Responses to Congressional Committees (Department of Defense, Office of the Secretary of Defense)

Dear Mr. Morisly,

Your request below is assigned case 13-F-0783. The attached email dated May 8, 2013 addressed your request, which was closed May 20, due to a lack of response. If you provide specific committee chairmen, I will amend your request.

In addition, your similar request regarding DARPA has also been attached. We need the same information. It will be closed June 10, 2013, but again, if you provide names, it can be amended.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Dear Mr. Morisy,

The Congressional correspondence logs for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) are posted on our website and currently cover January 2007 - March 2011. Please take a look at that information and submit a new FOIA request for specific correspondence document(s) of interest by citing the OSD control number and subject. The link to our reading room is provided below.

http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/administration_and_Management/congressional/

Currently there are other FOIA requests for logs covering the timeframe after March 2011. The logs once reviewed and approved for release will be posted in our reading room. We hope to have these logs posted before the end of the year. You may access and submit a separate FOIA request for the documents of interest in that timeframe.

Because of the many frequent requests for Congressional correspondence logs, we have been proactive in placing the logs on our Reading Room to provide a more timely response. A significant amount of time can be saved by eliminating the search and review of documents that are of no interest, and process the specific documents of most interest to you.

Dear Mr. Morisy,

After discussion, your request has been amended and currently in the search process. Because of the amount of names you provided, the search process will be longer than our average search, which could be very costly because your request has been placed in the "other" category.

Our suggestion, as stated before, you may find it more helpful if you to conduct your own search on the Congressional correspondence logs located in our reading room. Currently the logs cover January 2007 - March 2011. By conducting your own search, you may submit a new FOIA request for the specific correspondence document(s) of interest by citing the OSD control number and subject. The link to our reading room is provided below:

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/foiaLibrary.html

The purpose of this suggestion is that a significant amount of time and cost can be saved by eliminating the search and review of documents that are of no interest, and process the specific documents of most interest to you. Please note that your request has been amended, so this is only a suggestion.

With regard to your request for a waiver of any applicable fees, a fee waiver is appropriate when “disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(iii) In making a determination, six factors are considered as to whether your request satisfies this statutory standard: (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 general public; (4) whether the disclosure is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities; (5) whether the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure; and, (6) whether any such commercial interest outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

While the requested information does concern the operations and activities of the government and does not appear to be intended for a commercial interest, it is not clear how the responsive documents - should they exist - would significantly contribute to the public understanding of the operations and activities of the government. After carefully reviewing your request I am denying your fee waiver request because the information stated does not support how the documents will significantly contribute to the public’s increased understanding of the operations and activities of government. Please be aware that we reserve the right to grant a fee waiver should a search find documents that meet the criterion of a public interest fee waiver as described in the previous paragraph.

If you are not satisfied with this action, you may appeal to the appellate authority, the Director of Administration and Management, Office of the Secretary of Defense, by writing directly to the Defense Freedom of Information Policy Office, Attn: Mr. James Hogan, 1155 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20301-1155. Your appeal should be postmarked within 60 calendar days of the date of this letter, should cite to case number 13-F-083, and should be clearly marked "Freedom of Information Act Appeal."

Dear Mr. Morisy,

After discussion, your request has been amended and currently in the search process. Because of the amount of names you provided, the search process will be longer than our average search, which could be very costly because your request has been placed in the "other" category.

Our suggestion, as stated before, you may find it more helpful if you to conduct your own search on the Congressional correspondence logs located in our reading room. Currently the logs cover January 2007 - March 2011. By conducting your own search, you may submit a new FOIA request for the specific correspondence document(s) of interest by citing the OSD control number and subject. The link to our reading room is provided below:

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/foiaLibrary.html

The purpose of this suggestion is that a significant amount of time and cost can be saved by eliminating the search and review of documents that are of no interest, and process the specific documents of most interest to you. Please note that your request has been amended, so this is only a suggestion.

With regard to your request for a waiver of any applicable fees, a fee waiver is appropriate when “disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(iii) In making a determination, six factors are considered as to whether your request satisfies this statutory standard: (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 general public; (4) whether the disclosure is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities; (5) whether the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure; and, (6) whether any such commercial interest outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

While the requested information does concern the operations and activities of the government and does not appear to be intended for a commercial interest, it is not clear how the responsive documents - should they exist - would significantly contribute to the public understanding of the operations and activities of the government. After carefully reviewing your request I am denying your fee waiver request because the information stated does not support how the documents will significantly contribute to the public’s increased understanding of the operations and activities of government. Please be aware that we reserve the right to grant a fee waiver should a search find documents that meet the criterion of a public interest fee waiver as described in the previous paragraph.

If you are not satisfied with this action, you may appeal to the appellate authority, the Director of Administration and Management, Office of the Secretary of Defense, by writing directly to the Defense Freedom of Information Policy Office, Attn: Mr. James Hogan, 1155 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20301-1155. Your appeal should be postmarked within 60 calendar days of the date of this letter, should cite to case number 13-F-083, and should be clearly marked "Freedom of Information Act Appeal."

Dear Mr. Morisy,

Because we did not hear from you since our last email to you, we went forward with search for records. This search produced over 1,600 documents. Many of the documents are nonresponsive and further search to find responsive documents is estimated at 24 hours. Because your fee category is "Other", you were not charged for the first two hours of search. At FOIA fees of $44 per hour, we estimate that the cost to finish this project may approximate $1,056.00. Therefore, before we proceed with further search, we need your willingness to pay the estimated cost. If we do not hear from you by November 26, 2013, we will assume you are no longer interested and your request will be administratively closed.

Respectfully,

Curtis Gibbens
OSD/JS FOIA Office
571-372-0412