Peace Corps Office of Medical Services Documents Related to Mefloquine Boxed Warning

Peace Corps
FOIA/Privacy Act Office
1111 20th St., NW
Washington, DC 20526
Phone: 202-692-1236
Fax: 202-692-1385
Email: foia@peacecorps.gov

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Documents, including internal reports, memoranda, briefings, presentations, meeting agendas, drafts for internal review, and relevant emails produced or received between July 29, 2013 and August 9, 2013 by the Peace Corps Office of Medical Services (OMS) related to the July 29, 2013 mefloquine boxed warning, to specifically include any drafts or other documented related to the “Peace Corps Passport” blog entry titled “Staying safe, preventing malaria” by Dr. Barry Simon (available at: http://passport.peacecorps.gov/2013/08/09/staying-safe-preventing-malaria/), and to specifically include any emails or other correspondence between OMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) related either to this blog or to the boxed warning (in the blog post, Dr. Barry Simon notes that the Peace Corps “is working closely with” the CDC on this issue).

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I am a representative of an educational or noncommercial scientific institution and believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of scholarly or scientific research and news gathering and not for commercial usage.

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,

Dr. 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 Feb. 9, 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 #15-0080.

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 Feb. 9, 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 #15-0080.

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 Feb. 9, 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 #15-0080.

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 Feb. 9, 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 #15-0080.

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 Feb. 9, 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 #15-0080.

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 Feb. 9, 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 #15-0080.

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 Feb. 9, 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 #15-0080.

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

To Whom It May Concern:

This message is a request for a status update on 15-0080, which was initially submitted on February 9, 2015 and specifically requested:

"Documents, including internal reports, memoranda, briefings, presentations, meeting agendas, drafts for internal review, and relevant emails produced or received between July 29, 2013 and August 9, 2013 by the Peace Corps Office of Medical Services (OMS) related to the July 29, 2013 mefloquine boxed warning, to specifically include any drafts or other documented related to the “Peace Corps Passport” blog entry titled “Staying safe, preventing malaria” by Dr. Barry Simon (available at: http://passport.peacecorps.gov/2013/08/09/staying-safe-preventing-malaria/), and to specifically include any emails or other correspondence between OMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) related either to this blog or to the boxed warning (in the blog post, Dr. Barry Simon notes that the Peace Corps “is working closely with” the CDC on this issue)."

Thank you.

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 15-0080

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 February 9, 2015, I submitted a FOIA request (the “Request”) to the Peace Corps seeking:

"Documents, including internal reports, memoranda, briefings, presentations, meeting agendas, drafts for internal review, and relevant emails produced or received between July 29, 2013 and August 9, 2013 by the Peace Corps Office of Medical Services (OMS) related to the July 29, 2013 mefloquine boxed warning, to specifically include any drafts or other documented related to the 'Peace Corps Passport' blog entry titled 'Staying safe, preventing malaria' by Dr. Barry Simon (available at: http://passport.peacecorps.gov/2013/08/09/staying-safe-preventing-malaria/), and to specifically include any emails or other correspondence between OMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) related either to this blog or to the boxed warning”.

On February 10, 2015, the Peace Corps acknowledged this request, assigning it request number 15-0080. The acknowledgement stated “You will receive a response within 20 business days”. On March 12, 2015, the Peace Corps sent correspondence stating that “material responsive to FOIA 15-0080 has been received”, and anticipating an interim response or status update would be provided by March 26, 2015. On May 5, 2015, the Peace Corps sent further correspondence stating Peace Corps was “reviewing the material which is responsive that we have received”, and anticipating that it “will be possible to provide an interim response or a status update by June 15, 2015”. No further correspondence was received from the Peace Corps until August 8, 2015, at which time the Peace Corps stated “searching for responsive records has been completed, and [Peace Corps is in] the process of reviewing documents and preparing a response”.

For nearly six months, I made numerous attempts to follow up with Peace Corps, to no avail. Over 12 months have passed since I first 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 March 10, 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 Mr. Bryant and Peace Corps FOIA Staff,

Thank you very much for your recent correspondence regarding FOIA 15-0080, which I originally filed February 9, 2015. On February 19, 2016, I filed an appeal with the Peace Corps Chief FOIA Officer for constructive denial on the basis of prolonged non-response. In a reply from the Peace Corps dated March 11, 2016, I was advised that your staff is working diligently to complete my request.

I am wondering whether you could provide an updated completion date. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to clarify my request or if further information is needed.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

Dear Peace Corps FOIA Staff,

May I please request an update as to the status of my request FOIA 15-0080, originally submitted February 9, 2015? I have not received a formal update since an email dated July 11, 2016, at which time it was noted the responsive records were pending supervisory review.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

Dear Denora,

Thank you for your message of October 14, 2016, in reference to my FOIA request originally submitted February 9, 2015, for documents and correspondence related to the July 29, 2013 mefloquine boxed warning. I refer you to the Peace Corps' correspondence of February 10, 2015, acknowledging this request, and assigning it tracking number FOIA 15-0080. No subsequent correspondence has been received from your office reassigning this request a different number.

As can be verified in documents posted to the public website MuckRock, located at: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/peace-corps-office-of-medical-services-documents-related-to-mefloquine-boxed-warning-15906/, I appealed the Peace Corps' constructive denial of this request on February 19, 2016. On March 11, 2016, you wrote to me acknowledging the appeal, and requesting that I forgo this appeal. I did not concede to this request, and in subsequent months, in response to repeated inquiries for an estimated completion date, was advised on July 11, 2016, that the request was complete and pending only final review. Since that time, I have not received any further substantive correspondence from your office as to when these responsive documents will be released.

Please kindly provide an estimated completion date for my request, and please confirm for me whether this request is still being tracked by your office by its original number 15-0080, or if your office has reassigned it a different number in light of my prior appeal and its extended processing time.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

Thank you, Denora. I will look forward to these responses when they are ready.

Thank you, Denora, for these updates. I will look forward to further updates on each case when these are available.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

Thank you very much, Mario. I appreciate your assistance with this complex case. Given the excessive number of redactions in this document, I shall reserve my right to appeal.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin

Mario,

Thank you for your message. If you would please kindly document your questions in an email, I will respond promptly.

Thank you.

Dr. Remington Nevin

Mario,

Thank you for your message. I have received responses to the following requests:

-Peace Corps FOIA 15-0080 ("Peace Corps Office of Medical Services Documents Related to Mefloquine Boxed Warning", dated February 9, 2015), which I consider closed. This message is linked to the email address assigned to this request.

-Peace Corps FOIA 15-0170 ("Peace Corps Mefloquine Policy Emails", dated June 5, 2015), also encompassing FOIA appeal 16-0089, each of which I also consider closed.

-Peace Corps FOIA 16-0090 ("Peace Corps TG 840: Prevention of Malaria", dated December 13, 2015), which I also consider closed.

-Peace Corps FOIA 15-0278 ("Email Correspondence with Dr. Paul Arguin, CDC", dated September 24, 2015), which I also consider closed.

I am not aware of request 15-0274.

I am awaiting a response to the following single request:

-Peace Corps FOIA 16-0101 ("Peace Corps Director Correspondence Related to March 5, 2015 Mefloquine Policy Proposal Letter", dated March 18, 2016).

I will send a separate message in regards to this request. Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Dr. Remington Nevin