Proposed records schedules (ICE)

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All proposed records schedules (SF-115) submitted to NARA by your agency within the last five years.

Regarding my fee status, I am affiliated with an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, and this request is made for a scholarly purpose and not for commercial use. Specifically, I am a tenure-track Associate Law Library Professor at the City University of New York School of Law and I am requesting these records a part of ongoing research related to the Federal Records Act and other federal records laws, including specifically issues concerning agency records control schedules. See generally Douglas Cox, Burn After Viewing: The CIA’s Destruction of the Abu Zubaydah Tapes & The Law of Federal Records, 5 J. Nat’l Sec. L. & Pol’y 131 (2011) (discussing federal records laws and agency records control schedules obtained via FOIA); see also Douglas Cox, The Lost Archives of Noriega: The Law of Armed Conflict & The Fate of Panamanian Human Rights Documents in U.S. Custody, 32 B.U. Int’l L.J. 55, 70, 79-82 (2014) (discussing federal records laws and agency records control schedules); Douglas Cox, In the Trenches: Archival Ethics, Law & The Case of the Destroyed CIA Tapes, 22 J. Info. Ethics, Fall 2013, at 90-101, 95-98 (discussing federal records laws and agency records control schedules); Douglas Cox, National Archives and International Conflicts, 74 Am. Archivist 451, 465-66 (2011) (discussing records control schedules of multiple federal agencies).

I request that electronic records be sent to me, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Because I am an educational fee requester, I do not expect that you will assess any search or review fees. Because I have requested electronic records, I do not expect that you will assess any duplication fees. For that reason, it is not necessary for me to formally request a public interest fee waiver. I do wish to state for the record, though, my unwillingness to pay any fees for this request.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Douglas Cox

I do not understand this letter. It appears to have been written in response to another request. The only part of the letter that applies to my request is the first paragraph. It then goes on to refer to "TRAC" ("As it relates to your fee waiver request, I have reviewed your letter thoroughly and have determined that you have not presented a convincing argument that TRAC is entitled to a blanket waiver of fees.") and refers to "your March 31, 2014 letter" even though my request was submitted on May 26.

Please review this letter and reissue one that addresses the arguments in my May 26, 2014, request. I am confident that should you review my request closely, you will find that I am not a commercial requester, especially in light of the fact that I am a tenure-track professor who cited to no less than four scholarly articles I have written about the types of records at issue in this request. A classification as a commercial requester could not be less accurate of my circumstances.

Regards,

Doug Cox

Re: 2014FOIA18381

I appeal my classification as a commercial requester. My initial letter clearly demonstrated that I should be classified as a representative of an educational institution. I am a tenure-track professor performing research at the CUNY School of Law, and I provided four examples of scholarly works conducted by me on behalf of my educational institution.

Furthermore, since I requested that all records be released in electronic form, there should be no duplication fees. Between the free search time to which my academic fee status entitles me and my request for electronic records, you should not be assessing any fees to this request.

Doug Cox

Re: Appeal OPLA14-1317, Req. 2014FOIA18381

Please provide me with an update regarding this appeal. I did not submit the information you requested on 10/6/14 because I have already provided the agency with all the information it needs to categorize me as a representative of an educational institution. I am still waiting on your appellate determination.

Doug Cox