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American Oversight FOIA Request To DHS - Secure Border Initiative (DHS-17-0046)
American Oversight FOIA Request To DHS - Secure Border Initiative (DHS-17-0046)
Nicole Barksdale-Perry
Acting Senior Director of FOIA Operations
The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Lane SW
STOP-0655
Washington, DC 20528-0655
[email protected]
Brendan Henry
FOIA Officer/Public Liaison
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Office of Intelligence & Analysis
Washington, DC 20528
I&[email protected]
Sabrina Burroughs
FOIA Officer
U. S. Customs & Border Protection
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Room 3.3D
Washington, DC 20229
Online Request at FOIAonline
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552 et seq. and your agencys
implementing regulations, 6 C.F.R. Part 5 and 19 C.F.R. 103.2, American Oversight makes the
following request for records.
Building a wall along the entire U.S.Mexico border was a central promise of President Donald
1
Trumps 2016 campaign. On February 8, 2017, Mr. Trump told law enforcement officials that
1
Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump), TWITTER (May 20, 2015, 4:22 PM),
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/601120861882621955; Donald J. Trump
(@realdonaldtrump), TWITTER (Apr. 1, 2016, 5:49 PM),
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/716019755682045952; see also Amanda Holpuch,
This is not the first time that renewed attention and dollars have been directed to the border in
recent years. In 2010, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano ordered a review of
the Secure Border Initiative-network (SBInet), a $3 billion program to build a virtual fence on
Trump Re-ups Controversial Muslim Ban and Mexico Wall in First Campaign Ad, THE
GUARDIAN, Jan. 4, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/04/donald-trump-great-
again-first-campaign-ad-isis-mexico-wall-muslim-ban; Seema Mehta & Noah Bierman, Campaign
2016 Updates: Donald Trump Continues Vow to Build Wall and Have Mexico Pay for It, LOS
ANGELES TIMES, Aug. 31, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-
updates-08312016-htmlstory.html; Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump), TWITTER (Oct. 8,
2014, 5:26 PM), https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/519962130859429888; Bob
Woodward & Robert Costa, Trump Reveals How He Would Force Mexico to Pay for Border
Wall, WASH. POST, Apr. 5, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-would-seek-to-
block-money-transfers-to-force-mexico-to-fund-border-wall/2016/04/05/c0196314-fa7c-11e5-80e4-
c381214de1a3_story.html?utm_term=.7d6d9e7aac34.
2
Julia Edwards Ainsley, Exclusive Trump Border Wall to Cost $21.6 Billion, Take 3.5 Years to
Build: Internal Report, REUTERS.COM (Feb. 9, 2017, 10:05 PM),
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-wall-exclusive-idUSKBN15O2ZN.
3
Donald Trumps Congress Speech, CNN.COM (Mar. 1, 2017, 12:54 AM),
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/donald-trump-speech-transcript-full-text/.
4
Stuart Anderson, Now Americans, Not Mexico, Would Pay for the Wall?, FORBES.COM (Jan. 26,
2017, 9:04 PM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2017/01/26/now-americans-not-
mexico-would-pay-for-the-wall/#177fa9126c48; Scott Horsley, Trumps Suggested Import Tax
Would Mean Americans Pay for That Wall, NPR, Jan. 26, 2017,
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/26/511861462/trumps-suggested-import-tax-would-mean-americans-
pay-for-that-wall.
5
Blake Schmidt & Jonathan Levin, Miami Billionaire Perez Rejects His Friend Trumps Wall
Overture, BLOOMBERG, Jan. 31, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-
31/miami-billionaire-perez-rejects-his-friend-trump-s-wall-overture ([Jorge] Perez, a billionaire who
has built Trump-branded towers in South Florida, said the president e-mailed him after the
inauguration with plans for the wall and asked if hed be interested in working on it.).
6
Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump), TWITTER (Feb. 11, 2017, 9:18 AM),
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/830405706255912960; Donald J. Trump
(@realdonaldtrump), TWITTER (Feb. 11, 2017, 9:24 AM),
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/830407172747988992.
2 DHS-17-0046
7
the border, and suspended the program until the review was complete. After the review was
complete, Secretary Napolitano cancelled the program in January 2011 citing technical problems,
8
cost overruns and schedule delays since its inception in 2005. Records related to SBInet and its
failures are directly relevant to informing the plans for initiating a new wall six years later. The
9
administration is embarking on another multi-billion-dollar wall, and the public has a significant
interest in keeping abreast of developments and cost as this project progresses.
Requested Records
American Oversight requests that the Department of Homeland Security and its component
agencies (collectively DHS) produce the following within twenty business days and seeks
expedited review of this request for the reasons identified below:
3. Any memoranda or reports, and supporting material, prepared for the Trump
administration regarding the efficacy, performance, cost, or utility of the SBInet
program.
4. Any decision memoranda prepared regarding the January 2011 cancellation of the
SBInet program.
5. Any records analyzing or reviewing the SBInet program in connection with any
analysis or evaluation of the proposal to build a wall, fence, or other physical barrier
between the U.S. and Mexico.
Please provide all responsive records from January 1, 2010, through January 31, 2011, as well as all
responsive records from November 8, 2016, through the date of the search.
In addition to the records requested above, American Oversight also requests records describing
the processing of this request, including records sufficient to identify search terms used and
locations and custodians searched and any tracking sheets used to track the processing of this
request. If DHS uses FOIA questionnaires or certifications completed by individual custodians or
7
Jen DiMascio, Napolitano Halts Mexico Fence Plan, POLITICO (Mar. 16, 2010, 7:14 PM),
http://www.politico.com/story/2010/03/napolitano-halts-mexico-fence-plan-034528.
8
CNN Wire Staff, Homeland Security Chief Cancels Costly Virtual Border Fence, CNN (Jan. 14,
2011, 8:15 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/14/border.virtual.fence/; see also Associated
Press, Obama Administration Ends High-Tech Border Fence, CBSNEWS (Jan. 14, 2011, 10:21
PM), http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-administration-ends-high-tech-border-fence/.
9
Kate Drew, This Is What Trumps Border Wall Could Cost, CNBC (Jan. 26, 2017, 10:00 AM),
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/09/this-is-what-trumps-border-wall-could-cost-us.html.
3 DHS-17-0046
components to determine whether they possess responsive materials or to describe how they
conducted searches, we also request any such records prepared in connection with the processing
of this request.
American Oversight seeks all responsive records regardless of format, medium, or physical
characteristics. In conducting your search, please understand the terms record, document, and
information in their broadest sense, to include any written, typed, recorded, graphic, printed, or
audio material of any kind. We seek records of any kind, including electronic records, audiotapes,
videotapes, and photographs, as well as letters, emails, facsimiles, telephone messages, voice mail
messages and transcripts, notes, or minutes of any meetings, telephone conversations or
discussions. Our request includes any attachments to these records. No category of material should
be omitted from search, collection, and production.
Please search all records regarding agency business. You may not exclude searches of files or
emails in the personal custody of your officials, such as personal email accounts. Records of official
business conducted using unofficial systems or stored outside of official files is subject to the
10
Federal Records Act and FOIA. It is not adequate to rely on policies and procedures that require
officials to move such information to official systems within a certain period of time; American
Oversight has a right to records contained in those files even if material has not yet been moved to
official systems or if officials have, through negligence or willfulness, failed to meet their
11
obligations.
In addition, please note that in conducting a reasonable search as required by law, you must
employ the most up-to-date technologies and tools available, in addition to searches by individual
custodians likely to have responsive information. Recent technology may have rendered DHSs
prior FOIA practices unreasonable. In light of the government-wide requirements to manage
information electronically by the end of 2016, it is no longer reasonable to rely exclusively on
12
custodian-driven searches. Furthermore, agencies that have adopted the National Archives and
10
See Competitive Enter. Inst. v. Office of Sci. & Tech. Policy, 827 F.3d 145, 14950 (D.C. Cir.
2016); cf. Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Kerry, 844 F.3d 952, 95556 (D.C. Cir. 2016).
11
See Competitive Enter. Inst. v. Office of Sci. & Tech. Policy, No. 14-cv-765, slip op. at 8 (D.D.C.
Dec. 12, 2016) (The Government argues that because the agency had a policy requiring [the
official] to forward all of his emails from his [personal] account to his business email, the
[personal] account only contains duplicate agency records at best. Therefore, the Government
claims that any hypothetical deletion of the [personal account] emails would still leave a copy of
those records intact in [the officials] work email. However, policies are rarely followed to
perfection by anyone. At this stage of the case, the Court cannot assume that each and every work
related email in the [personal] account was duplicated in [the officials] work email account.
(citations omitted)).
12
Presidential MemorandumManaging Government Records, 76 Fed. Reg. 75,423 (Nov. 28,
2011), available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/28/presidential-
memorandum-managing-government-records; Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments & Independent Agencies,
Managing Government Records Directive, M-12-18 (Aug. 24, 2012), available at
https://www.archives.gov/files/records-mgmt/m-12-18.pdf.
4 DHS-17-0046
Records Agency (NARA) Capstone program, or similar policies, now maintain emails in a form
that is reasonably likely to be more complete than individual custodians files. For example, a
custodian may have deleted a responsive email from his or her email program, but DHSs
archiving tools would capture that email under Capstone. Accordingly, American Oversight insists
that DHS use the most up-to-date technologies to search for responsive information and take steps
to ensure that the most complete repositories of information are searched. American Oversight is
available to work with you to craft appropriate search terms. However, custodian searches are still
required; agencies may not have direct access to files stored in .PST files, outside of network
drives, in paper format, or in personal email accounts.
Under the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, agencies must adopt a presumption of disclosure,
withholding information only if . . . disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption
13
or disclosure is prohibited by law. If it is your position that any portion of the requested records
is exempt from disclosure, American Oversight requests that you provide an index of those
documents as required under Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415
U.S. 977 (1974). As you are aware, a Vaughn index must describe each document claimed as
exempt with sufficient specificity to permit a reasoned judgment as to whether the material is
actually exempt under FOIA. Moreover, the Vaughn index must describe each document or
14
portion thereof withheld, and for each withholding it must discuss the consequences of disclosing
15
the sought-after information. Further, the withholding agency must supply a relatively detailed
justification, specifically identifying the reasons why a particular exemption is relevant and
16
correlating those claims with the particular part of a withheld document to which they apply.
In the event some portions of the requested records are properly exempt from disclosure, please
disclose any reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of the requested records. If it is your
position that a document contains non-exempt segments, but that those non-exempt segments are
so dispersed throughout the document as to make segregation impossible, please state what
portion of the document is non-exempt, and how the material is dispersed throughout the
17
document. Claims of nonsegregability must be made with the same degree of detail as required
for claims of exemptions in a Vaughn index. If a request is denied in whole, please state specifically
that it is not reasonable to segregate portions of the record for release.
You should institute a preservation hold on information responsive to this request. American
Oversight intends to pursue all legal avenues to enforce its right of access under FOIA, including
litigation if necessary. Accordingly, DHS is on notice that litigation is reasonably foreseeable.
To ensure that this request is properly construed, that searches are conducted in an adequate but
efficient manner, and that extraneous costs are not incurred, American Oversight welcomes an
opportunity to discuss its request with you before you undertake your search or incur search or
13
FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 2 (Pub. L. No. 114185).
14
Founding Church of Scientology v. Bell, 603 F.2d 945, 949 (D.C. Cir. 1979).
15
King v. U.S. Dept of Justice, 830 F.2d 210, 22324 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (emphasis in original).
16
Id. at 224 (citing Mead Data Central, Inc. v. U.S. Dept of the Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 251
(D.C. Cir. 1977)).
17
Mead Data Central, 566 F.2d at 261.
5 DHS-17-0046
duplication costs. By working together at the outset, American Oversight and DHS can decrease
the likelihood of costly and time-consuming litigation in the future.
Where possible, please provide responsive material in electronic format by email or in PDF or
TIF format on a USB drive. Please send any responsive material being sent by mail to American
th
Oversight, 1030 15 Street, NW, Suite B255, Washington, DC 20005. If it will accelerate release
of responsive records to American Oversight, please also provide responsive material on rolling
basis.
American Oversight requests a waiver of fees because disclosure of the requested information is
in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of
20
government. The requested records will help American Oversight and the general public
understand the progress of this mammoth government project. The subject of this records request,
the SBInet program, was a failed multi-year, multi-billion-dollar construction endeavor to increase
security along the U.S.-Mexico border. As the administration begins to undertake another border
construction initiative that could cost $21.6 billion, records from the assessment and cancellation
of SBInet would meaningfully inform and significantly enhance the publics understanding of the
21
priorities and challenges in building a border wall.
22
This request is primarily and fundamentally for non-commercial purposes. As a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit, American Oversight does not have a commercial purpose and the release of the
information requested is not in American Oversights financial interest. American Oversights
mission is to promote transparency in government, to educate the public about government
activities, and to ensure the accountability of government officials. American Oversight will use the
information gathered, and its analysis of it, to educate the public through reports, press releases, or
other media. American Oversight will also make materials it gathers available on our public
website.
18
6 C.F.R. 5.11(k)(1)(i).
19
6 C.F.R. 5.11(k)(1)(ii).
20
6 C.F.R. 5.11(k)(1)(i); 6 C.F.R. 5.11(k)(2)(i)-(iv).
21
Ainsley, supra note 2.
22
6 C.F.R. 5.11(k)(1)(ii); 6 C.F.R. 5.11(k)(3)(i)-(ii).
6 DHS-17-0046
Application for Expedited Processing
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(E)(1) and 6 C.F.R. 5.5(e), American Oversight requests that
DHS expedite the processing of this request.
I certify to be true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief, that there is widespread and
exceptional media interest and there exist possible questions about the governments integrity,
which affect public confidence. Media reports indicate funding for the wall could begin to be
23
appropriated as soon as next month. Despite not having secured funding, DHS has already issued
24
its request for proposals, with responses due less than two weeks later. News stories about the wall
25
are published on a daily basis. A multi-billion-dollar construction project directed and financed by
the federal government using tax dollars on an accelerated timeline is a quintessential example of
[a] matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exist possible questions
26
about the governments integrity that affect public confidence.
23
Manu Raju et al., Trump Asking Congress, not Mexico, to Pay for Border Wall, CNN.COM (Jan.
6, 2017, 2:11 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/politics/border-wall-house-republicans-
donald-trump-taxpayers/.
24
FED. BUS. OPPORTUNITIES, Solicitation No. 2017-JC-RT-0001,
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=dd3bb84fde638f0add2d1bf6
560da6b5&_cview=1 (last visited Mar. 20, 2017). See, e.g., Dan Frosch, Bidding Process for U.S.
Border-Wall Construction Begins, WALL ST. J., Mar. 18, 2017,
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidding-process-for-u-s-border-wall-construction-begins-1489869241;
accord Kriston Capps, Almost 200 Firms Have Bid to Build Trumps Border Wall, GOVT EXEC.,
Feb. 28, 2017, http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2017/02/almost-200-firms-have-bid-build-
trumps-border-wall/135754/ (The extreme haste of the governments procurement process is
matched only by the breakneck speed with which the government plans to build the wall.).
25
See, e.g., Associated Press, Trump Wants to Build 30-foot-high Wall at Mexican Border, CNBC
(Mar. 19, 2017, 6:22 AM), http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/19/trump-wants-to-build-30-foot-high-
wall-at-mexican-border.html; Associated Press, Mexico: Companies Should Examine Consciences
on Border Wall, WASH. POST, Mar. 17, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/mexico-
companies-should-examine-consciences-on-border-wall/2017/03/17/7b44efbe-0b84-11e7-bd19-
fd3afa0f7e2a_story.html?utm_term=.3856c7740956; Kriston Capps, The Firm that Built the
Border Fence Isnt Interested in the Border Wall, GOVT EXEC., Mar. 10, 2017,
http://m.govexec.com/contracting/2017/03/firm-built-border-fence-isnt-interested-border-
wall/136060/?oref=m-ge-river; Kriston Capps, Trumps Border Wall Wont Be a Wall, GOVT
EXEC., Mar. 16, 2017, http://m.govexec.com/contracting/2017/03/trumps-border-wall-wont-be-
wall/136211/?oref=m-ge-river; Melissa del Bosque, Texans Receive First Notices of Land
Condemnation for Trumps Border Wall, TEXAS OBSERVER, Mar. 14, 2017,
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-border-wall-mexico-condemnation-letter/; Frosch, supra
note 24; T. Christian Miller, The First Brick in the Wall: Trumps Promised Mexican Border Is
Starting to Turn Into Reality, SALON (Mar. 20, 2017, 8:00 AM),
http://www.salon.com/2017/03/20/the-first-brick-in-the-wall-trumps-promised-mexican-border-is-
starting-to-turn-into-reality_partner/.
26
6 C.F.R. 5.5(e)(1)(iv).
7 DHS-17-0046
Accordingly, American Oversights request satisfies the criteria for expedition.
Conclusion
Sincerely,
Austin R. Evers
Executive Director
American Oversight
8 DHS-17-0046