UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE, and
THE PROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT,
Plaintiffs,
v.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,
U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION,
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET, and U.S.
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION,

17 Civ. 6335 (AKH)
FIRST SUPPLEMENTAL
DECLARATION OF
HEATHER V. WALSH

Defendants.

I, Heather V. Walsh, make the following declaration based on personal knowledge and
information provided to me in my official capacity:
1.

I currently serve as the Deputy General Counsel in the Office of Management and

Budget’s (“OMB”) Office of the General Counsel (“OGC”). Prior to this position, I was an
Assistant General Counsel in this office and have worked in OMB OGC since 2009.
2.

Staff within OMB OGC handle all agency record requests to OMB pursuant to the

Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552. One of my responsibilities as Deputy
General Counsel in OMB OGC is to supervise the staff responsible for the handling of these
FOIA requests. Due to the nature of my official duties, I have become familiar with OMB
OGC's handling of Plaintiffs' FOIA request, which OMB designated with the case number
17-231, and I have reviewed the Court's April 30, 2019, Opinion and Order.
3.

This supplemental declaration addresses the part of the Court's April 30, 2019, Opinion

and Order directing OMB to "ask relevant employees if they used private email accounts
relating to the [Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity's] business and, if so,
to produce the documents." Dkt. No. 99 at 11.

 4.

In paragraph 10 of my original declaration, I explained that OMB has had a policy in place

for several years that prohibits employees from conducting government business using private,
unofficial email accounts and that OMB requires all new employees to sign a statement that they
understand their responsibilities under the Federal Records Act, including the obligation of all
staff to create and maintain official OMB records. Absent any reason to believe that such policy
was violated in this particular case by OMB's employees, I concluded that a search for potentially
responsive records was appropriately limited to official email accounts and work files.
5.

Notwithstanding paragraph 10 of my original declaration, and in response to the Court's

April 30, 2019, Opinion and Order, OMB contacted the relevant custodians whose records were
searched in response to Plaintiffs' FOIA request and who are still employed by the agency. These
individuals were asked whether they had any potentially responsive records that were located
outside of the agency's records system, such as in a personal email account. None of the
individuals responded in the affirmative.
In accordance with 28 U.S.C § 1746, I hereby declare and affirm under penalty of perjury
that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief.
Executed at Washington, District of Columbia, this 13th day of August,
2019.
_____________________
Heather V. Walsh
Deputy General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
Office of Management and Budget

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