FIA-18-0033 - In the Matter of National Security Archive

On October 10, 2018, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) granted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal filed by the National Security Archive ("Appellant") from a determination issued by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Public Information (OPI). In the Appeal, the Appellant challenged the adequacy of the search for responsive documents. After receiving information from OPI and the program office that performed the search, the DOE's Office of History and Heritage Resources (MA-75), OHA determined that while MA-75 conducted an adequate search, additional offices within DOE that may have records responsive to the FOIA request have not been searched. Thus, an adequate search was not conducted to discover responsive records throughout DOE. Accordingly, OHA granted the Appeal. OHA Case No. FIA-18-0033.