Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 June 14

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June 14

Duration of a FOIA request

Almost a year ago, I submitted three I guess rather simple FOIARs to the CIA. Up no know I did not get any reply besides an early confirmation. Is that the normal case? The requests are rather uncontroversial "archival" ones, the papers were written between 1951 and 1978, so I do not believe that it was refused. Or could it be a problem that I am foreign (german) national? Has anyone experience with that?--Antemister (talk) 17:47, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

You might need to consult your lawyer. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:32, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

Details: "Time Periods under FOIA". www.dmlp.org. Digital Media Law Project. —2606:A000:1126:4CA:0:98F2:CFF6:1782 (talk) 22:40, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

That supports what I expected. And this from the National Security Archive at GWU but general also suggests a similar thing [1]. Namely if your requested is denied, or there is some other problem, they should tell you. Also the second source also suggests being a foreign national does not stop you making a legitimate request. Both sources also suggest somethin again to be expected. If you want to know what's going on, your best bet is probably to ask. Remember to include the tracking number or whatever you received with your initial confirmation. There's a reasonable chance it's just stuck in a backlog. Or maybe it somehow got waylayed. Nil Einne (talk) 03:43, 15 June 2018 (UTC)

Bear in mind that answering questions from random members of the public is not part of their primary mission, but rather something they're reluctantly forced to do by legal requirements. They probably don't approach it with any urgency, or devote many resources to it, as this would detract from their efforts elsewhere. Quite possibly they might want to investigate the questioner before actually addressing the question, to make sure the questioner doesn't have an ulterior motive in establishing contact with them. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.125.75.224 (talk) 04:51, 15 June 2018 (UTC)

on the notion that people making FOI requests are investigated prior to their requests being processed. Matt Deres (talk) 18:45, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

Yes it sounded very weird to me too. I guess if there are major triggers with the request, or with the request combined with whatever the CIA already know about the person it may cause further investigation but otherwise it seems unlikely. If you think the CIA is annoyed at having to spend time on FOI requests, imagine how annoyed they must be at having to spent time investigating everyone who sends a FOI request. Nil Einne (talk) 04:54, 18 June 2018 (UTC)