On November 19, 2012, an individual plaintiff and National Security Counselors filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs sued the Department of Justice, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), the Privacy Act (collectively “FOIA/PA”), the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act, and the All Writs Act. They sought declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief. The case was assigned to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.

The individual plaintiff had been employed as a nurse at the Federal Reserve Board’s headquarters. In 2004, the Miami Field Office of the FBI received a document marked “FISA Alert Report Form” from the Financial Institution Security Association (“FISA”), requesting information on the plaintiff. FBI staff misunderstood the marking, reading “FISA Alert Report Form” to mean “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Alert Form.” Because the document was misinterpreted to be a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act alert, the plaintiff’s name was subsequently added to national and homeland security watchlists, and she was fired. She submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to each of the defendant agencies, seeking records related to FISA alerts and records indicating whether her name appeared on the government’s No Fly List. However, the agencies did not produce responsive documents, and after unsuccessfully filing an earlier lawsuit (Crisman v. DOJ, D.D.C. docket number 11-cv-658), the plaintiffs brought this lawsuit seeking to compel production of documents.

On May 2, 2013, the court ordered the parties to engage in settlement negotiations. On August 15, 2013, the agencies moved for mediation. The following month, the court declined to appoint a mediator.

On December 3, 2013, the agencies filed a motion for summary judgment, indicating that the government agencies had released reasonably segregable materials, conducted reasonable searches, and provided Vaughn indices (declarations explaining the justification for withholding requested documents).

The case was reassigned to District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in June 2014.

On September 18, 2018, the court granted summary judgment to the agencies on most of the issues raised in the complaint. 332 F. Supp. 3d 139. On July 30, 2020, the agencies filed a renewed motion for summary judgment on the remaining issues; as of August 14, 2020, that motion is pending.

Susie Choi - 04/02/2017
Sichun Liu - 05/26/2019


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