Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
INFORMATION ACT
5 U.S.C.§ 552
statutory standard.
Background
The petitioner, upon suggestion by a New York Times
Information Act.3
commercial interest.”5
Legal Standard
followed.”9
considers:
disclosure.”27
Conclusion
By:
/s/
Robert Moore
12 See id.
17 See id.
18 See id.
25
See Markman, supra note 1. See also, Blakley supra note 24,
for reference to public domain.
28 See id.
30
See Petitioner supra note 2. See also, Cf. Glen Miller, 26 DOE
§ 80,147 at 80, 649 (1996), where the “contribution to the
general public likely to result from disclosure” aspect of the
statute was satisfied, when a reporter from the New York Times
“stated that the documents were newsworthy.” The New York Times
reporter in the present case stated the following to petitioner
in written correspondence: “I don't have photographs of the
lobby…Perhaps NIST has pictures…” The New York Times reporter
further stated the following after an inquiry regarding criminal
conduct: “You should ask NIST if what they're investigating
involves arson.” Although, such correspondence and interest shown
by the reporter does not guarantee that New York Times editors
will find such data newsworthy, certainly such correspondence
with petitioner goes beyond a requester who “intends merely to
disseminate information” to the media as stated in Markman, supra
note 1. Here the petitioner has had direct contact with a member
of the print media, among others, in order to freely and
specifically disseminate the requested information for FOIA
statutory purposes.
34 See, Internet Archive, supra note 22, and see notes (regarding
the limited number of stills and videos presently available
depicting the upper and lower lobby areas of 7 World Trade Center
on September 11, 2001), supra note 22. See also, James M.
Williams, President of the Structural Engineers of Utah, SEAU
News, The Newsletter of the Structural Engineers of Utah, Volume
VI, Issue II (October 2001), where Williams stated that the FBI
actually made decisions as to which photographs would be
broadcast to the public. Specifically, Mr. Williams stated: “As
of 21 days after the attack, the fires were still burning and
molten steel was still running. What concrete wasn’t pulverized
into dust will continue to be removed for weeks to come. The
structural steel is being removed and shipped by barge to be
recycled.
All photographs shown on television, shot-on-site were pre-
approved by the FBI. We were shown photographs that were not
released for public view,” available at
(http://www.seau.org/SEAUNews-2001-10.pdf.). Note that the issue
of obtaining photographs and video of alleged running molten
metal beneath ground zero is an issue for a separate FOIA
request, and is not the subject of the present request.
35
See Memorandum of Timothy S. Elliot, Acting Associate
Solicitor-Division of General Law, Freedom of Information Act—Fee
Waiver Guidance, where it states: “The question of significance
is not an objective one. The legislative history and cases
interpreting the statute make clear that agencies are not to make
editorial judgments about the newsworthiness of requested
documents, available at (http://www.doi.gov/foia/feewaive.html).
See generally, U.S. Const. amend. I.
36
See Markman, supra note 1 and 5 U.S.C. § 552 (a); 28 C.F.R §
16.11 (k) (1999),supra note 1.
37
See Markman, supra note 1, where the New Fee Waiver Policy
Guidance states that: “A ‘commercial interest’ is one that
furthers a commercial trade or profit interest as those terms are
commonly understood.” Petitioner has no such interest. See
generally, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (a); 28 C.F.R § 16.11 (k) (1999),supra
note 1.
Exhibit A
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552.
• Photographs and applicable video (in jpeg, mpeg or another format) of the south side upper and
lower lobby (inside and outside) of WTC Building 7 taken throughout the day on September 11,
2001. These would be the photos and video taken in the immediate vicinity of the WTC Building 7
south side upper and lower entrances.
• Photographs and applicable video of the “WTC Division” triage area, which was active at 9:30 am
on September 11, 2001. http://www.dps.state.vt.us/homeland/fdnylessonslearned9-11.pdf
• Photographs of the upper and lower south side lobby areas (interior and exterior) of Building 7 after
the collapse of WTC 2, then after the collapse of WTC 1. Note that NIST described the lobby area
of WTC 7 after the collapse of WTC 1 as having “no heavy debris” with a “white dust coating.”
http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/June2004WTC7StructuralFire&CollapseAnalysisPrint.pdf
In order to help to determine my status to assess fees, you should know that I am an individual seeking
information for personal use and not for a commercial use.
I request a waiver of all fees for this request. Disclosure of the requested information to me is in the public
interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of
the government and is not primarily in my commercial interest. I asked a reporter from the New York Times
for copies of the responsive photographs from the Times archives if they were available. The reporter stated
that I should request the photos from NIST. The photographs hold very significant historical value.
Sincerely,
/s/
Robert Moore
P.O. Box 16
Harmony, RI 02829
rkmoore@justice.com
attyremoore@cox.net
Exhibit B
(attached)