HHS Chloroquine

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

For the dates between today and the last four months (January 22nd 2020 to April 22, 2020) I seek all email records between Dr. Bright and Bob Kadlec, the assistant health secretary for preparedness and response at HHS that contain the following two keywords "chloroquine" and "hydroxychloroquine."

Responsive records may be in the possession of HHS's Department of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Do not limit your search for email records to just BARDA.

Expedited Processing
Pursant to 5 U.S.C. §552 (a)(6) (E) we request expedited processing as we have a compelling need for information. These records relate to a the government’s response a global pandemic. Therefore we have reasonable belief that “failure to obtain requested records on an expedited basis under this paragraph could reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to the life of an individual.”

Additional Instructions
The requests that all fees incurred in connection with the attached request to your agency be waived, because “disclosure of the information is in the public interest and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.” 5 U.S.C. §552 (a)(4)(A)(iii). See below for further justification for our fee waiver request. Open The Government is a government accountability non-profit whose work contribute to the public understanding of the function of the Federal government.

If any of the material covered by this request has been destroyed or removed, please provide all surrounding documentation including, but not limited to, a description of the action taken regarding the materials and justification for those actions taken. For any documents or portions you deny due to a specific FOIA exemption, please provide a Vaughn Index (Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820, 827 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 977 (1974)), including a detailed justification of your grounds for claiming such exemption and explanation of why the exemption is relevant to the document or portion of the document withheld.

To the extent that some documents may be exempt under 5 U.S.C. §552 (b), we request that you release you segregate non-responsive documents and release the rest.

Please be reminded that under the Freedom of Information Act, we are entitled to a response to this request within ten business days under (a)(6) (E). Should this request be denied for any reason, we ask that a detailed explanation be provided along with the name of the person to whom administrative appeals should be addressed. If you have any questions regarding this request we would appreciate you contacting us directly by email. You may reach me at fmartinez@openthegovernment.org

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

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,

Freddy Martinez
Policy Analyst
Open The Government