Chief FOIA officer's recent email (Federal Railroad Administration)

Sai filed this request with the Federal Railroad Administration of the United States of America.
Multi Request Chief FOIA officer's recent email
Status
Completed

From: Sai

Dear Federal Railroad Administration,

On behalf of myself and Fiat Fiendum, I hereby request the following records:

1. The one email in your chief FOIA officer's email inbox or equivalent which was received nearest and before October 19, 2024, midnight Eastern time, regardless of subject matter.
2. The one email in your chief FOIA officer's email spam folder or equivalent which was received nearest and before October 19, 2024, midnight Eastern time, regardless of subject matter.
3. The one email in your chief FOIA officer's sent email folder or equivalent which was sent nearest and before October 19, 2024, midnight Eastern time, regardless of subject matter.
4. The total full-time equivalent count of people who work for your FOIA office as of October 19, 2024.

This request is expressly limited to Federal Railroad Administration's own FOIA office. Please do not refer it to any other agency or division. This request is expressly not a Privacy Act request, and no PA waiver will be provided.

Please provide the email records in EML, Maildir, MBOX, MIX, MSG, or PST format only — not PDF, Word, image, etc — including all metadata (e.g. full email headers as received/sent) and attachments, without alteration other than narrowly tailored electronic redaction of specifically claimed exemptions that do not affect any part of non exempt information (and, in particular, without rasterization).

Please provide the fourth record as a statement in your response letter, or at your option, as the most readily available record, in original electronic format as currently stored on your computer systems, which includes that information.

Please provide all records either as individual files, or as an unencrypted ZIP file, uploaded to MuckRock. Do not apply any encryption, DRM, or other restriction.

I request fee waiver, because
* Fiat Fiendum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit;
* this request is for public interest, non-commercial purposes;
* these records would give a snapshot of insight into the everyday processes of FOIA offices; and
* these records are being requested in order to conduct a government-wide audit of agencies' FOIA compliance.

In the event that you deny fee waiver, please process this request as-is, because I will not agree to any fees.

Please be sure to provide:
* 5 USC 552(a)(6)(A)(i)(II) FOIA Public Liaison information
* 5 USC 552(a)(6)(A)(i)(III)(aa) appeal information
* 5 USC 552(a)(6)(A)(i)(III)(bb) OGIS information
* 5 USC 552(a)(7)(A) tracking number
* 5 USC 552(a)(7)(B)(ii) completion ETA

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,
Sai
President, Fiat Fiendum, Inc.

P.S. Sai is my full legal name.

From: Federal Railroad Administration

Dear Sia,

The FOIA requires that requesters describe the records sought with sufficient detail to allow an agency employee familiar with the subject area of the request to locate the records with a reasonable amount of effort.

Your request does not adequately describe the records sought; therefore, we are unable to process your request at this time.

It is unclear what date(s) of the records you are requesting. Please be specific and indicate the specific date and or subject if known. Please provide the requested information to this office no later than close of business (20 working days from date of the request). If we do not hear from you by this time, we will presume that you are no longer interested in pursuing your request, and we will close your request in this office.

Kind regards,

Yolanda Brown
GIS/RCC 20
Office of General Law
FRA FOIA

From: Sai

Dear FRA,

My name is Sai, not Sia.

My request was perfectly clear. I am not required to provide a specific date or subject of the emails I requested. For each of the three requests, there is exactly one email that fits its description, and it is completely unambiguous. Moreover, there is no basis in law for you to "presume" that I am no longer interested in my request, or to close it for lack of response from me; case law clearly requires you to fulfill it with your best efforts.

If you intend to refuse my request on either basis, please say so explicitly, so that I may immediately appeal your denial.

Sincerely,
Sai

From: Federal Railroad Administration

Dear Sai,

We responded to your request on No. 4, 2024, see attached. This case is now closed.

Kind regards,

Yolanda Brown
GIS/RCC 20
Office of General Law
FRA FOIA