From: USOGE
To: Emma Best
Subject: OGE FOIA FY 19/073– Acknowledgment of Receipt

This acknowledges receipt of your May 30, 2019, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for “Documents mentioning or relating to Anonymous (the hacker movement/collective) or hacktivism (defined as hacking as a form of protest and/or activism) generated between 1 January 2009 and 1 January 2019, including but not limited to:
* Internal reports, bulletins, warnings and alerts relating to Anonymous or hacktivism
* Reports from the appropriate IT (Information Technology) or computer offices regarding possible cyber attacks by Anonymous or other hacktivists
* Reports, bulletins, warnings and alerts relating to or mentioning Anonymous or hacktivism sent to or received from any federal law enforcement or intelligence agencies or any fusion center
* Incident reports investigating possible hacking activity falling within the office's jurisdiction and allegedly carried out by members of Anonymous or other hacktivist groups
* Materials generated as a result of any suspected or actual compromise, breach or "dox" (revealing of personal or private information) by Anonymous or other hacktivists.”

Your request, which OGE received on May 30, 2019, has been assigned tracking number FY 19/073 and is being processed.

You may now track the status of your FOIA request online at: https://extapps2.oge.gov/FOIAStatus/FOIAInfo.nsf/SearchByFOIANumber?OpenForm. Please enter the individualized tracking number above for status information, including the estimated date of completion. Status information is updated on an hourly basis.

From: requests@muckrock.com [mailto:requests@muckrock.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2019 3:05 PM
To: USOGE
Subject: Freedom of Information Act Request: Anonymous + general hacktivists 2009-2018 (Office of Government Ethics)

Office of Government Ethics
FOIA Office
Suite 500
1201 New York Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20005-3917

May 30, 2019

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Documents mentioning or relating to Anonymous (the hacker movement/collective, see below) or hacktivism (defined as hacking as a form of protest and/or activism) generated between 1 January 2009 and 1 January 2019, including but not limited to:

* Internal reports, bulletins, warnings and alerts relating to Anonymous or hacktivism
* Reports from the appropriate IT (Information Technology) or computer offices regarding possible cyber attacks by Anonymous or other hacktivists
* Reports, bulletins, warnings and alerts relating to or mentioning Anonymous or hacktivism sent to or received from any federal law enforcement or intelligence agencies or any fusion center
* Incident reports investigating possible hacking activity falling within the office's jurisdiction and allegedly carried out by members of Anonymous or other hacktivist groups
* Materials generated as a result of any suspected or actual compromise, breach or "dox" (revealing of personal or private information) by Anonymous or other hacktivists

Anonymous has been described by government agencies as a non-hierarchical hacktivist collective, Anonymous uses hacking (and arguably cracking) techniques to register political protest in campaigns known as “#ops.” Best known for their distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks, past activities have included attacks against the Church of Scientology; Visa, Paypal, and others who withdrew their services from WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange after that group began releasing war documents; #OpTunisia and others purporting to support the Arab Spring; and a campaign that brought down the website of the Westboro Baptist Church. #Ops are usually marked with the release of a video of a reader in a Guy Fawkes mask using a computer generated voice. See attached for additional background information.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emma Best

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
Is this email coming to the wrong contact? Something else wrong? Use the above link to let us know.

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 74362
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share, and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed (i.e., with the requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the department number) requests might be returned as undeliverable.
[Image removed by sender.]

________________________________
OGE Confidential Notice: This message may contain Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) that requires safeguarding or dissemination control under applicable law, regulation, or Government-wide policy. This email, including all attachments, may constitute a Federal record or other Government property that is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the transmission to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying or use of this email or its contents is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by responding to the email and then immediately delete the email.
________________________________

CONTROLLED
----------------------------------------------------
Hi Ms. Best,

I am processing your FOIA request. The term “anonymous” is drawing over 100 documents unrelated to your topic below. OGE’s mission is to provide overall leadership and oversight of the executive branch ethics program designed to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest. Can you give me a call at 202-482-9249 to discuss? I’m about to leave for the day in about 15 minutes. Otherwise, you can call tomorrow.

Thanks very much,

Suzanne

CONTROLLED
----------------------------------------------------
Dear Ms. Best:

Please see below.
OGE has determined that your request does not reasonably describe the records sought. Pursuant to OGE FOIA regulations at 5 C.F.R. § 2604.301(b), “each request must reasonably describe the desired record in sufficient detail to enable Office personnel to locate the records with a reasonable amount of effort.” If possible, a request should include “specific information about each record sought, such as the date, title or name, author, recipient, and subject matter of the record.”

Until OGE receives additional information from you, your request will be deemed not received in accordance with the FOIA, at 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A). You may also confer with me in order to clarify the request. If OGE does not receive any communication from you within 30 calendar days from the date of this letter, your FOIA request will be considered “closed.”

Thank you,

Suzanne