Mailbag Monday #3: "We're Sorry, But it will Cost You"

In 2002, both Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Robert Byrd questioned if the 1999 West Nile virus outbreak was possibly a foreign biological attack. I wrote to the CIA in early November of last year requesting the documents pertaining to the investigation. My initial request was denied - they stated there was no investigation conducted. I appealed, citing congressional testimony mentioning key aspects pertaining to my request. Here is the CIA's December 21 response to my appeal:

So now it seems there might be documents pertaining to my request in the CIA's possession, but since I somehow fall under the "all other" category I would be responsible for paying for both the search and document duplication.


Page 2 goes on to explain that since they are processing a large number of FOIA requests, there are "unavoidable delays". This means that not only did I not receive a response in 20 days (as the FOIA requires), but there is no timeline as to when I can expect a response. I suppose this all seems fair ... since they didn't conduct an investigation and all...


Be sure to come back in a couple days for a related Web Link Wednesday.