-NPFO-00365

Dear Mr. King:

This responds to your April 28, 2016, e-mail in which you requested an update as to the status of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Your request sought any documents, correspondence, reports, and presentations containing data on physical security attacks against critical infrastructure from November 2008 to February 2014.

By letter dated, September 10, 2015, we advised you that due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we would encounter some delay in processing your request. Requests are processed in chronological order based on the date we received a perfected request.
For your information, we have queried the appropriate component of DHS for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. We will process your request as expeditiously as possible. Upon completion of the processing, all documents that can be released will be made available to you at the earliest possible date.

We sincerely apologize for the delay you are experiencing and appreciate your continued patience.

Sincerely,

NPPD FOIA OFFICE
Office: 703-235-2211
Fax: 703-235-2052

Warning: This communication, along with any attachments, is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information such as found under 49 CFR 1520 or the Privacy Act of 1974. It should not be communicated to any person, or agency, unless disclosure is in performance of official DHS duties and there exists a valid need to know. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you.

Re: 2015-NPFO-00365

Dear Mr. King:

This responds to your August 5, 2016, e-mail in which you requested an update as to the status of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Your request sought any documents, correspondence, reports, and presentations containing data on physical security attacks against critical infrastructure from November 2008 to February 2014.

By letter dated, September 10, 2015, we advised you that due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we would encounter some delay in processing your request. Requests are processed in chronological order based on the date we received a perfected request.
For your information, we have queried the appropriate component of DHS for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. We will process your request as expeditiously as possible. Upon completion of the processing, all documents that can be released will be made available to you at the earliest possible date.

We sincerely apologize for the delay you are experiencing and appreciate your continued patience.

Sincerely,

NPPD FOIA OFFICE
Office: 703-235-2211
Fax: 703-235-2052

Warning: This communication, along with any attachments, is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information such as found under 49 CFR 1520 or the Privacy Act of 1974. It should not be communicated to any person, or agency, unless disclosure is in performance of official DHS duties and there exists a valid need to know. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you.

Mr. King,

Please give me a call to discuss your above subject FOIA Request with NPPD.

Thank you,
Toni

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Freedom of Information Act Office (FOIA)
National Protection and Programs Directorate
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Office: (703) 235-2211