Case 1:16-cv-00487-KBJ Document 15 Filed 09/20/16 Page 1 of 3

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
____________________________________
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE )
)
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Plaintiff,
)
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v.
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)
UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR
)
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
)
)
Defendant.
)
___________________________________ )

Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-00487-KBJ

DEFENDANTS STATUS REPORT

By Order of July 29, 2016, the Court ordered Defendant United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) to file a monthly status report, starting on September 20,
2016 and continuing thereafter on the 20th of each month, addressing the status of the documents
that USAID referred to the Department of State (State) and other federal agencies for
consultation. The Court requested that USAID address specific questions in its report regarding
States production capacity. Therefore, USAID hereby submits this status report and states as
follows:
1. Number of pending FOIA requests that State is processing (broken down by original
requests and consultation requests)
State currently has approximately 25,158 pending FOIA requests, including 11,722 requests
made directly to State and 13,435 referrals and consultations, the preponderance of which are
referrals. 1

The term referrals reflects FOIA requests that were originally sent to another agency, and certain documents
responsive to that request were sent to State for processing and release directly to the requester.

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2. The number of cases pending in federal court in which a production schedule has been
entered that requires the State Department to process documents and in which the
production is outstanding as of the date of the status report.
State has approximately 43 FOIA cases pending in federal court with outstanding courtordered monthly production schedules.
(3) Status of States effort to hire additional processing staff
State has taken a series of actions to hire additional FOIA staff to process requests. Earlier
this year, State received authorization to add 25 new full time positions, nearly all of which will
be devoted to directly work on the processing of FOIA requests. Thus far, State has hired one
person as a litigation analyst. State has posted six of these positions on USAJOBs and will begin
reviewing applications that it has received. State will post two more positions on USAJOBS this
month and is planning on posting additional positions next month.
Additionally, State has worked to transition 25 separate employees who review documents
on a part-time basis to full-time appointments. State has also taken actions to fill its existing
vacant positions, which will result in additional employees doing FOIA work. In the past two
months, State has hired three new employees to work on FOIA processing. One of the newly
hired employees will be the FOIA litigation team lead and is expected to start in October.
Finally, for FY17, States FOIA Office requested an additional $4.9 million for FOIA staff.
These additional human resources, if provided, will help State to meet its existing FOIA
demands, especially after the new and vacant positions have been filled and the new hires have
been trained.

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3. Any updates to the number of pages that State has represented it can process in this
case.
State has begun processing the referred documents, and on September 2, 2016, USAID made
its first rolling disclosures to RNC. Given States current workload and its finite resources, its
processing capacity in this matter is still 300 pages a month.
With regards to the documents sent to the 12 other federal agencies, 9 of these agencies have
completed their consultation. In accordance with the Courts Order, USAID is sending these
agencies proposed redactions to State for further review before any non-exempt portions thereof
can be produced to the RNC. USAID is working diligently with the remaining 3 agencies to
complete the consultation process.
Dated: September 20, 2016

Respectfully submitted,

BENJAMIN C. MIZER
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
ELIZABETH J. SHAPIRO
Deputy Director
Federal Programs Branch

/s/ Jean-Michel Voltaire

JEAN-MICHEL VOLTAIRE
NYS Bar
Trial Attorney
U.S. Dept. of Justice Civil Division
20 Mass. Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 616-8211 phone
(202) 616-8460 fax
jean.michel.voltaire@usdoj.gov
Attorney for Defendant