Peace Corps Mefloquine Policy Emails

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Emails written or received by the Director of the Office of Health Services or the Associate Director of the Office of Health Services, dated between March 1, 2015 and May 31, 2015, that include a reference to Peace Corps mefloquine policy or use of mefloquine within the Peace Corps. For the purposes of this request, responsive documents may be considered limited to those identified by the results of a case-insensitive keyword search where any of the terms "mefloquine", "mef", "mq", or "lariam" appear in the body or subject line of the email.

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 fees cannot be waived, 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,

Remington Nevin

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 5, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #FOIA 15-0170.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 5, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #FOIA 15-0170.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT APPEAL

Chief FOIA Officer
Peace Corps
1111 20th Street NW
Washington, DC 20526
Fax: 202-692-1385
Email: FOIA@peacecorps.gov

Re: Appeal of Constructive Denial of FOIA Request 15-0170

Dear Sir or Madam,

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). I am writing to appeal the constructive denial of a request made under the FOIA.

On June 5, 2015, I submitted a FOIA request (the “Request”) to the Peace Corps seeking:

Emails written or received by the Director of the Office of Health Services or the Associate Director of the Office of Health Services, dated between March 1, 2015 and May 31, 2015, that include a reference to Peace Corps mefloquine policy or use of mefloquine within the Peace Corps. For the purposes of this request, responsive documents may be considered limited to those identified by the results of a case-insensitive keyword search where any of the terms "mefloquine", "mef", "mq", or "lariam" appear in the body or subject line of the email”.

On June 8, 2015, the Peace Corps acknowledged this request, assigning it request number 15-0170. The acknowledgement stated “You will receive a response within 20 business days”. On August 14, 2015, the Peace Corps sent correspondence stating that “The search for responsive records is continuing in process”, and that it was anticipated the request would be completed by September 4, 2015.

Since that time, I have made numerous attempts to follow up with Peace Corps, to no avail. Over seven months have passed since I submitted my Request, and the Peace Corps has not provided any documents responsive to my Request, nor has it identified any basis for withholding such documents.

The FOIA requires an agency to respond to a request for records within 20 days. [See 5 USC § 552(a)(6)(A)(i)]. Where an agency invokes a need to consult with “two or more components of [an] agency having substantial subject-matter interest” in a request, the FOIA permits a 10-day extension of time to respond. The Peace Corps has not sent the requestor any documentation claiming invocation of this extension. Similarly, the Peace Corps has not asserted that “extraordinary circumstances” exist to justify its refusal to respond to this request within the time period required by the FOIA. Therefore, the Peace Corps’ response to this request was due on or about July 6, 2015.

The Peace Corps’ failure to response to this request within the time period required by the FOIA serves as a constructive denial of the request, and I am therefore deemed to have exhausted my administrative remedies [See 5 USC § 552(a)(6)(C)]. In light of the foregoing, I can be left with no other impression that the Peace Corps is not exercising due diligence in responding to this Request.

I respectfully request that the Peace Corps respond to this appeal within 20 business days [see 5 USC § 552(a)(6)(A)(ii)]. If you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

Dear Peace Corps FOIA Staff,

I'm following up on the status of my Freedom of Information request for Peace Corps mefloquine policy emails, which I originally submitted on June 5, 2015, and which you had assigned reference number #FOIA 15-0170. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Sept. 4, 2015. I recently appealed for constructive denial on the basis of non-response, and was advised in a reply dated March 11, 2016 that Peace Corps FOIA staff were working diligently to completing the request.

I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Dr. Remington Nevin

Dear Peace Corps FOIA Staff,

I'm following up on the status of my Freedom of Information request for Peace Corps mefloquine policy emails, which I originally submitted on June 5, 2015, and which you had assigned reference number #FOIA 15-0170. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Sept. 4, 2015. I recently appealed for constructive denial on the basis of non-response, and was advised in a reply dated March 11, 2016 that Peace Corps FOIA staff were working diligently to completing the request.

I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Dr. Remington Nevin

Dear Peace Corps FOIA Staff,

Thank you for your email dated May 23, 2016, in response to my request for a status update related to the processing of request #15-0170. This request was appealed — as acknowledged in a letter from the Peace Corps dated March 11, 2016, requesting that I forego a formal appeal pending the final determination of my request. Although it is not clear from this letter whether a formal appeal number was assigned, based on an earlier acknowledgement memo from the Peace Corps dated March 7, 2016, I assume the appeal was assigned tracking number #16-0089 — which I have been citing in my recent correspondence with you.

Given the Peace Corps response to my appeal, I am requesting a status update on my original request, to include a new estimated completion date.

As further clarification, my original request, dated June 5, 2015, was for "Emails written or received by the Director of the Office of Health Services or the Associate Director of the Office of Health Services, dated between March 1, 2015 and May 31, 2015, that include a reference to Peace Corps mefloquine policy or use of mefloquine within the Peace Corps".

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

CC: Mbryant2@peacecorps.gov

Mario Edmundo Bryant
FOIA Analyst (YRCI Contractor)
Peace Corps
1100 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20526

Dear Mario,

Thank you for your update regarding the status of FOIA request # 15-0170.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

Dear Mario,

Thank you very much for providing documents responsive to my request. I am satisfied with these documents and now consider request FOIA 15-0170 closed.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin