Sgt. Star (United States Army Recruiting Command)

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Sgt. Star's input patterns (all the phrases and keywords Sgt. Star is pre-programmed to recognize) and the scripted output answers (all the possible things Sgt. Star could say).

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I 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 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,

Jason Smathers

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 4, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

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. 4, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

MAJ Adam K. Mellor,

I am looking for a complete set input that Sgt. Star is programmed to respond to and the responses Sgt. Star uses for each of these inputs.

Thanks!

Regards,
Jason Smathers

FOIA Appeal

Dear Appeals Authority,

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act.

On 2/4/14, I requested a copy of "Sgt. Star's input patterns (all the phrases and keywords Sgt. Star is pre-programmed to recognize) and the scripted output answers (all the possible things Sgt. Star could say)."

On 4/30/14, my request was denied stating that the record was not maintained in the recruiting office and they would not refer the request to the office that does have the records because I was requesting analysis. This is not the case, therefore, I appeal.

Sgt. Star is a software program that automatically responds to communication online. Every response that it gives is pre-programmed and is necessarily stored in some form. It seems likely that since a contractor built the system, they were provided with a list of commands that the software should respond to. It would be highly irregular for a contractor to be permitted to speak for the Army to the public without any guidance, thus a record likely exists where the Army communicated this information to the contractor. Further, the software is not an intelligent life form, rather, it is programmed software and draws responses for some source. Most likely, this is a computer database that holds all possible responses. This database (or whatever form the data happens to be in) is considered a record under the Freedom of Information Act and must be released.

For these reasons and all others deemed appropriate by the appeals authority, I appeal. Please provide the requested information.

Regards,
Jason Smathers

Per the attached, this request has been forwarded to Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army from United States Army Recruiting Command. Please confirm receipt and provide a tracking number as applicable.

This communications is in regards to the FOIA request copied below which was forwarded to your agency.

Please confirm receipt of the request and provide an estimated completion date.

Thank you.