Scher v. United States (Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General)
| Tracking # |
14-OIG-241 |
| Submitted | Aug. 25, 2014 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Avinash Samarth
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
All training materials, presentations, memoranda, legal opinions, legal briefs, guidelines, and statements of policy that cite to the 1938 United States Supreme Court case, "Scher v. United States."
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
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,
Avinash Samarth
From: Bell, Criste (OIG)
Good Afternoon,
Please see the attached response from our FOIA Specialist regarding
your inquiry.
Thanks,
Criste Bell
Office of the General Counsel/OIG
Department of Justice
From: Howard, Jeanetta M. (OIG)
Hello:
Attached is the OIG's response to your FOIA request.
Thanks.
From: Bell, Criste (OIG)
Good Afternoon,
Please see the attached response from our FOIA Specialist regarding
your inquiry.
Thanks,
Criste Bell
Office of the General Counsel/OIG
Department of Justice
From: Avinash Samarth
Director
Office of Information Policy
United States Department of Justice
Suite 11050
1425 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT APPEAL, FOIA REQUEST 14-OIG-241
To the Director of the Office of Information Policy:
This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552 et seq., concerning the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General's ("DOJ OIG") response to FOIA request 14-OIG-241.
In the request, dated August 25, 2014, I sought:
"All training materials, presentations, memoranda, legal opinions, legal briefs, guidelines, and statements of policy that cite to the 1938 United States Supreme Court case, 'Scher v. United States.'"
The DOJ OIG responded by letter on September 30, 2014, stating that "no responsive documents were located in the OIG."
I write to appeal the adequacy of the search. There is significant reason to believe that the DOJ OIG is in possession of documents that cite to the 1938 United States Supreme Court case, Scher v. United States.
A prior FOIA production by the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), released to MuckRock in January 2014, described several techniques that the DEA uses to implement intelligence-community information into its investigations by shielding some of its initial sources for criminal investigations from judges and/or the public. January 2014 DEA FOIA Production at 158, https://muckrock.s3.amazonaws.com/foia_files/1-23-14_MR6434_RES_ID13-00541-F_1.pdf). One of those methods was described as relying upon Scher v. United States. Id. at 155. Another was "parallel construction." Id. at 157-58.
In August 2013, the White House acknowledged that the Justice Department was reviewing these techniques that the DEA uses to shield some of its initial sources for criminal investigations. Kevin Johnson, Justice Department Reviewing DEA's Shielding of Sources, USA TODAY (Aug. 5, 2013), available at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/05/justice-dea-special-operations-shield/2620439.
The DOJ OIG has acknowledged the same. On its website, the agency notes that it is "examining the DEA’s use of administrative subpoenas to obtain broad collections of data or information" in order to "review" the "the legal authority for the acquisition or use of these data collections; ... and the use of 'parallel construction' or other techniques to protect the confidentiality of these programs." Office of the Inspector Gen., U.S. Dep't of Justice, USDOJ/OIG | Ongoing Work: DEA (Nov. 2014), http://www.justice.gov/oig/ongoing/dea.htm.
In light of this evidence that the DOJ OIG is reviewing the DEA's use of these techniques, at least one of which seems based upon Scher v. United States, I ask that you direct the DOJ OIG to conduct its search for responsive records again, and specifically search in any filing locations that would be related to its ongoing or past investigations as described by its website and by the White House in August 2013.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Sincerely,
Avinash Samarth
MuckRock News
From: OIP-NoReply
From: OIP-NoReply
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