TEDAC: Analysis of Iraq IED, January 17, 2004

Dear FOIA Officer:

1. This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552, submitted to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") of the United States Department of Justice ("DoJ").

2. I hereby request agency records from the FBI's Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center ("TEDAC"), Huntsville, Alabama, related to the Improvised Explosive Device ("IED") attack on January 17, 2004, near Taji, Iraq, that killed United States Army Sergeant ("SGT") Edmond L. Randle, Jr.; Specialist (“SPC”) Larry E. Polley, Jr.; and Private First Class (“PFC”) Cody J. Orr, while on patrol during Operation Iraqi Freedom ("OIF") in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility ("AOR"). The IED attack occurred at Military Grid Reference System (“MGRS”) 38SMC264101.

2.1. SGT Randle was assigned to Battery B, 1st Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery, Fort Hood, Texas;
2.2. SPC Polley and PFC Orr were assigned to Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas;
2.3. The IED was a command detonated explosive device; and,
2.4. The Combined Information Data Network Exchange–Iraq ("CIDNE–I") database report key associated with the IED attack data is CDBD2ED8-40A6-4830-AD84-5083FEA3E5D6.

3. The following constraints limit this FOIA request:

3.1. Only specific agency documents related to this IED attack are requested, including:

3.1.1. TEDAC IED analysis report(s);
3.1.2. CIDNE–I Significant Activity ("SIGACT") report(s);
3.1.3. CIDNE–I Improvised Explosive Device ("IED") report(s);
3.1.4. Composite Timeline report(s);
3.1.5. Explosive Ordinance Disposal ("EOD")/Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell ("CEXC") storyboard report(s);
3.1.6. Serious Incident Report(s) ("SIR");
3.1.7. IED Post Patrol Debrief (“64–Liner”) report(s); and,
3.1.8. 10-Line UXO/IED SPOT Report.

3.2. Excluding any documents containing the agency’s deliberative material or recommendations;
3.3. Excluding any documents classified Top Secret (“TS”), Sensitive Compartmented Information (“SCI”), and/or Special Access Program (“SAP”); however,
3.4. Including all of the agency’s responsive documents that are classified below the TS, SCI and/or SAP levels; for example, any documents marked Unclassified (“U”), Sensitive But Unclassified (“SBU”), For Official Use Only (“FOUO”), Confidential (“C”), Law Enforcement Sensitive (“LES”), and/or Secret (“S”).

4. Although FOIA has always presumed that government records are open to public inspection, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, Pub. L. 114-185, prohibits agencies from withholding records unless (1) “disclosure is prohibited by law” or (2) “the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by” one of FOIA’s exemptions. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(8)(A). Thus, in addition to FOIA favoring disclosure and requiring its exemptions to be narrowly construed, Section 552(a)(8)(A) prohibits agencies from using their discretion to broadly withhold records merely because they believe an exemption could technically apply.

5. In order to expedite the FBI’s release of the requested TEDAC documents, please disclose them on an interim, rolling basis as they become available; for example, without waiting for all of the agency’s relevant systems of record to be searched, or all of its relevant records to be processed. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

6. If the FBI’s processing costs for this request exceed $350.00, please notify me in advance so that I might consider paying any additional fees for a complete and accurate set of responsive documents. The requested documents will be made available to the general public and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

7. 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,

David Scantling