July 2, 2010 • 5:57 am 0
You may recall that this blog was started under a personal challenge to send 30 Freedom of Information Act requests in the month of June to 30 separate government agencies. And on June 30, FOIA Geek completed its challenge! Now to look forward to the records…. There are also a lot of summaries to be written, with all of those requests too. So stay tuned!
Below, a picture of all the mail receipts used in the effort, and a new log is coming soon.
Filed under: Transparency, FOIA, FOIAGeek.com
July 2, 2010 • 5:29 am 0
Readers will recall that this site used the US government’s Federal Procurement Data System to help write the first Freedom of Information Act request featured here. Well, today we’re going to show how to use another government database to write records requests.
Background
Since at least 2005, the Customs and Border Protection agency (better known as the Border Patrol) has been using Predator aircraft drones, presumably for surveillance and intelligence functions along the country’s borders.
Under the Obama administration, the agency’s financial resources have only surged, and the Border Patrol is now buying new equipment–including another Predator drone–to bulk up a law enforcement presence along the US-Mexico border specifically.
In fact, in his immigration speech yesterday in Washington D.C., President Obama stated that right now, there are “more boots on the ground” on the US-Mex. border than there have ever been in history.
Why I Did It
Not only is the Border Patrol notoriously known for having significant problems with corruption, it is also a reckless agency. On June 7, an agent shot and killed 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez, a Mexican boy who was on the Mexican side of the El Paso-Juarez line when he was shot. The incident jarred human rights groups and international community. Mexico politicos also condemned the action. Initially, Border Patrol officials tried to save face, and accused the boy of throwing rocks at officers before the agent used his weapon. But a cellphone video of the incident later showed that information to be dubious at best. Sensing that their version of events was waffling, government officials then whispered rumors to the media that Adrian Hernandez was a “human trafficker,” another claim that has yet to be proven.
Only two weeks before the shooting, Border Patrol agents were also be accused of fatally beating undocumented immigrant Anastacio Hernández Rojas in California on May 26. He was reportedly left brain dead after agents used stun guns on him. The agency claims Hernández Rojas became “combative” before force was used, but his death has been ruled a homicide by the San Diego County medical examiner’s office and an investigation is ongoing.
But even without these disturbing instances, there is no denying that the US-Mex. border is becoming increasingly militarized, and I mean that quite literally. The White House recently requested more than 1,000 National Guards troops to be deployed there, and now the Border Patrol is buying more Predator drones–planes which are more commonly used by the armed forces and Central Intelligence Agency to support military operations in the Middle East.
I will no doubt be following up with the deadly incidents mentioned above, once the investigations into the deaths are complete. But for now, I think this contract I’m requesting might hold some useful tidbits specifying the Border Patrol’s drone operations along the border.
How I Did It
So how did I find out the Border Patrol was buying another Predator drone (better known as the MQ-9 Reaper)?
It was all thanks to the Federal Business Opportunities Web site, a federal procurement database system which includes contract solicitations and awards for a number government agencies in need of services and materials.
The best part about the database is that it’s easy to use. In this instance, I simply put in “Customs and Border Protection” in the agency search field, like so:
Then I went through the search results to find a contract award for the Predator, issued on June 3 (click on image to make it larger):
Once I found what I wanted, I clicked on the link and got more information about the contract:
The Final Product
Using the “Writing the First FOIA Request” feature on this site, here’s what I came up with:
Dear FOIA Officer:
Pursuant to the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, I request access to and copies of any and all documents and records pertaining to a UAS Predator B Aircraft contract, awarded to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and posted on June 3, 2010. The solicitation number is UAS20052095, and the contract award number is _HSBP1010C00026 for a $13,684,992 amount. I am requesting the contract, along with any records or communications relating to said contract in any way.
I agree to pay reasonable duplication fees for the processing of this request in an amount not to exceed $50. However, please notify me prior to your incurring any expenses in excess of that amount.
As a representative of the news media I am only required to pay for the direct cost of duplication after the first 100 pages. Through this request, I am gathering information on government operations in the United States, and that is of current interest to the public because said operations affect the safety of our communities. This information is being sought for dissemination to the general public. I’m currently a freelance journalist. I’ve written for a number of publications, including the Columbia Journalism Review, AFN Tokyo, The American Independent News Network, Huffington Post, and Viva Colorado.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material. I, of course, reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to deny a waiver of fees.
As I am making this request as a journalist and this information is of timely value, I would appreciate your communicating with me if you have questions regarding this request.
I look forward to your reply within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Thank you for your assistance.
A PDF to this FOIA can be found here.
Filed under: Transparency, Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, Federal Business Opportunities, Federal Procurement Data System, FOIA, MQ-9 Reaper, open government, Predator B
June 25, 2010 • 1:52 pm 0
Using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain FOIA logs and records requests submitted by others
Allow me to introduce you to what I like to call the meta-FOIA, a records request to a government agency which focuses on obtaining information about other records requests that were sent to the agency. Basically you use a FOIA to get information about other FOIAs.
Often times meta-FOIAs can provide you with wonderful ideas for your own records requests, along with valuable documents.
Background
Some agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), keep what are called “FOIA logs” online. A FOIA log is simply a log of all records requests received by an agency. They usually include FOIA case numbers, the name of the entity requesting the records, what is being requested, and the status of the request.
Here is an example (click to enlarge):
Other agencies—most notably the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which has a reputation for balking at records requests—do not keep FOIA logs online. In fact, the DEA doesn’t even have any records in its “Electronic Reading Room,” which is actually quite uncommon, in my experience.
Take a look:
Most agencies also keep documentation of the actual FOIAs that are sent to them, along with any records that were released with the requests. This means anyone can use a FOIA to see how others—news organizations, attorneys, journalists and other “professionals”—not only use the FOIA to get the information they want, but what documents they received from their requests.
Why I Did It
I decided to approach these two FOIAs in separate ways. First I decided to send a request to an agency that already publishes FOIA logs. I picked ICE, and asked the agency for any records related to a specific FOIA request that was sent by the Center for Investigative Reporting (mentioned in log picture above) in November 2009, requesting information related to immigration detention.
Since I know the Center for Investigative Reporting does great work, I’m sure I can learn a lot by seeing just how they wrote that FOIA request.
I then picked the DEA, an agency that doesn’t release FOIA logs, as the target of a request which would seek the Administration’s recent logs. That way I may be able to get some ideas of what other people have requested from the agency in the past, and use that information to write better FOIAs.
How I Did It
With ICE, I used the agency’s current FOIA logs to help me write up a letter asking for the FOIA case file (any documents related to a specific FOIA) for the Center for Investigative Reporting request (Case # 905).
On the DEA request, I was lucky enough to have found older FOIA logs (warning, large PDF) from the agency which were requested and publicly released by Government Attic, a watchdog Website. With that, I was able to ascertain what the DEA’s logs were officially called the “Yearly Request Reports,” and that made my FOIA much more practical. It’s important to remember that you always want to be as specific as possible when sending a request.
The Final Products
Using the “Writing the First FOIA Request” feature on this site, here’s what I came up with:
Dear FOIA Officer:
Pursuant to the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, I request access to and copies of all Drug Enforcement Administration logs for Freedom of Information Act requests, beginning January 1, 2010 until present day. I would also like a copy of FOIA logs for the year 2009. The records I seek are usually contained in a DEA document called a “EFOIA Report” or the “FOIA Yearly Request Report.”
I agree to pay reasonable duplication fees for the processing of this request in an amount not to exceed $50. However, please notify me prior to your incurring any expenses in excess of that amount.
As a representative of the news media I am only required to pay for the direct cost of duplication after the first 100 pages. Through this request, I am gathering information on the federal prison system in the United States, and that is of current interest to the public because the safety of our society’s prison facilities affects the safety of our communities. This information is being sought for dissemination to the general public. I’m currently a freelance journalist. I’ve written for a number of publications, including the Columbia Journalism Review, AFN Tokyo, The American Independent News Network, Huffington Post, and Viva Colorado.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material. I, of course, reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to deny a waiver of fees.
As I am making this request as a journalist and this information is of timely value, I would appreciate your communicating with me if you have questions regarding this request.
I look forward to your reply within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Thank you for your assistance.
A PDF to this FOIA can be found here.
And:
Dear FOIA Officer:
Pursuant to the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, I request access to and copies of any and all documents and records pertaining to a specific Freedom of Information Act request: a FOIA submitted by the Center for Investigative Reporting and received 11/12/2009, according to ICE FOIA logs. (Case number, 905.) I also request any documents that were given by ICE in response to this specific FOIA request.
I agree to pay reasonable duplication fees for the processing of this request in an amount not to exceed $50. However, please notify me prior to your incurring any expenses in excess of that amount.
As a representative of the news media I am only required to pay for the direct cost of duplication after the first 100 pages. Through this request, I am gathering information on the federal prison system in the United States, and that is of current interest to the public because the safety of our society’s prison facilities affects the safety of our communities. This information is being sought for dissemination to the general public. I’m currently a freelance journalist. I’ve written for a number of publications, including the Columbia Journalism Review, AFN Tokyo, The American Independent News Network, Huffington Post, and Viva Colorado.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material. I, of course, reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to deny a waiver of fees.
As I am making this request as a journalist and this information is of timely value, I would appreciate your communicating with me if you have questions regarding this request.
I look forward to your reply within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Thank you for your assistance.
A PDF to this FOIA can be found here.
Filed under: Transparency, Center for Investigative Reporting, Drug Enforcement Administration, FOIA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, met-FOIA, open government
June 23, 2010 • 4:37 pm 2
A Log of the First 20 FOIA Requests That Have Been Filed By FOIAGeek.com This June
This Web site was born out of a challenge to submit one FOIA request each day in the month of June. That’s 30 requests in 30 days. To make it more fun, I decided to make up a rule stating that the requests must also be sent to 30 separate government agencies. And with the giant bureaucracy that is the United States the challenge really hasn’t been too difficult to take on. The hardest part was culling the creativity that was needed to write so many effective FOIA requests—requests that would not simply be sent just because they could be sent, but requests that would be the most likely to net interesting records and have an impact.
Many federal agencies keep a log of all of the FOIAs they receive, but today I’m going to provide a log of all of the FOIA I’ve sent. So here it is, what FOIAGeek.com has been toiling away at all this month. The log includes the agencies I sent the FOIAs to, along with a brief summary of what I’m asking for. (Remember, these reports are based mostly on my interests, which tend to focus on Latin America and the drug war.) So far, the government has already responded to a number of requests I sent at the beginning of the month, and there will be more detailed posts explaining the requests I still haven’t had the chance to write about here.
The FOIAGeek Challenge Log (click on the image to enlarge):
Believe me, there’s a lot more to come.
Filed under: Transparency, Air Force, Bureau of Alcohol, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Prisons, Centers for Disease Control, Customs and Border Protection, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Defense Travel Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Firearms and Explosives, FOIA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, investigative journalism, National Drug Intelligence Center, open government, State Department, Tobacco, United States Agency for International Development, US Army, US Coast Guard, US Navy, US Transportation Command, USAID
June 22, 2010 • 11:18 am 1
I’m happy to report that the first three FOIAs filed by this blog have all been promptly responded to by the government, so if you want to get an idea of how the entire FOIA process is done, these documents provide a good example of how obtaining federal records works. Provided there are no initial problems with a request, an agency should get back to you (usually in 20 business days after receiving a FOIA) with an acknowledgment that they have received the request, along with a case number, fee information and sometimes a assigned “FOIA Specialist” who will be handling the case.
Here are the responses I’ve received so far–one was E-mailed to me by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID–they called me and asked if it would be OK to correspond by E-mail, and I said yes, as the original FOIA has already been recorded and it will save paper), the Bureau of Prisons, and the National Drug Intelligence Center. You can also click on the images to see a PDF Version of each image.
Ms. Erin Rosa
RE: FOIA Tracking No. F-00198-10
AID-DOT-I-15-08-00017Dear Ms. Rosa,
The FOIA specialist assigned to your request is Ms. Kimberly Frazier. Ms. Frazier will request the document(s) from the appropriate office(s) for review. We will contact you when this process is completed. Please note that there is a delay in the processing of requests at this time.Your processing category is “All Others.” The fees are as follows:
Search – $31.94 per hour except the first two hours are free
Review – No fee
Duplication – 20 cents per page after the first 100 pagesSince you provided your commitment to pay up to $50.00, we will begin the processing
of your request.If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Frazier on 202-712-1218 or by
email at kfrazier@usaid.gov.Sincerely,
Sylvia Lankford
Sylvia Lankford
FOIA Team Leader
USAID
Information and Records Division
Office of Administrative Services
On requesting intelligence bulletins from the National Drug Intelligence Center:
More coming soon!
Filed under: Transparency, Bureau of Prisons, drug war, FOIA, Honduras, National Drug Intelligence Center, open government, USAID
