Opinion
04 Civ. 4151 (AKH).
January 10, 2006
ORDER
WHEREAS, plaintiffs submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 ("FOIA"), to the Department of Defense and its various components ("DOD") for documents relating to the treatment of overseas detainees, and these FOIA requests are, inter alia, the subject of this case ("Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests");
WHEREAS, on November 1, 2004, the Court ordered that DOD provide a partial response to Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests "at a rate reflecting identification and review of at least 10,000 pages per month, by November 30, 2004 and December 31, 2004." Order of November 1, 2004, at 2;
WHEREAS, by order of February 1, 2005, the Court increased DOD's obligations to 11,500 pages per month. See Order of February 1, 2005 ("Defendant shall continue its rate of processing but in volumes at least 15% greater than in the previous months");
WHEREAS, at a conference on March 4, 2005, the Court expressed its desire that DOD establish a "flow" for the processing of documents so that documents would be processed on a regular basis, rather than simply at the end of each month, and the Court subsequently issued a written order requiring that DOD process documents at a rate of 8,000 pages every 15 days. See Order of March 22, 2005;
WHEREAS, after a subsequent application by DOD, the Court issued an order stating that "DOD shall use zealous and good faith efforts" to bring itself into compliance with the order of March 22, 2005, see Order of April 7, 2005;
WHEREAS, DOD continues to process Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests;
WHEREAS, given DOD's progress to date in processing Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests, both plaintiffs and DOD believe that it is now in their collective interest to agree upon a final deadline for DOD to complete the processing of Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests and that a final deadline will provide a more efficient method for completing the processing Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests than the existing processing regime; and
WHEREAS, the parties agree that establishing a final deadline of June 15, 2006, for DOD to complete processing of Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests is in the parties' collective best interests and that certain interim deadlines for processing can also be set, it is hereby
ORDERED that DOD shall complete its processing of the FBI Referrals by February 15, 2006, and the CIA Referrals by March 15, 2006;
ORDERED that the Department of the Army shall complete processing of Plaintiffs' FOIA requests by March 15, 2006 (including all responsive documents except those referred to it or returned to it after January 1, 2006 by other components within DOD), and that the Department of the Army shall use a date of January 3, 2006 as the relevant date for determining whether any responsive investigations or disciplinary proceedings are considered open or closed for purposes of FOIA Exemption 7;
ORDERED that the Defense Intelligence Agency shall complete processing of Plaintiffs' FOIA requests by April 15, 2006 (including all responsive documents except those referred to it or returned to it after January 1, 2006 by other components within DOD);
ORDERED that the remainder of DOD shall complete its processing of Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests, including all referrals, by June 15, 2006;
ORDERED that DOD shall provide to plaintiffs a processing report at the end of each month explaining the progress made by DOD during the prior month in processing Plaintiffs' FOIA Requests; and
ORDERED that DOD will continue to produce responsive documents to plaintiffs as documents become available for release but DOD will no longer be subject to the monthly processing requirements set forth in this Court's orders dated February 1, 2005, March 22, 2005 and April 7, 2005.
SO ORDERED.