Untitled (U.S. Department of State)

**THIS EMAIL BOX IS NOT MONITORED, PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.** Mr.Bone: This email acknowledges receipt of your August 31, 2020, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. § 552) request received by the U.S. Department of State, Office ofInformation Programs and Services on September 18, 2020, regardingthe abduction of Arden Fuss. Unless you advise otherwise, we will treat as non-responsive any compilations of publicly available news reports and any publicly available documents not created by the U.S. government, such as mass-distribution emails from news media.  This Office assigned your request the subject reference number and placed it in the complex processing track where it will beprocessed as quickly as possible. See 22 CFR § 171.11(h). This Office willnot be able to respond within the 20 days provided by the statute due to“unusual circumstances.” See 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6)(B)(i)-(iii). In this instance,the unusual circumstances include the need to search for and collect requestedrecords from other Department offices or Foreign Service posts. If you have any questions regarding yourrequest , would like to narrow the scope or arrange analternative time frame to speed its processing, or would like an estimated dateof completion, please contact our FOIA Requester Service Center or our FOIAPublic Liaison by email at FOIAstatus@state.gov or telephone at202-261-8484. Additionally, youmay contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at theNational Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIAmediation services they offer. Thecontact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government InformationServices, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS,College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, email at ogis@nara.gov; telephone at202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769. **THIS EMAIL BOX IS NOT MONITORED, PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.**

Mr.Bone: I am from the Department of State/Bureau of Administration/Officeof Information Programs and Services (A/GIS/IPS). I am contacting you regarding your Freedom ofInformation Act (FOIA) request which we received on 31 August 2020 with thetracking number F-2020-08776. Our apologies forthe tardy reply It would be helpful if the scope ofthe request was narrowed form all recordspertaining to the abduction of the US minor Arden Fuss by his fugitive mother .Thus far, we have located over 100,000 possibly responsive records and will exceedwell over two hours of search time. As it stands, it may take some time toreview them.  We doubt that would serve your purpose.  Therefore, themore specific the request, the fewer records that must be reviewed and thesooner and more accurately we can respond to you. Please be awarethat each record must be reviewed and cleared by more than one American staffmember with Top Secret Clearance.  If a record is from another U.S.Government agency or mentions another agency, that agency must go through thesame process. Reformulating youroriginal request toward narrowing its scope and providing an specific date ormonth would help us fulfill your request thoroughly and expeditiously.  Ifyou’d like, we can make an appointment to speak on the phone about yourrequest. We can use e-mail to arrange a time to speak during business hours. Thank you, Avonne Stewart

The request has been rejected, with the agency stating that the information or document(s) requested are exempt from disclosure.