Ummm... yeah, sorry, but we couldn't find that for you. Nope. Looked everywhere... and then some. Not sure why nothing turned up. It's the darndest thing. So, yeah, maybe you can take your Freedom of Information Act request, go home and quit blocking the line...
FBI Could Limit Public Access To Records
In court, the FBI is defending a recent automated search that missed some documents released years earlier in a separate case under the act, known by its initials, FOIA.
Representing the FBI, the Justice Department asked a federal judge this month to dismiss the lawsuit and said its request should not be undermined "by an unsuccessful search for a document as long as the search was adequate."
Justice Department guidelines say the law requires a search "reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents."
Legal and academic critics say the search in this case did not meet that standard. They said they suspected that the transfer of records from paper to electronic files had become an excuse for doing cursory searches that the government knew would not retrieve all relevant documents.
Salt Lake City lawyer Jesse Trentadue requested the documents in an attempt to uncover information about the suspicious death in federal prison of his brother, Kenneth. After the FBI failed to produce any of the three documents that Trentadue requested, he discovered that two of them had been released through previous FOIA requests.
Mike Kortan, a spokesman for the FBI, said that after Trentadue supplied the two documents, the FBI was able to find them and would provide him copies.
If you find them anywhere else, let us know because then we'd be happy to locate our files and to supply you with copies.
So, now you need to find what you're looking for elsewhere before Bush's supersecret supersleuths in the War on Terra will be able to get you a copy? I guess they just decided to toss out the whole "it's a matter of national security" ploy and instead say, "The dog (computer, filing system, [other made-up excuse here]) ate your FOIA request."
And, how convenient, the FBI has a completely outdated computer and information system that it won't be able to replace any time soon. How many more FOIA requests will get lost in that black hole?
Crossposted at Diary of a Traitor