Connell v. United States Southern Command

District Court, District of Columbia·Decided October 27, 2020·No. Civil Action No. 2018-1813·Published

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

JAMES G. CONNELL, III, Plaintiff,

v.

Civil Action No. 18-1813 (RDM)

UNITED STATES SOUTHERN COMMAND,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiff James G. Connell, III, seeks records from Defendant United States Southern Command (“Southern Command”), a component of the Department of Defense, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552 et seq. The requested records relate to a conversation between Admiral Kurt Tidd and Harvey Rishikof, the then-Convening Authority for Military Commissions, prior to Rishikof’s removal from that role. In responding to Plaintiff’s FOIA request, the Southern Command withheld portions of the responsive records pursuant to FOIA Exemptions (b)(1), (b)(3), (b)(5), (b)(6) 7(E), and 7(F). The Southern Command now moves for summary judgment, arguing that these withholdings were appropriate, and Plaintiff cross-moves for partial summary judgment, asserting that the Southern Command improperly withheld portions of the redacted records.

For the reasons explained below, the Court will GRANT in part and DENY in part the Southern Command’s motion for summary judgment and will DENY Plaintiff’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, a defense attorney, submitted a FOIA request to the Southern Command on May 18, 2018, seeking “all documents relating to a conference call made on or about January 24, 2018 between Admiral Kurt Tidd and Harvey Rishikof,” including “any notes, calendar entries, agendas, read-aheads, and all other materials relating to the call.” Dkt. 1 at 4. Plaintiff avers that, at the time of the call, Harvey Rishikoff was “the Convening Authority for Military Commissions . . . and the Director of the Office of the Convening Authority for Military Commissions,” Dkt. 18-1 at 3 (SUMF ¶ 3), and, as such, was responsible for deciding “whether or not to accept plea deals from the alleged 9/11 conspirators,” id. at 2-3; id. at 4 (SUMF ¶¶ 3–4). Plaintiff alleges that, “[s]hortly after this phone call, Mr. Rishikof and Mr. Harvey Brown, Mr. Rishikof’s legal advisor, were fired by the Secretary of Defense . . . , James N. Mattis, under unusual and suspect circumstances.” Id. at 2. Plaintiff further contends that “[o]ne of the topics of the phone call [was] aerial imagery of Guantanamo Bay” and that this topic of conversation was “articulated as one of the bases for the firing.” Id.; see also id. at 5–7 (SUMF ¶¶ 6, 12).

On May 24, 2018, the Southern Command issued an “interim-response” explaining that it would not be able to comply with FOIA’s statutory 20-day deadline because there existed “(a) the need to search for and collect records from a facility geographically separated from this office; and/or (b) the need for consultation with one or more other agencies or [Department of Defense] components having a substantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of the records.” Dkt. 1 at 8. The response further noted that the Southern Command could not provide Plaintiff “an estimated completion date” at that time. Id.

On August 1, 2018, Plaintiff initiated this action, Dkt. 1, and, after the Southern Command answered the complaint, Dkt. 4, the Court held a status conference. At that

conference, held on October 2, 2018, the Southern Command represented that it would provide Plaintiff with materials responsive to his request later that month. Dkt. 5 at 1–2. The Southern Command’s unclassified search for materials responsive to Plaintiff’s request “yielded 1611 pages of emails and 731 pages of attachments,” and its classified search identified up to “1097 pages of emails and 510 pages of attachments.” Dkt. 20 at 5 (Droz Decl. ¶ 10). These documents were reviewed for responsiveness, and “132 pages of emails (containing 187 Records) and 5 attachments” were ultimately deemed responsive. Id. The Southern Command then performed “an initial line by line review to determine what, if any information, needed to be withheld under FOIA,” after which the Southern Command’s “FOIA office did a second line by line review.” Id. Finally, the Southern Command “sent the records to the [Department of Defense] Security Classification/Declassification Review Team for a line by line classification review before final production to the Plaintiff.” Id. (Droz Decl. ¶ 11).

On October 29, 2018, the Southern Command released its redacted response to Plaintiff.

Dkt. 5 at 2. On October 16, 2019, Defendant moved for summary judgment, Dkt. 14, and on November 11, 2019, Plaintiff responded and cross-moved for summary judgment, Dkt. 18; Dkt. 19. The Southern Command then moved, with Plaintiff’s consent, for leave to file a supplemental declaration from Michael Droz, the Deputy Director of the Operations Directorate for the Southern Command, and a revised Vaughn index. Dkt. 16; Dkt. 16-1 (Ex. A). The Southern Command explained that the supplemental declaration would “explain further the agency’s search for responsive documents and expand on the rationale for redacting documents under FOIA Exemptions (b)(1), (b)(3), (b)(5), (b)(6), and (b)(E).” Dkt. 16 at 1. The Southern Command also noted that it had “discover[ed] that certain record numbers associated with the various FOIA exemptions [were] not entirely correct[]” in its first Vaughn Index, and it therefore

sought leave to replace the index. Id. at 1–2. The Southern Command “incorporate[d] by reference the ‘Supplemental Droz Declaration’ and ‘Revised Vaughn Index’ in support of its [earlier-filed] motion for summary judgment” and represented that “[t]he legal principles supporting Defendant’s invoked FOIA exemptions, as argued in the motion for summary judgment, remain[ed] unchanged.” Id. at 2. The Court granted Defendant’s motion. Minute Order (Nov. 12, 2020). Plaintiff cross-moved for summary judgment on November 11, 2019. Dkt. 19. Defendant responded to that cross-motion and supported its cross-motion with the Declaration of Commander Delicia Gonzales Zimmerman of Southern Command. Dkt. 23; Dkt. 23-1. Plaintiff has not filed a reply in support of his cross-motion for summary judgment.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

The Freedom of Information Act is premised on the notion that “an informed citizenry” is “vital to the functioning of a democratic society [and] needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed.” NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214, 242 (1978). The Act embodies a “general philosophy of full agency disclosure.” U.S. Dep’t of Def. v. FLRA, 510 U.S. 487, 494 (1994) (quoting Dep’t of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 360–61 (1976)). The law, accordingly, requires that agencies produce responsive records unless those records fall within one of nine exclusive statutory exemptions. Milner v. Dep’t of Navy, 562 U.S. 562, 565 (2011); .Ancient Coin Collectors Guild v. U.S. Dep’t of State, 641 F.3d 504, 514 (D.C. Cir. 2011).

“[T]he vast majority of FOIA cases can be resolved on summary judgment.” Brayton v.

Office of U.S. Trade Rep., 641 F.3d 521, 527 (D.C. Cir. 2011). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(a), the moving party bears the burden of showing “that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P.

56(a). In a FOIA action, the agency may meet its burden by submitting declarations that are “relatively detailed and non-conclusory.” SafeCard Servs., Inc. v. SEC, 926 F.2d 1197, 1200 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (internal quotation and citation omitted), and an index of the information withheld, see Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820, 827–28 (D.C. Cir. 1973).

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