UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
DEEN HALEEM,
Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 23-1471 (JEB)
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,
Defendant.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Plaintiff Deen Haleem is a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves whose position
requires him to hold a Top Secret security clearance. After the Government revoked his
clearance for national-security concerns, he submitted a Privacy Act and Freedom of Information
Act request in 2022 to the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) — a component
of the Department of Defense — for documents that the Government relied on in its revocation
decision. After receiving heavily redacted documents and learning that many others were
withheld entirely, Haleem filed a more targeted request with the agency a year later for the
redacted information and withheld documents, which was denied. He then commenced this
Privacy Act and FOIA suit against DOD and the Department of Justice in May 2023.
After the Court narrowed the case in response to the Government’s Motion to Dismiss
(including by dismissing DOJ as a party), both sides moved for summary judgment on what
survived. In an Opinion last December, this Court granted in part and denied in part summary
judgment to both parties. See Haleem v. DOD, 2024 WL 5159073 (D.D.C. Dec. 18, 2024). It
determined that the Government’s withholdings were mostly justified under both Privacy Act
1 Exemption (k)(2) and FOIA Exemption 7(E), but that there were 17 pages of inscrutable code
that were not covered by Exemption 7(E) and thus could be released to Haleem under FOIA. Id.
at *6. Unhappy with this outcome, DOD now asks the Court to reconsider its Opinion solely
regarding the released pages, renewing its previous arguments on Exemptions 7(E) and (k)(2),
along with three other FOIA exemptions. See ECF Nos. 44 (Recon. Mot.); 29 (Def. MSJ) at 16–
35. After holding a hearing on this issue and obtaining supplemental briefing from DOD that
more thoroughly explains the meaning of and threat posed by the release of the code in the pages
at issue, the Court now agrees that the material could be used to circumvent the law and will thus
grant the Motion.
I. Legal Standard
The Government files its Motion under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59(e) and 60(b).
Rule 59(e) permits the filing of a motion to alter or amend a judgment within 28 days after the
judgment’s entry. Since Defendant’s filing was timely, the Motion will be considered under the
less-stringent Rule 59(e) standard. See Bishop v. Vilsack, 2024 WL 3551879, at *1 (D.D.C. July
26, 2024) (“[T]he practice in this jurisdiction is to construe Rule 60(b) motions filed, as here,
within 28 days of the judgment as Rule 59(e) motions to alter or amend the judgment.”)
(quotation marks omitted). “A Rule 59(e) motion is discretionary and need not be granted unless
the district court finds that there is an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of
new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” Firestone v.
Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1208 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (quotation marks omitted); see also 11 Charles
Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2810.1 (3d ed. 2025) (stating
same “four basic grounds” for Rule 59(e) motions). Rule 59(e), moreover, “is not a vehicle to
present a new legal theory that was available prior to judgment,” Patton Boggs LLP v. Chevron
2 Corp., 683 F.3d 397, 403 (D.C. Cir. 2012), or “to relitigate old matters.” Exxon Shipping Co. v.
Baker, 554 U.S. 471, 485 n.5 (2008) (quotation marks omitted).
II. Analysis
Under FOIA, “each agency, upon any request for records which (i) reasonably describes
such records and (ii) is made in accordance with published rules . . . [,] shall make the records
promptly available to any person.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A). If the records fall into one of nine
statutorily created exemptions, however, the Government need not turn them over. Id.
§ 552(b)(1)–(9). Exemption 7(E), for instance, protects law-enforcement records that “would
disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would
disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could
reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law.” Id. § 552(b)(7)(E); see Blackwell v.
FBI, 646 F.3d 37, 42 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (applying “risk of circumvention” standard to law-
enforcement techniques and procedures as well as to guidelines) (quotation marks omitted);
Mayer Brown LLP v. IRS, 562 F.3d 1190, 1193 (D.C. Cir. 2009).
The Government need clear only a low bar to withhold information under Exemption
7(E). See McClanahan v. DOJ, 204 F. Supp. 3d 30, 54 (D.D.C. 2016). It must, however,
provide at least enough information for the Court to logically deduce both that the information
reveals tactics in law-enforcement investigations or prosecutions and that the release of such
information creates a risk of circumvention of the law. See Clemente v. FBI, 741 F. Supp. 2d 64,
88 (D.D.C. 2010); Blackwell, 646 F.3d at 42. While a foreseeable-harm analysis is also typically
required to withhold documents, “because . . . [E]xemption [7(E)] already requires a showing of
risk of circumvention of the law, no further foreseeable-harm analysis is necessary.” Gun
Owners of Am., Inc. v. FBI, 2024 WL 195829, at *4 (D.D.C. Jan. 18, 2024); see also
3 100Reporters v. U.S. Dep’t of State, 602 F. Supp. 3d 41, 83 (D.D.C. 2022); Buzzfeed, Inc. v.
DHS, 610 F. Supp. 3d 139, 148 n.1 (D.D.C. 2022).
The Government contends that the Court erred in finding the 17 pages releasable because
while the code on these pages may not mean anything to the average person, it can be deciphered
by foreign intelligence actors or cyber criminals and used to evade DOD investigations, thus
qualifying the pages to be withheld under Exemption 7(E). See Recon. Mot. at 16–20; ECF No.
48-1 (Third Supp. Decl. of Michael T. Heaton; Army Counterintelligence Special Agent Decl.).
To bolster this assertion, Defendant provides a supplemental declaration from Michael T.
Heaton, Director of INSCOM’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Office, stating that the
code contains both “general administrative data,” such as the “investigator[’]s name, time of
digital screening, [and] benign control settings,” and “more technical data,” such as “forensic
tool name and version, speed and sectors searched, specific files paths searched, key word and
digital search techniques employed, type of media device, key descriptors of the exploitation
results, [and] digital media security identifier group.” Heaton Decl. at 4. Such information,
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
DEEN HALEEM,
Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 23-1471 (JEB)
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,
Defendant.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Plaintiff Deen Haleem is a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves whose position
requires him to hold a Top Secret security clearance. After the Government revoked his
clearance for national-security concerns, he submitted a Privacy Act and Freedom of Information
Act request in 2022 to the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) — a component
of the Department of Defense — for documents that the Government relied on in its revocation
decision. After receiving heavily redacted documents and learning that many others were
withheld entirely, Haleem filed a more targeted request with the agency a year later for the
redacted information and withheld documents, which was denied. He then commenced this
Privacy Act and FOIA suit against DOD and the Department of Justice in May 2023.
After the Court narrowed the case in response to the Government’s Motion to Dismiss
(including by dismissing DOJ as a party), both sides moved for summary judgment on what
survived. In an Opinion last December, this Court granted in part and denied in part summary
judgment to both parties. See Haleem v. DOD, 2024 WL 5159073 (D.D.C. Dec. 18, 2024). It
determined that the Government’s withholdings were mostly justified under both Privacy Act
1 Exemption (k)(2) and FOIA Exemption 7(E), but that there were 17 pages of inscrutable code
that were not covered by Exemption 7(E) and thus could be released to Haleem under FOIA. Id.
at *6. Unhappy with this outcome, DOD now asks the Court to reconsider its Opinion solely
regarding the released pages, renewing its previous arguments on Exemptions 7(E) and (k)(2),
along with three other FOIA exemptions. See ECF Nos. 44 (Recon. Mot.); 29 (Def. MSJ) at 16–
35. After holding a hearing on this issue and obtaining supplemental briefing from DOD that
more thoroughly explains the meaning of and threat posed by the release of the code in the pages
at issue, the Court now agrees that the material could be used to circumvent the law and will thus
grant the Motion.
I. Legal Standard
The Government files its Motion under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59(e) and 60(b).
Rule 59(e) permits the filing of a motion to alter or amend a judgment within 28 days after the
judgment’s entry. Since Defendant’s filing was timely, the Motion will be considered under the
less-stringent Rule 59(e) standard. See Bishop v. Vilsack, 2024 WL 3551879, at *1 (D.D.C. July
26, 2024) (“[T]he practice in this jurisdiction is to construe Rule 60(b) motions filed, as here,
within 28 days of the judgment as Rule 59(e) motions to alter or amend the judgment.”)
(quotation marks omitted). “A Rule 59(e) motion is discretionary and need not be granted unless
the district court finds that there is an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of
new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” Firestone v.
Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1208 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (quotation marks omitted); see also 11 Charles
Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2810.1 (3d ed. 2025) (stating
same “four basic grounds” for Rule 59(e) motions). Rule 59(e), moreover, “is not a vehicle to
present a new legal theory that was available prior to judgment,” Patton Boggs LLP v. Chevron
2 Corp., 683 F.3d 397, 403 (D.C. Cir. 2012), or “to relitigate old matters.” Exxon Shipping Co. v.
Baker, 554 U.S. 471, 485 n.5 (2008) (quotation marks omitted).
II. Analysis
Under FOIA, “each agency, upon any request for records which (i) reasonably describes
such records and (ii) is made in accordance with published rules . . . [,] shall make the records
promptly available to any person.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A). If the records fall into one of nine
statutorily created exemptions, however, the Government need not turn them over. Id.
§ 552(b)(1)–(9). Exemption 7(E), for instance, protects law-enforcement records that “would
disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would
disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could
reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law.” Id. § 552(b)(7)(E); see Blackwell v.
FBI, 646 F.3d 37, 42 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (applying “risk of circumvention” standard to law-
enforcement techniques and procedures as well as to guidelines) (quotation marks omitted);
Mayer Brown LLP v. IRS, 562 F.3d 1190, 1193 (D.C. Cir. 2009).
The Government need clear only a low bar to withhold information under Exemption
7(E). See McClanahan v. DOJ, 204 F. Supp. 3d 30, 54 (D.D.C. 2016). It must, however,
provide at least enough information for the Court to logically deduce both that the information
reveals tactics in law-enforcement investigations or prosecutions and that the release of such
information creates a risk of circumvention of the law. See Clemente v. FBI, 741 F. Supp. 2d 64,
88 (D.D.C. 2010); Blackwell, 646 F.3d at 42. While a foreseeable-harm analysis is also typically
required to withhold documents, “because . . . [E]xemption [7(E)] already requires a showing of
risk of circumvention of the law, no further foreseeable-harm analysis is necessary.” Gun
Owners of Am., Inc. v. FBI, 2024 WL 195829, at *4 (D.D.C. Jan. 18, 2024); see also
3 100Reporters v. U.S. Dep’t of State, 602 F. Supp. 3d 41, 83 (D.D.C. 2022); Buzzfeed, Inc. v.
DHS, 610 F. Supp. 3d 139, 148 n.1 (D.D.C. 2022).
The Government contends that the Court erred in finding the 17 pages releasable because
while the code on these pages may not mean anything to the average person, it can be deciphered
by foreign intelligence actors or cyber criminals and used to evade DOD investigations, thus
qualifying the pages to be withheld under Exemption 7(E). See Recon. Mot. at 16–20; ECF No.
48-1 (Third Supp. Decl. of Michael T. Heaton; Army Counterintelligence Special Agent Decl.).
To bolster this assertion, Defendant provides a supplemental declaration from Michael T.
Heaton, Director of INSCOM’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Office, stating that the
code contains both “general administrative data,” such as the “investigator[’]s name, time of
digital screening, [and] benign control settings,” and “more technical data,” such as “forensic
tool name and version, speed and sectors searched, specific files paths searched, key word and
digital search techniques employed, type of media device, key descriptors of the exploitation
results, [and] digital media security identifier group.” Heaton Decl. at 4. Such information,
Heaton states, provides the details necessary for bad actors “to implement anti-forensic
techniques to make it difficult or impossible for counterintelligence or criminal forensic analysts
to recover information, or . . . to alter logs and files, or to create false time event timelines
(timestamps), or [to] employ[] . . . malware to obfuscate digital trails.” Id. An unnamed Army
Counterintelligence Special Agent — in a separate declaration — concurs and notes that the code
on these pages was designed to provide an accessible overview of the investigation for future
investigators, which means that bad actors could easily and quickly use it to gain insight into
investigations, change records, and avoid detection. See generally Special Agent Decl. at ECF
pp. 19–21. Heaton emphasizes that such threats are substantial given that manipulation of secure
4 records has occurred before. See Heaton Decl. at 4 (“Forensic analysis has previous[ly] revealed
instances where actors have overwritten files, manipulated timestamps, and returned systems to a
‘clean state’ to prevent detection and analysis.”).
Previous courts have found that if a declarant states that withheld information details a
technique used for law-enforcement investigations and that such information could be
“reasonably expected” to lead to the circumvention of law, the Government satisfies the
Exemption 7(E) requirements. See Mayer Brown LLP, 562 F.3d at 1193 (quotation marks
omitted); Blackwell, 646 F.3d at 42. For example, when the Government claims that the
information at issue could allow outside actors access to a secure system and the ability to
manipulate that system, courts have concluded that there is a reasonable risk of circumvention of
law. See Skinner v. DOJ, 893 F. Supp. 2d 109, 113–14 (D.D.C. 2012) (holding that computer
codes similar to code here qualified as information that could be used to circumvent the
law), aff’d sub nom. Skinner v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, 2013 WL
3367431 (D.C. Cir. May 31, 2013); Strunk v. U.S. Dep’t of State, 905 F. Supp. 2d 142, 147
(D.D.C. 2012) (recognizing risk of circumvention where disclosure of data could “facilitate[]
access to and navigation through [a law-enforcement database] and reveal[] mechanisms for
access to and navigation through [the database]”) (quotation marks omitted). Since the
statements provided by DOD clarify that the code discloses law-enforcement techniques and that
there is a reasonable risk that cyber criminals could use such information to navigate a secure
system and thus circumvent the law, the pages can be withheld under Exemption 7(E). As that
exemption covers all 17 pages, moreover, the Court need not address whether other FOIA
exemptions apply. See Ctr. for Nat’l Sec. Stud. v. DOJ, 331 F.3d 918, 925 (D.C. Cir. 2003).
5 In a final effort to obtain the pages, Haleem asserts that they must be released under the
Privacy Act, and that the Government has not claimed that an exemption allows it to withhold
them. See ECF No. 49 (Pl. Resp. to Supp. Filing); Martin v. Off. of Special Counsel, Merit Sys.
Prot. Bd., 819 F.2d 1181, 1184 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (stating Government must claim valid
exemption under both Acts to withhold material). The Court found earlier, however, that the 113
pages of material originally at issue (which include the 17 pages relevant here) could be withheld
under Privacy Act Exemption (k)(2) because they are “investigatory material compiled for law
enforcement purposes.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(k)(2); see Haleem, 2024 WL 5159073, at *5. This Act
thus offers no relief.
III. Conclusion
For these reasons, the Court will grant Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration and allow
Defendant to withhold the 17 pages at issue. A separate Order so stating will issue this day.
/s/ James E. Boasberg JAMES E. BOASBERG Chief Judge Date: July 25, 2025