III. Where to Make a FOIA Request
The Department of Justice is organized into a number of bureaus, divisions, and offices. These subdivisions of the Department are often referred to as "components." Within the Justice Department, each component processes its own records. Therefore, your request will receive the quickest possible response if it is addressed directly to the component that you believe has the records you are seeking. Attachment C contains a description of Justice Department components and their addresses. It also contains the each Justice Department component's FOIA Requester Service Center/FOIA Public Liaison information, in accordance with Executive Order 13,392 (Dec. 14, 2005).
The functions of each component are summarized in the Department's regulations (Volume 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 0). The "United States Government Manual" also describes the activities of the Justice Department's components. The "United States Government Manual" is issued annually by the Government Printing Office and is available in most libraries. It may be purchased by writing to: Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. To obtain the current price you can call (202) 512-1800; you also may call that telephone number to place an order using one of several major credit cards. In addition, the "United States Government Manual" can be accessed from the Government Printing Office's World Wide Web site,
www.gpoaccess.gov, under "Executive Resources."
In almost all cases, you should send your FOIA request to a component's central FOIA office. For records held by a field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), however, you must write directly to that FBI office. On the other hand, for example, all requests for records held by a United States Attorney's Office should be sent directly to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys in Washington, D.C.
Because, over time, individual employees of the Justice Department may change job positions, it is not recommended that you address your request to a specific person. Rather, you should include the notation "Freedom of Information Act Request" on the front of your request envelope and also at the beginning of your request letter. In this way you will be sure that the responsible individual receives your request without delay.
If you believe that the Justice Department does maintain the record(s) you are seeking, but you are uncertain about which component has the record(s), you may send your request to: FOIA/PA Mail Referral Unit, Justice Management Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Room 1070 NPB, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530-0001, Attention: FOIA Request. Personnel in that division will then forward your request to the component(s) of the Justice Department most likely to maintain the record(s) you are seeking. As noted in the Justice Management Division's part of Attachment C, that component has a special FOIA Requester Service Center/FOIA Public Liaison for this request-forwarding function.
IV. How to Make a FOIA Request
A FOIA request can be made for any agency record. This does not mean, however, that the Department of Justice will disclose all records sought. As noted above, there are statutory exemptions that authorize the withholding of information of a sensitive nature. When the Justice Department does withhold information from you, it ordinarily must specify which exemption of the FOIA permits the withholding. You should be aware that the FOIA does not require agencies to do research for you, to analyze data, to answer written questions, or to create records in order to respond to a request.
Although, as discussed immediately below, certain information may be required from a FOIA requester, no special form is required by the Justice Department. Requests must be in writing, either handwritten or typed. While requests may be submitted by fax, most components of the Justice Department have not yet developed the capability to accept FOIA requests submitted through the World Wide Web.
In order to protect your privacy as well as the privacy of others, whenever you request information about yourself you will be asked to provide either a notarized statement or a statement signed under penalty of perjury stating that you are the person that you say you are. You may fulfill this requirement by: (1) completing and signing Form DOJ-361 (see Attachment E), (2) having your signature on your request letter witnessed by a notary, or (3) including the following statement immediately above the signature on your request letter: "I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [date]." If you request information about yourself and do not follow one of these procedures, your request cannot be processed. This requirement helps to ensure that private information about you will not be disclosed to anyone else.
Likewise, files relating to another person regarding a matter the disclosure of which would invade that person's privacy ordinarily will not be disclosed. For example, if you seek information that would show that someone else (including even your spouse or another member of your immediate family) has ever been the subject of a criminal investigation -- or even was mentioned in a criminal file -- you will be requested to provide either: (1) a statement by that other person, authorizing the release of the information to you, that has been signed by that person and either was witnessed by a notary or includes a declaration made under penalty of perjury (using the language quoted in the preceding paragraph), or (2) evidence that the subject of your request is deceased -- such as a death certificate, a newspaper obituary, or some comparable proof of death. Without the subject's consent or proof of death, in almost all cases the Justice Department will respond to a request made for information concerning another person's possible involvement in a law enforcement matter by stating that it will "neither confirm nor deny" the existence of responsive records. Such law enforcement information about a living person is released without that person's consent only when no personal privacy interest would be invaded by disclosing the information, such as when the information is already public or required to be made public, or when there is such a strong public interest in the disclosure that it overrides the individual's privacy interest.
In making your request you should be as specific as possible with regard to names, titles, dates, places, events, subjects, recipients, the component(s) likely to maintain that record, etc. In addition, if you want records about a court case, you should provide the title of the case, the court in which the case was filed, and the nature of the case. If known, you should include any file designations or descriptions for the records that you want. You do not have to give a requested record's name or title, but the more specific you are about the records or types of records that you want, the more likely it will be that the Justice Department will be able to locate those records. For example, if you have been interviewed by a law enforcement component of the Justice Department (such as the FBI) in connection with a law enforcement investigation and you wish to request a copy of the interview report, your listing of the date and location of the interview, and the name of the interviewing agent and subject of the investigation, if known, will be helpful to the component in determining where to search and in determining which records respond to your request. Additionally, you should be aware that Justice Department components ordinarily will use the date upon which they begin a record search as the "cut-off" date for determining the records that are responsive to a FOIA request.
In addition to the statements or information that already have been discussed, some components of the Justice Department require additional specific information in order to process a request for particular types of records. These special requirements are noted, where applicable, as part of the descriptions of components in Attachment C.
When a Justice Department component receives your FOIA request, it ordinarily will send you a letter acknowledging the request and assigning it an initial request number for continuity and tracking purposes. If you do not provide the necessary information, the component will advise you of what additional information is required before further processing your request.
Under certain circumstances you may be entitled to receive more information under the Privacy Act of 1974 (a separate federal statute) than under the FOIA. Under the FOIA, generally anyone can request access to any agency record. Privacy Act requests are more limited and can be made only by (a) U.S. citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent U.S. residence, (b) who are seeking information about themselves, (c) which is in a system of records maintained under their names or other personal identifiers. Even if a request does not mention the Privacy Act, however, the Justice Department automatically treats requests as being made under both the FOIA and the Privacy Act whenever it is appropriate to do so. In this way, requesters receive the maximum amount of information available to them under the law.
