5720 Ser N09B10/2U512929 27 Mar 02 From: Chief of Naval Operations To: E-Mail Distribution List (FOIA) Subj: FOIA POLICY LETTER - SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION REGARDING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND OTHER SENSITIVE RECORDS RELATED TO HOMELAND SECURITY Encl: (1) Guidance on Homeland Security (2) Attorney General Ashcroft's Memo of October 12, 2001 1. Both the White House and Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) issued memorandums on March 19, 2002, regarding what actions departments and agencies need to take to safeguard information regarding weapons of mass destruction and other sensitive documents related to homeland security. See enclosure (1). 2. The Department of Defense's Chief, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Division in the Freedom of Information and Security Review Directorate, requested that we make our activities aware of the policy set forth in these memoranda and take steps to ensure that all DON activities comply with such guidance when processing FOIA requests. 3. You are advised to immediately adopt the steps addressed in the ISOO memorandum at enclosure (1) when conducting a review of documents requested under FOIA. Please pay particular attention to Attorney General Ashcroft's memorandum of October 12, 2001 [enclosure (2)] by giving full and careful consideration to all applicable FOIA exemptions when processing documents that fall under this category. 4. The Department of Justice (DOJ) will issue its update of the Freedom of Information Act Guide and Privacy Act Overview sometime in July 2002. We have already ordered copies of this book along with a few of the revised FOIA Case List. If you would like to receive these publications, please fax your requirements to this office at (202) 685-6580 or e-mail your request to navyfoia@hq.navy.mil. Include your complete mailing address and telephone number. Please be advised that both the Office of the General Counsel and Headquarters Marine Corps will be making distributions to their constituencies. 5. The FOIA Post, an electronic publication that replaced FOIA Update, is issued by DOJ and posted on the Internet at http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiapost/mainpage.htm. We highly recommend that you routinely visit this site to learn of the most current news, developments, and guidance regarding the FOIA. 6. You are requested to ensure the widest dissemination of this policy memorandum to your reporting activities. Please address any questions/concerns to this office. Our e-mail address is navyfoia@hq.navy.mil. Our phone numbers are (202) 685-6545/6546 or DSN 325-6545/6546. 7. This policy memorandum and its attachments will be posted under resource materials on our Internet website at http://foia.navy.mil. DORIS M. LAMA By direction (202) 685-6545/DSN 325-6545 Distribution: SECNAV (SAL) OGC JAG (CODE 13) JAG (CODE 14) JAG (CODE 15) OLA ASN (F&MC) ASN (I&E) ASN (M&RA) ASN (RD&A) CNO (N00J) CNO (N09BL) CNO (N2J) CNO (N3N5L) CNO (N45J) CMC (ARAD) BCNR BUMED CHINFO CINCLANTFLT CINCPACFLT CINCUSNAVEUR CNATRA CNET CNR COMNAVAIRLANT COMNAVAIRPAC COMNAVAIRSYSCOM COMNAVCRUITCOM COMNAVFACENGCOM COMNAVMETOCCOM COMNAVPERSCOM COMNAVREGHI COMNAVREGMIDLANT COMNAVREGNE COMNAVREGNW COMNAVREGSE COMNAVREGSW COMNAVRESFOR COMNAVSAFECEN COMNAVSEASYSCOM COMNAVSECGRU COMNAVSPACECOM COMNAVSPAWARSYSCOM COMNAVSPECWARCOM COMSUBLANT COMSUBPAC COMNAVSURFLANT COMNAVSURFPAC COMNAVSUPSYSCOM COMSCOM COMUSNAVCENT HROC NAVAUDITSVC NAVINSGEN NAVMEDIACEN NAVNETOPCEN NAVOBSY NAVPGSCOL NAVRESPERSCEN NAVSTRKAIRWARCEN NAVWARCOL NCIS NCPB NDW NNMC BETHESDA MD ONI PRESINSURV SSP USNA OPNAV Staff Offices