On July 25, 2022, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied the Freedom of Information ( FOIA) Appeal filed by Rowland Hume (Appellant) from a final determination letter (Determination Letter) issued by the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration ( NNSA). On Appeal, the Appellant argued that the agency failed to conduct an adequate search.
On July 8, 2022, NNSA send the Appellant a final Determination Letter informing the Appellant of the searches conducted and the results they yielded. In a timely filed appeal, the Appellant argues that NNSA told him it would conduct a proper search. The Appellant goes on to state that in the Determination Letter, the NNSA stated that they did not have records relating to the NEST deployment in 1997, as the database was not created until 2003. The Appellant took issue with this assertion, as he believes it directly contradicted a prior statement from the NNSA analyst, which indicated that the NNSA did have such records in its possession. The Individual also asked that a new search be conducted. OHA construed this argument to be a challenge to the adequacy of the search that was conducted for the requested NEST records.
After examining the email exchange that resulted in the alleged contradictory statement, OHA did not agree with the characterization of the exchange, finding that the FOIA analyst did not provide an unequivocal statement that the NNSA possessed the requested records. She also did not guarantee that the databases at the disposal of the site offices possessed the requested records. Rather, she merely provided a generic statement indicating that if there are any responsive documents, the site offices that were operating in 1997, and now under NNSA jurisdiction, may still have documents predating the establishment of the NNSA in their possession.
OHA reached out to NA-80. OHA discovered that NA-80 had asked NA-84 to conduct the search for responsive documents, and NA-84 was directed to search the Asset Readiness Management System (ARMS) database for responsive records. NA-80 also directed the search of the NEST compendium, which is an "unofficial NEST history project."
OHA's review of the search shows NNSA conducted a search reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents. The facts indicate that NNSA made a good faith effort, using a thorough list of search terms and searching all offices where records could reasonably be expected to be found . Accordingly, OHA found that NNSA's search was reasonable and used appropriate methods. ( OHA Case No. FIA-22-0022)