USUHS Tropical Medicine Training Materials Referencing Mefloquine

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Copies of all training materials, to include slides and handouts, produced for any iteration of the U.S. Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course and the Training Program in Tropical Medicine and Traveler’s Health (MTM&H) course, offered by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics from July 2012 to the effective date of processing of this request, that reference the antimalarial drug mefloquine.

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,

Remington Nevin

OSD/Joint Staff Freedom of Information Office
ATTN: Appeals Office
1155 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-1155

Re: Freedom of Information Act Appeal, Case #14-F-1492

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby appeal the denial of my fee waiver request as described in your letter of September 24, 2014 on the basis that it can be demonstrated that disclosure of the requested information would substantially benefit the public interest, and additionally on the basis that your agency has failed to meet the statutory time limits in responding to this request absent plausible unusual or exceptional circumstances.

As described in the original FOIA request, the requested information consists of “[c]opies of all training materials, to include slides and handouts, produced for any iteration of the U.S. Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course and the Training Program in Tropical Medicine and Traveler’s Health (MTM&H) course, offered by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics from July 2012 to the effective date of processing of this request, that reference the antimalarial drug mefloquine”. In substantiation of the claim that release of the requested information would benefit the public interest, it can be demonstrated that: 1. The requestor has utilized similar information to inform both Senate testimony and invited commentary to the Food and Drug Administration on the use of mefloquine within the Department of Defense, and 2. These efforts have led to widespread media attention focusing attention on patterns of widespread misprescribing of mefloquine within the Department of Defense, and the associated health risks of such misprescribing (see, e.g. popular media stories at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/elite-army-units-to-stop-taking-anti-malarial-drug/ and http://www.cbsnews.com/news/some-us-troops-haunted-by-anti-malaria-drugs-side-effects/ where the requestor is directly quoted).

These facts reasonably substantiate that release of the requested information to the requestor would constitute an act “significantly contributing to the public’s increased understanding of the operations and activities of government”.

In accordance with 5 USC § 552 (a)(4)(A)(ii)(II), fees or FOIA requests “shall be limited to reasonable standard charges for document duplication when records are not sought for commercial use and the request is made by an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, whose purpose is scholarly or scientific research; or a representative of the news media. As such, should your agency deny my fee waiver request, this requestor would nonetheless be entitled to a waiver of any search fees, and the costs of your agency’s compliance with my request must be limited to the actual costs of duplication provided that your agency meets all the statutory time requirements in its response. However, as you are unable to meet the statutory time requirement, the provisions of
section 6 of the OPEN Government Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110-175, 121 Stat. 2524, apply, including the provision that "[a]n agency shall not assess search fees (or in the case of a requester described under clause (ii)(II) [of 5 USC § 552 (a)(4)(A) as described above], duplication fees) . . . if the agency fails to comply with any time limit… if no unusual or exceptional circumstances… apply to the processing of the request."

Although your agency has claimed the existence of 3 “unusual circumstances” justifying the extraordinary delay in responding to this request, 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B) permits your agency only an additional 10 days to respond to my request even in the presence of such “unusual circumstances”. Additionally, on the basis of the information requested, it is questionable whether each of the 3 claimed “unusual circumstances” identified by your office may reasonably apply to this particular request.

You note one “unusual circumstance” is the “potential volume of records responsive to your request. This request asks only for “[c]opies of all training materials, to include slides and handouts, produced for any iteration of the U.S. Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course and the Training Program in Tropical Medicine and Traveler’s Health (MTM&H) course, offered by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics from July 2012 to the effective date of processing of this request, that reference the antimalarial drug mefloquine”. Although the MTM&H course is described online (see e.g. http://www.usuhs.mil/pmb/pdf/ASTMHCourseBrochure-2015.pdf) as consisting of “more than 300 contact hours”, and therefore at first examination might be considered a “large potential volume of records”, these contact hours are divided into a number of sub-courses, not all of which would be reasonably expected to yield responsive documents. As described online in a detailed FAQ (see e.g. http://www.usuhs.mil/pmb/documents/FAQ-StudentInfo2014-2015.docx ), those few sub-courses which might be expected to yield responsive records include “PMO 569 Malaria Epidemiology and Control”, “PMO 990 Travel Medicine”, “PMO 614 Tropical Medicine Rounds”, “PMO 661 Tropical Public Health Seminar”, and “PMO 613 Public Health Issues of Disasters”. In this regard, please consider this appeal as clarification to interpret the original FOIA request as limiting the “potential volume of records responsive” to this request to a standard keyword or text search on the words “mefloquine” and “Lariam” in any electronic training files from any iteration of the above-referenced sub-courses offered during the period requested. In the interests of brevity, please also consider this appeal as clarification to forgo any additional searching for responsive records in what was referred to in the original FOIA request as the “U.S. Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course”.

You also note another “unusual circumstance” is the “need to search for and collect records from a facility geographically separated from this Office”. As this FOIA request asks only for copies of documents which are already distributed to enrolled students (see e.g. http://www.usuhs.mil/pmb/pdf/ASTMHCourseBrochure-2015.pdf), it is not plausible that these documents 1: would not already be organized and immediately accessible to a search of existing documents maintained by staff at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, and 2: would not readily producible within the statutory period through such a simple search. The mere geographic separation of your office from the physical campus of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, absent a geographically co-located FOIA office at this facility to respond to this request, is not sufficient to plausibly justify this as an “unusual circumstance”, particularly given the clarification to limit this request to a search of electronic training files.

You also note a final “unusual circumstance” is the need “for consultation with one or more other agencies or DoD components having a substantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of the records”. As this FOIA request asks only for copies of educational materials which have already been made freely available to students, including civilians lacking federal sponsorship, it is likely that the requested records have already been determined appropriate for unlimited release, and it is not plausible that 1: “further consultation with one or more agencies or DoD components” would be necessary to adjudicate this request, nor 2: that these agencies or components would have a “substantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of the records”.

In conclusion, given that my request constitutes a request likely to “significantly [contribute] to the public’s increased understanding of the operations and activities of government”, and given that your office has failed to meet the statutory requirements of 5 U.S.C. § 552 in responding to my request in a timely manner, and absent plausible “unusual circumstances” to excuse this delay, I respectfully appeal the denial of my fee waiver request and ask that your office expeditiously respond to my original request and provide me the requested documents at no charge, as required by law.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

Remington Nevin

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on my Freedom of Information request, which you have assigned reference number #14-F-1492, and which I originally submitted on September 18, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 18, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #14-F-1492.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on my Freedom of Information request, originally submitted on Sept. 18, 2014, for "Copies of all training materials, to include slides and handouts, produced for any iteration of the U.S. Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course and the Training Program in Tropical Medicine and Traveler’s Health (MTM&H) course, offered by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics from July 2012 to the effective date of processing of this request, that reference the antimalarial drug mefloquine".

You had assigned my request reference number #14-F-1492.

Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Dr. Remington Nevin

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 18, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #14-F-1274.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 18, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #14-F-1274.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 18, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #14-F-1274.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on my Freedom of Information request, originally submitted on Sept. 18, 2014, for "Copies of all training materials, to include slides and handouts, produced for any iteration of the U.S. Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course and the Training Program in Tropical Medicine and Traveler’s Health (MTM&H) course, offered by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics from July 2012 to the effective date of processing of this request, that reference the antimalarial drug mefloquine".

You had assigned my request reference number #14-F-1492.

Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Dr. Remington Nevin

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on my Freedom of Information request, originally submitted on Sept. 18, 2014, for "Copies of all training materials, to include slides and handouts, produced for any iteration of the U.S. Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course and the Training Program in Tropical Medicine and Traveler’s Health (MTM&H) course, offered by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics from July 2012 to the effective date of processing of this request, that reference the antimalarial drug mefloquine".

You had assigned my request reference number #14-F-1492.

Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Dr. Remington Nevin

Dear DoD FOIA Office,

Thank you very much for sending me documents responsive to request #14-F-1492. I consider this request closed and appreciate the effort.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin