FIA-24-0003 - In the Matter of David Rosenthal

On November 27, 2023, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied the Freedom of Information (FOIA) Appeal filed by the David Rosenthal (Appellant) from a determination letter issued by the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). On appeal, the Appellant challenged the adequacy of NNSA's search. After reviewing NNSA's response, we found that NNSA directed the request to an experienced employee who used her experience to determine appropriate places to search. She then conducted a search using keywords from the Appellant's request. When that request returned no results, she checked with other agency employees in the appropriate offices to determine if there would be any other appropriate search locations and found she had searched all relevant locations. Therefore, we deny the appeal. (OHA Case No. FIA-24-0003, Weinstock)