FOIA Logs

Dateline NBC is preparing a news report concerning the investigation into the death of Meghan Landowski In connection with this report, I am requesting the following in electronic format:

1. Records compiled by a 2008 Board of Inquiry convened to investigate (b)(6);
2. (b)(6) employment records with the Navy, including start date, titles, and ranks;
3. Records mentioning or otherwise reflecting the dishonorable discharge of (b)(6).

FOIA creates a broad presumption of access to the records of government. “Congress intended FOIA to permit access to official information long shielded unnecessarily from public view.” Milner v. Dep’t of Navy, 562 U.S. 562, 565 (2011). Accordingly, exemptions to FOIA are required to be narrowly construed so as not to frustrate the law’s purpose of promoting transparency. See Dep’t of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 361 (1976).

As required by FOIA, please respond to this request promptly by either providing the information or an explanation as to why you are denying the request. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A). If you determine that a portion of a requested record is exempt from disclosure, in keeping with FOIA’s presumption of openness, you are nonetheless required to release any reasonably segregable, nonexempt portion of the record. Id. § 552(b).