L25. Deparln)HI| u{.Iuslicv: Fuleml Bureau ul 21/535 Am 24, 2012 MR JASON LEOPOLD Subject FOWA REQUEST PROCESSWC FOIPA No 1182662000 Deav M1 Leopokf The endnsed documents weve rewewed under the Freedum Ads (FOIPA) we 5' Unwed States Code Secnon Delehons have been made protect miormalmn which ws exempt << mease cue me Numher assigned to your requesl so |ha(i1 may be essuy :1 The enclosed macenax Is from me mam mveshgahve me(s) me sumecus; at your request was me fucus oflhe vwesnganon Om Search Vacated addmonal relerences was rmalmg ulnar md\vIdua\s' or matters' may a: may not be about your sumecus) Ourexperience has shown' when mem relerences usuafly contain vnformauon co me mcurmauon pvucessed me Because o1 om sngrufwcanl backlog. we have gwen priamy to pracessmg only me mam Irwesugahve me(s) you want me relerences. yuu musl subrml a separa|e reques| vormem w<<>837--l996; mu true at (It I'acx~irntIc2tL 301-837-0348 Sincerely, Janice ('ralli McLeod Associate Dirc ct Scan R. 0'Neill Senior Ailoruc) Administrative Appeals sun' U.S. Department of Justice Oflioe of Information Policy Suue mam N15 NEW York Avenue. NW Washington, DC Telephone' (202) JIJ-36-I2 ML Jason Leopold Truthout Re: Appeal No. AP-2012-00779 Request No 1176349 Dear Mr Leupold: . Vou appealed from the action of Federal Bmeau of Investigation on your request for access to records conceming the occupy Wall Street Protest Afier carefully considering your appeal, lam alfifiriirigthe l- - a- College Park, Maryland2AHA-6001; at e-mail ogis@nara.gov; telephone 301-837-1996; at toll freeat 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile 301-837-0348. at I I I I I Sincerely, I I Janice Galli Mcleod Associate Director I I I By: Y" I \ \ ./ -/ +" Fk I SeanR. O'Neill SeniorA$orney AdministrativeAppeals Staff lF*r BLITZ FORM APPf,'l\IlNO. t2-00779 COMPOtrTIENT REQUEST NO. FBI 1176349 :,, OIP ATTOR.hTEY: SUBMITTEDON: CDT t2l28lrr REOUES .'1' ".'{:' (Truthout) Leopold, Jason Dated:10i31/ll Rec'd: ;, SUHI $c-ffi, f,": 'RE( IIIESBiI:;., 4,$'S{PRISONER ,l:iAi No NO (Aug. 1 to Oct. 3 I, 201I ) AR re: OccupyWall Street movement AGENCY RESPONSE: '"I:,ffiEKlN'r r.: l,{::.C,J.;t:iill.:: .: DATE. n /15/ r1 REV'D RIT' orw,_-ff. WTFi: No records PA FOIA 2 previous requests closed NR; ACS= flat NR APPEAL: OF;*lq Dated: r.r.rffi Rec'd: 12l29llt : i'{3."u gffi.IE AGINNCY:. mi Ctffilct YESn{O YESA{O .:i;.;:,'li1), ;:;l*,tiit search Contests ;ffi& ' : i i q < i i r.i r'':. .'"' . The R claimsthat the FBI's search inadequate, poi$!,19.[gg,4lliclesthat are and is meantto bolsterhis argument.However,while the R pointsto a reportthat supposedly , .",,i mentionsOccupyWall Street, thereis noth_tngjoshpw thrS_fspflissvengal that (unable Drrnt w/outScnbdaccount). to ,iiii. ' : '.,ry,1ir.:'. .: 'ri,:;" ::',11';. , ,; . ,,.!, ". i*, #u[ussnffit . : ';:ftlil' . , , r' .i", 'i,,{r,t i' rt'. a 'i: ; : ' . '.,':,.;' ''-r '[' .'0,uii,1.,'*.,, "rjni:lr,l$ffi ."ri,il', ,",_,'iffiT motion5 AG GUIDELINES CONSIDERATION Referred to the FBI for processing on FBI ClaimsIt DoesNot HaveAny Documents OccupyWall Street PageI of5 ;x Truthout Pubtished on Truthouf [http://www.truth- qtq) o-qt. on Wall Street Home> FBI Claimsll DoesNot HaveAny Documents Occupy FBIClaimslt DoesNot HaveAny on Documents OccupyWall Street By aiissa Created 1-11-2212:42 201 P R I N T1 1] EM AILI2 II INCREASE RESET IDEC R E A S E I T W 3 .t.0 FBIClaimslt DoesNot HaveAny WallStreet on Documents Occupy 201 Tuesday November 1 22 by:Jason Leopold, TruthoutReport I saysif rs. Security af TheDepaftment Homeland filed processing separate Truthout FOIArequest a perlaining for withthe agencyin October documents to OccupyWallStreet. it DC FBIheadquartersWashington, claims can't in mayhaveon findanyinternal the documents agency known Occupy WallStreet, movement as the protest the in sentto Truthout according a letter agency to of Act response a Freedom lnformation (FOIA) to request. with filed Truthout a FOIArequest the FBIon October including of a 31,seeking wide-rangedocuments, reports, audio/video, transcripts, "emails, memos, WallStreet in which Occupy Horseflounttd police officersstand gusrd threat assessments," protestora sttge and/or as OccupyWall SbEstBtooklynBridge,e officers internally agency by wasdiscussed in on demonctration the andlor correspondence any the offlcials 17, 1. senior NewYork,November 201 (Photo: Appleton The NewYorkTimes) I with movement local Michael agency about protest had the government withlocal lawenforcement and/or officials. http://www.truth-out.ogl print/9532 r lZtZ\/2011 FBI ClaimsIt DoesNot HaveAny Documents OccupyWall Steet on Page2 of 5 related any discussions may havetakenplace that Our request to alsosoughtdocuments "between personnel, FBI including fieldagents" FBI and the "ClA and Department of (DHS),related the protestmovement Homeland Sgcurity to knownas'OccupyWall Street."' FBI FOIAChiefDavidHardyresponded our FOIArequest a letterdatedNovember to in provided, conducted searchof 15,whichsaid,"basedon the information we a [Truthout] the CentralRecordsSystem,"a computerized database where most of the agency's 1s1 recordsare indexed."We were unableto identifomain file recordsresponsive the to FOlA." the us to within We weresurprised FBI provided with a final response our FOIArequest two weeks,giventhe agency'sFOIAbacklogand the lengthywait times we havefaced in to to response other requestswe havefiled.We were even more surprised learnthe FBI in discussed Occupy was unable locatea singledocument whichofficers and officials to in which,in the pastmonth,has resulted violent Wall Street, globalmovement a ( in by crackdowns locallaw enforcement morethan a dozencities, to in was that the FBIwas not beingforthcoming its response our FOIA Our firstreaction FBI'scybersecurity team knowthat JordanT, Lloyd,a memberof the request. already We aboutOcgupvWall Stre-et he was sent by a in New York, receiveddozens-q]Lemails r+r expertand gainedaccess himself a conservative security computer as man who identified to to the group'slistserv. Loydresponded at leastone of the emails. were heightened when blogger Our suspicions of aboutthe veracity the FBI'sresponse in a recentpostthat the JusticeDepartment recentlyadmittedthat it MarcyWheelernoted to documents related ongoing to had been lyingin response requests certain for investigations,informantsandc|assifiedintel|igence@plby recordsto your FOIArequest." stating"thereexist no responsive recordwhen it the revelation, FBI has llng had a deplorable Asidefrom thattroubling to for responsive FOIA a thorough searchof its records documents comesto conducting National University's by requests. coflducted GeorgeWashington Indeed, 2009studvrer a FOIA and whichpublishes declassified documents filesnumerous Security Archive(NSA), notedthat "during fiscalyear2008,the FBI gave'no records'responses 57% requests, to of the requestsit processed, morethan any othermajoragency." "The FBI knowingly find relevant usesa searchprocess that doesn't records," Archive Tom Blanton director saidat the time. an of Meredith Fuchsprovided example this duringan interview ArchiveGeneralCounsel fromthe FBI for in with a localFox Newsaffiliate 2008in whichthe NSA'srequest records the rz: on "Al Qaeda"was denie.-d,because aoencvhad "no-[e-cords." Truthout (we figures), obtainupdated Still,despite thosestatistics were unable'to was our to FOIArequest the FBI fell short.For example, FOIArequest that determined our seeking documents with FBI headquarters. did not file FOIArequests We fileddirectly pertaining OccupyWall Streetwith FBI field offices,such as the one in New York City. to "FOIAFacts:Understandinq Records," published 2007, FBI According the article, to in 1e; it's not that the FBI is "lying" whenthe agencyclaimsit doesnot have"records responsive tnrth-out.rglprint/ 532 9 http://www. o L2/28t2011 FBI Claims It DoesNot Have Any Documentson OccupyWall Street Page of5 3 just havedevised system makes "they a that requesters [sic]go to FOIA,instead to hoops findtheinformation areseeking." to they through "lf a requester in sends FOIArequest FBIHeadquartersWashington, the FBI a D.C., to willonlycheck Central its for Records System main filesindexed thesubject the to of records aremaintained Washington, that D.C.," article "However, in states. many the records notindexed main are filesto the FBI's Records as Central System many and records notmaintained, anyform,at FBIHeadquarters. in are 'As almost investigations place a Field all in take Office-not FBIHeadquarters, at records are was. of investigations where investigation While the some the records be sentto of will FBIHeadquarters, Field Office havea record theinvestigations there. will done So the of get for a request made FBIHeadquarters an investigation verylikely a 'norecord' may to Thus, if to response theinvestigation never was reported FBIHeadquarters.... it is but important makeFOIArequests [sic]notonlyto FBIHeadquarters, to FBIField to to lf or'see'references.a request to Offices. it is important askfor mainfilesand'cross' And response, makesureto readthe letterthoroughly seewlaat to comesbackas a 'no record' the andwhere FBIsearched." the doesnotrnean agency would directly FBIfieldoffices with Butfiling FOIArequests Truthout's request ditferently. any havehandled in courtby Hardy, FBI's the submitted federal TheNSApointed thata declaratig.n out rgr "Unless requester in a asks search, FOIA specifically for a broader chief, 2009explained, fib in at database electronic names FBIheadquarters of the FBIwillonlylookin a central Washington." "Whenrequesters theirrequests to field for send directly relevant offices processing, the policy to automatically all requests to headquarters thesame back for is route FBI's the a requester suitin federal court, FBIwillnotperform Untilthe files inadequate search. the broader search," NSAsaid. with experts, changes that based It is ourunderstanding, on discussions opengovernment policy is the FOIA means agency supposed to to the FBI's overthepasttwoyears in Truthout's conduct search responsive a for records fieldoffices well.But,in handling as FOIArequest, doesnotappear FBI's it search the extended itsfieldoffices to sincethe emailLoydsentto the conservative expert computer whoprovided withinformation him about WallStreet notturnup.We're waiting a FOIA for Occupy did to still officer respond about typeof search agency to ourqueries the conducted if thatsearch the and included FBlfield offices. information an morning, David Sobonya, FBIpublic Early 111291201{: Tuesday UPDATE told Section, Truthout Dissemination Recordllnformation whoworksin the agency's office guidelines, fieldoffices search[ed] are all "Perthe new2009Attorney General viaemail, FOIArequests," submit additional records, mayhowever, You for potentially responsive points and in Facts" article indicates raised the2007"FOIA Thatmakes moot the in and haveresulted the FBIlocating Truthout's FOIA the FBIwasfiledproperly should to responsive documents. pertaining To be safe,Truthout sincefileda newsetof FOIArequests documents has for WallStreet withFBIfieldoffices around country we haveformally the and to Occupy http://www.truth-out.org/print/932 5 t2n8/z0rl on FBI ClaimsIt DoesNot HaveAny Documents OccupyWall Street Page of5 4 requested agency to responsive the conduct "broader search" itsrecords locate of a documents. Withthatsaid,perhaps the at have officials FBIheadquarters notbeendiscussing protest even has watching movement monitoring activities, thouqh agencv bqgncloselv its the or ments othe itica and infiltratinq r ool I Iq,gye 1rq. Additionally, Monday to whether Truthout sought from as comment an FBIspokesperson withlocallaw has in and/or the agency beenengaged discussions, internally either government WallStreet enforcement local Occupy beeninvolved in and officials, and/or the recent The sweep crackdowns themovement's of on encampments. spokesperson did notrespond ouremail voicemail to or message. Post, issued weekto the Huffington worded last in statement Buttheagency, a carefully with in response law to reports it hasbeenworkinq lggal enforcem.ent that flatlv denied rr. Wq.ll,Street Occupv rr published with the have "Recent 1rz1 reported FBIhascoordinated in Occupy police to and departments strategy tactics be employed addressing on local protestors," FBIsaid."These At reports false. no timehasthe FBI are WallStreet the police thiscapacity." in with engaged local the with request DHSon October seeking same 31, Meanwhile, Truthout fileda FOIA also we requested the FBIas wellas anymaterials mayshowtheagency that from documents worked withlocallawenforcement provided or any anditsfieldoffices and/or coordinated to WallStreet. information aboutOccupy advice localofficials and/or requesting narrow scope we of On Monday, DHSFOIAofficer Truthout "the a contacted DHSofficials due records fromsenior only" to the FOIAJ request include to responsive [our which leftDHS has has numerous for the requests documents agency beenreceiving, staff"ovenruhelmed." to relevant ourFOIA has documents the indicated agency located TheDHSFOIA officer processing. for andgranted request expedited our Thiswor?by Truthout licensed is undera Creative Co,mmons Attfibutionp1. Nancommercial AnftedStatesLicense 3.Q JasonLeopold 1rs1 r 532 http:/lwww,truth-out.ogl printJ9 News 12/2820rr on FBI ClaimsIt DoesNot HaveAny Documents OccupyWall Street 5 Page of5 SourceURL:http:/,vww.truth{ut.oro/fbi-headouarters-$Avs-it-does-not-have-afiy:documents-occupEY!{all132 streeU 1994542 Links: nU9532 [1] http://www.truth-out.org/pri [2]http://www,truth-out.org/printmail/9532 fbi. [3] http://www. govifoia/ trttp:ilgawker.c-om/5850054/meet-the-guy-who-snitched-on-occupy-wall-street-to-theJbi'and-nypd i4i isinttb:ilwww.emptywheel.neU2011t11l}Aldoj-admits-it-has-been-lying-br-24-years-journalists*applaudi 3/index, gwu.edui-nsarchiv/news/2009031 htm [6]http:#www. htm gwu.edu/-nsarchiv/news120080507/index. //www. http: [7] mns/foia43.htm llx.com/colu [8]http://www. 3/Hardy, gwu.edu/-nsarchiv/new92009031 pdf [s1nttp:llwww. http://www.aclu.org/mapsispying-first-amendment-activi$-state-state [10] 1l'l1l1$loccupy-wall-street+rackdowns-n-1101685.htm| if tin6:#www.lruffinglonpdst.conV2Ot itZinttp:llwww.examiner.tom/top-news-in-minneapolis/were-occupy-crackdowns-aided-by-federal-lawenforcement-agencies 0/us/ [13] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3. ntmail [14] http://www.truth-out.org/pri ( [1Slhnp:llr,vww.truth-out.org/contenUjason-leopold jtginttb:llorg2.democracyiiaction.o19/o/6694/p/salsaiweb/common/public/signup?signup-page-KEY=216 [17] https://members.truth-out.org/donate it ej nttb://www.truth-out,org/?q=1yuo-.""ndals-one-connection-fbi-link-between-penn-state-and-ucdavid1322121600 9 rgl http://www.truth-out.oprintl 532 t2128/20rr U.S. Department of Justice Office of InformationPolicv Telephone: Q02) 5I 4-3642 Washington, D.C, 20530 lEc0I 20rl Mr. Jason Leopold Truthout 1669Benedict CanyonDrive Beverly Hills,CA 90210 No. Re: Request I176349 DearMr. Leopold: appealfrom theactionof the Federal This is to adviseyou that youradministrative was by Bureauof Investigation received this Office on Novembet29,2011. of suchappeals.In the The Office of InformationPolicytr,as responsibility adjudicating a an attemptto afford eachappellantequaland impartial treatment,we have adopted general practice assigning in orderof receipt. Your appealhasbeenassigned of appeals theapproximate to Please mentionthis numberin any futurecorrespondence this numberAP-2012-00779. Office regardingthis matter. as on We will notit/ you of the decision your appeal soonas we can, If you haveany questions aboutthe statusof your appealyou may contactme at the numberabove. Sincerely, Administrative Specialist Supervisory FILE s@ lw'zntz-owtq RECFrt,t r, fasonLeopold Deputy M anagingEditor/ InvestigativeReporter NovI 20tr 2 ClffiCe J if,.;;1r;r1r_rir Oi :. .,r Truthout.org Drive 1669 BenedictCanYon BeverlyHills,CA90210 jason@truthout,org Director, 0ffice of Information Policy [OIPJ USDepartmentof fustice L425 New York Ave.,NW Suite11050 DC Washington, 20530-0001 No' Request 1176349- 000 of Freedom InformationAppeal.FOIPA Subject: To the FederalBureauof Investigation: an This letter constitutes administrativeappealunder the Freedomof Information by Sec. Act [F0lA), 5 U-S.C. 552, of a determination the FBI on a requestinitially filed stating gctober 3t,}}It.ln a letter dated November15, 201.1 FBI responded the on "conducteda searchof the CentralRecordsSystem"and was "unable that the agency to identiff main file records responsiveto the FOIA'" to This letter is to appeal the adequacyof the searchthe FBI conductedin order provide a basis for fulfill this FOIArequest.Ir is ry trop" that this appealwill now usingvarious the FBI to conductanotherin-depthsearchof ALL of its records, keywords, to locate responsivedocuments. For the reasonsstated below, it is reasonableto believethat responsivedocuments exist and ought to be located,reviewed and released' which includedbut were not limited to, My initial requestaskedfor all documents, audio/video,relatedto the reports,transcripts, emails,memos,threat assessments, "Occupy " coveringthe August1,20II protest movementknown as Wall Street in through October37,Z0Il timeframe.That meansdocuments which FBI officers and officials,at the very least,mentioned "OccupyWall Street,"Moreover,I sought and betweenFBI personnel, includingfield agentsand officers, any correspondence CIA includingbut not limited to, localpolicepersonnel, law enforcement agencies, relatedto the protest movementknown as "Occupy and Departmentof Homeland, WallStreet." There are severalreasonsto believe the FBI should have substantivedocuments, on in suchas thoserequested my initial FOIArequesLFor example, October15, published on the website Gawker [link: 20It a report http ://gawker.com/ 58500 54/meet-the-guy-who-snitched-on-occupy-wall-street' to-the-fbi-and-nypd statedthat iordan T. Loyd,a memberof the FBI's ] CybersecurityTeam in New Yorh was the recipient of emails sent by a man who had gained access a listserv maintained by OccupyWall Streetorganizers.The emails to Loyd receivedcontainedinformation about OccupyWall Streetorganizers' Mr. plans.The Gawkerreport, citing emails the website had obtained,stated that Mr. to Loyd had responded the individualwho had sent him theseemails. searchturned up a copy of an FBl "lntelligence Furthermore, simple Google a sought with documents L+,20tI, a date that corresponds Bulletin"datedSeptember Bulletin: to copy of Intelligence under my initial FOIArequest.[link hftpr//wwwscribd.com/doc/69366439/9-L4-.11-FBI-Report-.qn-Occu,py-WallStreetl On pagetwo of this IntelligenceBulletin from the Directorate of the Intelligence Section, words "OccupyWallStreet"appearon Intelligence/Cyber page 2. and the fact that the FBl, as indicatedby the agency's Basedon thesetwo examples, which own internal documentsthat have sincebeen releasedunder other FOIAs, past monitoredprotestand politicalmovementsthat were showsthe FBI has in the much smaller,| find it hard to believe that the agencycould not locatea single to documentresponsive my initial FOIArequest. The problem is not with the FOIArequestas filed but rather with the FBI's inadequate searchofits files and databases. to calculated uncoverall The obligationof the FBI is to "conducta searchreasonably Cir. of State,897F.2d549,5+Z(D.C. ." relevantdocuments Truitt v. Department goodfaith using methods in This meansthat the searchmust be conducted 1gg0J. v. that are likely to produce the information requested.SeeCampbell United States Cir. 1998).The Department"cannotlimit F.3d?,A,27(D.C. of Department Justice,164 its searchto only one record systemif there are others that are likely to turn up the FOIAGuide{May 2004). Rather,the information requested."Departmentof Justice obligation of the Departrnentto searchother sourceslikely to contain responsive suchas Mr. Loyd of where necessary, former employees recordsincludescontacting e.9., the agenry'sCybersecurityTeam in New York. .See, ComerV. IRS,No.97-76329, 2001 U.S'Dist.LEXISL6996 [E.D.Mich,Sept.25, 200L) (finding an agencysearch familiar when the agencymadeno attempt to contacta former employee inadequate with the information soughtJ.In other words, an agencysearchmeets the "can demonstrate beyondmaterial of requirements FOIAonly where the agency doubt that its searchwas 'reasonablycalculatedto uncover all relevant dosuments."' Cir. 1999) Coast Guard,180F. 3d32L,325-326 (D.C. v. Valencia-Lucena UnitedStates (quoting Truitt,897 F.2d at542 [D.C. Cir. 1990) (emphasis added).The fact that a searchmay require extensiveeffort on the part of an agencyis noL in and of itself e.g. dispositive of undue burden.See, PublicCitizenv. Departmentof Education,292 of searchof 2003) {rejectingadequacy agency F. Supp.2d 1,7 -8 {D,D.C. database and insteadorderingagencyto manuallyreview 25,000 computerized paper files. suchas the FBI,must adjust Simplypu! to withstandjudicial scrutiny,an agency, the depth and breadth of its searchcommensuratewith information it uncovers searchbasedupon ofan agency the alongthe way. Courtsassess resonableness rather than "what the agency what an agencyknows once a searchis completed, FOIAGuide[May Departmentof Justice at speculated the inception"of a search. F.3d20, 28 (D.C. of Department Justice,164 Campbell Ilnited States v. 200aJ;seealso Cir .19 98). As such,I requestthe FBI immediatelybeginto againsearchfor responsive documentsto my initial FOIArequest pertaining to "OccupyWall Street."I request the FBI use keywords, such as "OWS"and "OWSProtest" in addition to others in if As responsive my request. I outlinedin detail above, to order to locatedocuments the agencyneedsto manuallysearchfiles it shoulddo so as well as speakwith documents. responsive individualofficersto obtain and release section of I am requestingexpeditedprocessing this appealpursuantto 5 U.S.C needand "urgencyto inform the public 552(a)(6) (E) basedon compelling concerningactual or allegedFederalGovernmentactivity." l certiff, as required by regulation,that the compellingneed for expeditedprocessingis true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. This request is central to the transparencythat is required for there to be an accuraterecounting of the activities of the United Statesgovernmentin regard to free speechactivitiesin the country and the growing justicemovementorganizing citiesand towns acrossthe in socialand economic The country under the movement known as OCCUPY. prompt releaseof information at this time is crucial. or Please contactme at iason@truthout.org {213) 270-4334if you needadditional your consideration this letter. of questions. appreciate I information or have Kind Regards, fasonLeopold fasonLeopold - Fryt Editor/lnvestigativeReporter Deputy Managing Truthout.org 1669 Benedict CanyonDrive Beverly Hills, CA 9OZI0 jason@truthout.org Hurd, Matthew(OlP) From: Sent: To: Subject: Attachmente: Jason Leopold [jason@kuthout.org] 29,2011 2:53PM November Tuesday, doj-oip.administrative.appeal@usdoj.gov DOJ.OlP.Administrative (SMO); Appeal No. Request 1176349{00 of Appeal. FOIPA Freedom lnformation 1'176349-000.doc No FBIAppeal Documents which constitutes administrativeappealunderthe Freedomof InformationAct an Pleaseseethe enclosedlettero initially filed on October31, 201I by (FOIA), 5 U.S.C.Sec.552,of a determination the FBI on a request pertaining Request No. I176349-000. to Kind regards, .lason Lcopold ( JasonLeopold gative Reporter Deputy M anagingEditor/Investi Truthout.org iason@truthout.ors 2t3 270 4334 d twitter.com/JasonLeopql