U.S. Safe Harbor negotiating team communications about NSA surveillance

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d280b0505b)
* Tracking Number: DOC-OS-2016-000504
* Requester Name: Eric Geller
* Date Submitted: 01/27/2016
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: Correspondence among members of the U.S. delegation negotiating the new Safe Harbor data-sharing deal that references Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Edward Snowden, or the National Security Agency's PRISM program. Date range: November 1, 2015, through the date of the search for records.

The FOIA request DOC-OS-2016-000504 has had its Tracking Number changed to DOC-ITA-2016-000504. This is normally due to the request being transferred to another agency (for example, EPA to Dept. of Commerce) or to a sub-agency to process it. Additional details for this request are as follows:
* Old Tracking Number: DOC-OS-2016-000504
* New Tracking Number: DOC-ITA-2016-000504
* Requester Name: Eric Geller
* Date Submitted: 01/27/2016
* Long Description: Correspondence among members of the U.S. delegation negotiating the new Safe Harbor data-sharing deal that references Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Edward Snowden, or the National Security Agency's PRISM program. Date range: November 1, 2015, through the date of the search for records.

Good afternoon Mr. Geller,

Sorry for my delay in responding to your e-mail. We are currently working on your request but I was wondering if you would be available sometime this afternoon to discuss where we stand in more detail. I do have a wealth of information to share with you and I believe you would be interested on how things are proceeding. I will be free this afternoon from 1:30 to 4:00 and from 4:45 to 6:00 p.m. ET. I will be checking my spam folder regularly today for your response or you may just call when it is convenient for you. If today does not work, maybe we can schedule a time for Monday or late Tuesday.

Regards,

Justin Guz

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Justin Guz
FOIA Officer
International Trade Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Room 40003
Washington, D.C. 20230
Phone: 202-482-7937
Fax: 202-482-1584
foia@trade.gov<mailto:foia@trade.gov>

Good morning Mr. Geller,

Noon would work well for me. Please give me a call at 202-482-7937.

Thank you,

Justin Guz

Good afternoon Eric,

I have spoken with my Privacy Shield team and they are well into the their search for responsive records. It was my hope that I would be sending you at least an installment by now but what has already be found still needs to be reviewed for disclosure. These subject matter experts that will conduct this review happen to be the same people that are negotiating the Privacy Shield for the USG and I have been informed that they are leaving for Brussels for another two week round. This will further delay me from releasing an installment.

Also, they have told me that the first step in the Member States' approving process has concluded and it may be of interest to you. The following link contains the Opinion from the Working Party regulators: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/article-29/documentation/opinion-recommendation/files/2016/wp238_en.pdf.

If you would like to discuss your request in more detail, I am willing to set-up a phone conversation with you. I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Justin Guz

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Justin Guz
FOIA Officer
International Trade Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce
HCHB, Room 40003
Phone: 202-482-7937
justin.guz@trade.gov<mailto:justin.guz@trade.gov>

Good afternoon,

The team is back in Brussel for further negations, I hope to have an installment from them when they get back from this latest round. Can you confirm that this is Eric?

Justin

Good afternoon Eric,

I just wanted to give you an update on your request. Since it has been so long and my channels have not been working, I am elevating the matter internally. It is my hope that I can get some documents if my supervisor or the Chief Financial Officer makes this a priority. As soon I as start receiving documents, I will be publishing them on FOIAonline.

Best Regards,

Justin

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Justin Guz
FOIA Officer
International Trade Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce
HCHB, Room 40003
Phone: 202-482-7937
justin.guz@trade.gov<mailto:justin.guz@trade.gov>

Good afternoon Eric,

Oddly enough, I just received an update from the Privacy Shield team this morning. It appears that searches have been or are nearing completion for ITA (I have finally received confirmation that Ted Dean has completed his search). The Office of General Counsel (OGC) as one person on the team and he indicated that he was "almost done" last week. I do not have a current status on the Acting Under Secretary of Economic Affairs, Justin Antonipillai, but I do know that OGC has elevated this matter. Once I start receiving documents, you will start to receive installments.

Also, ITA just added two more FOIA professions, Mark and Paris. Please carbon copy them on all future e-mails for a better response time from ITA.

Regards,

Justin

//
Justin Guz
FOIA Officer
International Trade Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Room 40003
Washington, D.C. 20230
Phone: 202-482-7937
Fax: 202-482-1584
foia@trade.gov<mailto:foia@trade.gov>

Hell Eric,

I have received all the documents from ITA and OGC. Most of the documents were shared by both parties and there are a lot of duplicates between the batches. We must do this in order to satisfy that a comprehensive search was conducted and that all possible responsive documents have been located by the Department. I am in the process of de-duplicating so that the subject matters experts may review. I will keep you updated as needed.

Justin

Good evening Mr. Geller:

I am a new contractor for ITA. ITA is currently addressing a voluminous number of FOIA requests in backlog status.

I am contacting you to ascertain your continued interest in the subject FOIA request. Please respond to confirm when you have a chance.

Many thanks,

I. Cristina Abello, Esq.
Contractor (Central Research, Inc.)
International Trade Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20230

My apologies; Justin Guz, the previous FOIA officer left in late January, and ITA has not been receiving the below messages from the past few months. Can you direct any further correspondence to foia@trade.gov<mailto:foia@trade.gov> or this email address? Thank you.

The FOIA request DOC-ITA-2016-000504 has had its Tracking Number changed to DOC-ITA-2016-000504. This is normally due to the request being transferred to another agency (for example, EPA to Dept. of Commerce) or to a sub-agency to process it. Additional details for this request are as follows:
* Old Tracking Number: DOC-ITA-2016-000504
* New Tracking Number: DOC-ITA-2016-000504
* Requester Name: Eric Geller
* Date Submitted: 07/05/2018
* Long Description: Correspondence among members of the U.S. delegation negotiating the new Safe Harbor data-sharing deal that references Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Edward Snowden, or the National Security Agency's PRISM program. Date range: November 1, 2015, through the date of the search for records.

Good Afternoon,

Please see the attached final response for the above referenced file. Thank you.

Bianca Kegler, Esq.
FOIA Analyst
U.S. Department of Commerce
International Trade Administration
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230

Your request for Fee Waiver for the FOIA request DOC-ITA-2016-000504 has been
fully granted.
Additional details for this request are as follows:

* Request Created on:
07/05/2018
* Request Description:
Correspondence among members of the U.S. delegation negotiating the new Safe Harbor data-sharing deal that references Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Edward Snowden, or the National Security Agency's PRISM program. Date range: November 1, 2015, through the date of the search for records.
* Fee Waiver Original Justification:
I request a fee waiver as a member of the news media. Selected examples of my work can be found here: http://muckrack.com/ericgeller/portfolio and my complete list of stories for my news organization can be found here: http://www.dailydot.com/authors/eric-geller/.
* Fee Waiver Disposition Reason:
N/A