U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL January 5, 2017 Ethan Barton Daily Caller News Foundation 1050 17th Street, NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20036 RE: Your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request FOIA Control No.: 16-IGF-OIG-00123 Dear Mr. Barton: This is in response to your e-mail Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests dated July 19 and July 21, 2016, to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Your request was received in this office July 26, 2016 You requested “OIG Reports for Felons.” Although, you erroneously submitted eight requests for documents noted in the SIRs, you notified the OIG your request to only receive the SIR report relating to felons. In your July 19 request, you request the SIRs report “dated February 13, 2012, notes a Seattle HUD Office of Inspector General investigation that matched approximately 1,300 individual fugitives that were receiving public and section 8 housing assistance throughout Region 10.” We have posted a public use file of our SIR reports to our FOIA Reading Room. You may access it in PDF format. The link to our Reading Room is https://www.hudoig.gov/node/1467. We did not post the Fugitive Felon report because on further review, we found the data was unreliable. Please note that we will not release any personal information from the report collected in accordance with 5 U.S.C. §552(b)(6) and the Privacy Act. If this record is not totally responsive to your request, we ask that you submit another FOIA request specifically detailing what additional information you want released. Office of Legal Counsel 451 7th Street SW, Room 8260, Washington, DC 20410 Phone (202) 708-1613, Fax (202) 401-3778 Visit the Office of Inspector General Website at www.hudoig.gov Ethan Barton, Investigative Reporter FOIA Control No.: 16-IGF-OIG-00123 2 We have also excised from the file pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), which protects intraagency communications subject to the deliberative process privilege. The information withheld consists of pre-decisional discussions or comments, investigator’s notes and internal recommendations, and otherwise privileged information. Redactions were also made under 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b)(7)(C), which protects records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, the release of which could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The information withheld consists of the names of special agents, titles and grades, personal accounts, signatures, thirdparties, and other identifiable information. Other redactions were made pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(E), which protects records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes that would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions. You requested “fee waiver.” You further stated and agree to pay reasonable duplication fees not to exceed $25.00There are certain costs associated with processing your FOIA request. However, since this information is available free of charge on our website, we are providing to you our website address listed below. https://www.hudoig.gov/node/1467. Please be advised that Nick Padillas, Assistant to the Inspector General for Investigations, is the official responsible for this response. If you are not satisfied with the response to this request, you may administratively submit an appeal pursuant to the Office of Inspector General’s Freedom of Information Regulation, 24 CFR § 2002.25 (2010). This regulation provides for administrative review by the Inspector General of any denial of information. Your appeal must be postmarked or electronically transmitted within 90 days of the date of the response to your request. Both the letter and the envelope should be clearly marked “Freedom of Information Act Appeal.” Your appeal should be addressed to the FOIA Appeal Specialist, Office of Legal Counsel to Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Suite 8260, Washington, DC 20410, and should be accompanied by a copy of your initial request, a copy of this letter and your statement of circumstances, reasons and arguments supporting disclosure of the requested information. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001 E-mail: ogis@nara.gov; Telephone: (202) 741-5770; Toll free: 1-877-684-6448, or Facsimile: (202) 741-5769. Ethan Barton, Investigative Reporter FOIA Control No.: 16-IGF-OIG-00123 3 I trust that this information satisfies your request. If you need any further assistance or would like to discuss any aspect of your request please do not hesitate to contact our FOIA Requester Service Center at (202) 708-1613. Please reference the above FOIA number when making inquiries about this matter. Sincerely, /s/ Government Information Specialist (FOIA/PA)