November6, 1998
Michael J. Gaffney, Esq.
Gaffney & Schember, P.C.
1666 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 225
Washington, D.C. 20009
Re: FOIA appeal, your letter dated October 9, 1998
Dear Mr. Gaffney:
On August 27, 1998, you filed a request under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) for documents set forth in eight categories. The requested
documents concern the NCUA Disabled Veterans Affirmative Action
Program. Dianne Salva, NCUA's FOIA Officer, responded to your
request on September 11, 1998. Enclosed with the response were
documents responsive to categories 1 - 3 of your request. Ms.
Salva informed you that she located no documents responsive to
categories 4 - 8 of your request.
In your appeal, you ask us to clarify whether Ms. Salva's search
for documents included all of NCUA's offices or just the Office
of General Counsel. Generally, all documents concerning NCUA's
affirmative action program would be maintained by the division
of Equal Opportunity Programs within the Office of the Executive
Director. Your request was directed to and the responsive documents
were obtained from the division of Equal Opportunity Programs.
We have now determined that there may also be some documents responsive
to category 7 of your request maintained by NCUA's Office of Human
Resources. Ms. Salva will be contacting you with regard to that
aspect of your request. It will be treated as an original request
rather than part of this appeal. Other than the possibility of
documents responsive to category 7 of your request, we do not
believe there are any other responsive documents within any office
of the NCUA.
Federal agencies are under a duty to conduct a reasonable search
for records when a FOIA request is received. Patterson v.
Internal Revenue Service, 56 F.3d 832, 841 (7th
Cir. 1995). The question is not whether any documents responsive
to the request might exist, but rather whether the search for
any responsive documents was adequate. Steinberg v. United
States Department of Justice, 23 F.3d 458 (D.C. Cir. 1994)
quoting from Weisberg v. United States Department of Justice,
745 F.2d 1476 (D.C. Cir. 1984). We believe an adequate search
for documents has been made.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(B), you may seek judicial review
of this determination by filing suit against the NCUA. Such a
suit may be filed in the United States District Court in the district
where the requester resides, where the requester's principle place
of business is located, or in the District of Columbia.
Sincerely,
Robert M. Fenner
General Counsel
GC/HMU:bhs
SSIC 3212
98-1020
cc: Dianne Salva