Petrelis Files

DoD's $100M Lincoln Group Contract FOIA'ed

The following request was made today via email and snail mail.
-

[From DoD's FOIA office]

This is your confirmation that we have received your FOIA request. Please note that it will be date-stamped as "received" on the next official business day.

You provided the following information:

Submitted: [06/Jan/2006:16:59:29]
Name: MIchael Petrelis
Organization: http://petrelisfiles.com
Phone number: 1-415-
E-mail: mpetrelis@aol.com

City: San Franciscso
State: ca
ZIP Code: 94103

Your Request:

January 6, 2006

FOIA Office
Department of Defense
1155 Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1155

Dear Sir or Madam:

Pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request a copy of, or access to, contract number H92222-05-D-1010, which was awarded by the Department of Defense on June 7, 2005, and is in effect until June 6, 2010.

This is a $100,000,000 contract the Pentagon gave to the Lincoln Group, based in Washington, DC, for media approach planning, prototype product development, commercial quality product development, product distribution and dissemination, and media effects analysis for the Joint Psychological Operations Support element of DoD’s military operations in Iraq.

I am also requesting, as a news blogger who qualifies for status as a representative of the news media as stated in the Act, that this request be granted expedited processing and all fees for searching and copying be waived. My news site is at: http://petrelisfiles.com.

As you know, DoD regulations identify a media representative as “a person actively gathering news for an entity organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public,” which is from the Office of Management and Budget’s FOIA guidelines, Section 6.j., under the FOIA Reform Act.

Furthermore, the Department of Justice’s FOIA Guide of May 2004, Fees and Fee Waivers section, explicitly says the “definition of a ‘representative of the news media’ refers to any person actively gathering information of current interest to the public for an organization that is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the general public.”

I emphasize the words “any person” to ensure I am properly accorded media status by your office regarding expedited process and fee waivers.

If you have any questions or need clarification, please contact me.

Thank you in advance for your prompt response and assistance.

Sincerely,
Michael Petrelis