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April 5, 2018
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Attn: FOI/PA Request
Record/Information Dissemination Section
170 Marcel Drive
Winchester, VA 22602-4843
(540) 868-4391/4997 (fax)
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request
Dear sir or madam:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, we hereby request that your
office produce, within 20 business days, the following records (see below for clarity on the types of
records sought):
1. Any documents reflecting the results of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Field Office and
Headquarters Climate Survey for 2018.
We understand the survey was administered between February and March 2018. You have disclosed the
results of Climate Surveys for prior years on https://vault.fbi.gov/.1 We are requesting the same type of
documents for the 2018 survey.
FEE WAIVER
FOIA provides that any fees associated with a request are waived if “disclosure of the
information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public
understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial
interest of the requester.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii).
We are the Editor-in-Chief and Senior Editor of Lawfare, an online publication dedicated to
informing public understanding on operations and activities of the government. Lawfare is published by
The Lawfare Institute, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization, and in cooperation with The
Brookings Institution, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public policy organization. This request is submitted in
connection with Lawfare’s mission to publish information that is likely to contribute significantly to the
public understanding of executive branch activities related to law and national security. Lawfare does
not have commercial interests.
The full URL where the results of the prior years’ Climate Surveys are made public is:
https://vault.fbi.gov/FBI%20Field%20Office%20and%20Headquarters%20Climate%20Survey%
20Results/FBI%20Field%20Office%20and%20Headquarters%20Climate%20Survey%20Results
%20%282017%29/view.
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 In addition to satisfying the requirements for a waiver of fees associated with the search and
processing of records, we are entitled to a waiver of all fees except “reasonable standard charges for
document duplication.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). Federal law mandates that fees be limited to
document duplication costs for any requester that qualifies as “a representative of the news
media.” Id. Lawfare is a “news media organization[]” that “gathers information of potential interest to
a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and
distributes that work to an audience.” Nat’l Sec. Archive v. Dep’t of Defense, 880 F.2d 1381, 1387 (D.C.
Cir. 1989). We intend to give the public access to documents transmitted via FOIA on our website,
https://www.lawfareblog.com/, and to provide information about and analysis of those documents as
appropriate.
RESPONSIVE RECORDS
We ask that all types of records and all record systems be searched to discover records
responsive to our request. We seek records in all medium and format. We ask that you search all
systems of record, including electronic and paper, in use at your agency. We also ask that you search
files or emails in the personal custody of your employees, such as personal email accounts, as required
by FOIA and to the extent that they are reasonably likely to contain responsive records. We would
prefer records in electronic format, saved as PDF documents, and transmitted via email or CD-ROM.
We ask that you search for records from all components of the FBI that may be reasonably likely
to produce responsive results.
If you make a determination that any responsive record, or any segment within a record, is
exempt from disclosure, we ask that you provide an index of those records at the time you transmit all
other responsive records. In the index, please include a description of the record and the reason for
exclusion with respect to each individual exempt record or exempt portion of a record, as provided by
Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 977 (1974). When you deem a
portion of a record exempt, we ask that the remainder of the record be provided, as required by 5 U.S.C.
§§ 552(a)(8)(A)(ii) & 552(b).
Given the 20-day statutory deadline, we hope to be as helpful as possible in clarifying or
answering questions about our request. Please contact me by phone or email if you require any
additional information. We appreciate your cooperation, and look forward to hearing from you very
soon.
Sincerely,
/s/ Benjamin Wittes
Benjamin Wittes
Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution
Editor in Chief, Lawfare

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 1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 797-4368 (phone)
benjamin.wittes@gmail.com
/s/ Scott R. Anderson
Scott R. Anderson
Fellow in Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution
Senior Editor, Lawfare
1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 797-6090 (phone)
sanderson@brookings.edu

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