FIA-21-0001 - In the Matter of Mensur Omerbashich

On October 23, 2020, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied a Freedom  of  Information Act (FOIA) Appeal filed by Mensur Omerbashich  from  a  letter  of  receipt  issued  by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), denying his request for expedited processing. In the original request, the Appellant stated that the NNSA has a  paucity  of  employees in the fields of engineering and science, and as a result, the NNSA's refusal to hire the "best candidates" for such positions threatens the lives of millions of people  within  and without the United States by jeopardizing the national security of the country. On Appeal, he further stated his request was misunderstood  by  the  FOIA  officer,  in  that  the  failure  to  hire the "obviously best candidates" for the advertised position would result in posing an imminent threat to "hundreds of millions of people," and accordingly, the harm would not be particular to just one individual. Although the Appellant's request concerns the activities of the federal government, the hiring of federal employees, the Appellant  has  not  satisfied  the  first  two  factors of the aforementioned "urgency to inform" test. Accordingly,  the  appeal  was  denied. OHA Case No. FIA-21-0001