§5.4. Responsibility for responding to requests. — Inbound Citations

(iii) Requesters will be charged the direct costs associated with conducting any search that requires the creation of a new computer program, as referenced in section 5.4, to locate the requested records. Requesters shall be notified of the costs associated with creating such a program and must agree to pay the associated costs before the costs may be incurred.

(c) All misdirected requests and consultations, coordination, and referrals for requests of records subject to the Privacy Act or JRA will follow the same process and procedures as described in § 5.4(c) and § 5.4(d), including how to handle those requests that pertain to law enforcement information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2), and classified information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2) and (e). Further, whenever a request is made for access to a record containing information that has been classified by or may be appropriate for classification by another component or agency under any relevant Executive order concerning the classification of records, the receiving component will refer to § 5.24 for processing.

(2) A requester may send their request to the Privacy Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, via the internet at https://www.dhs.gov/foia or for any of the Headquarters Offices of the Department of Homeland Security listed in Appendix A to Subpart 5, or https://www.foia.gov/. Upon request, DHS FOIA public liaisons may facilitate, in limited circumstances (e.g., incarceration), an alternative method to submit requests for requesters who are unable to submit electronic requests. Please direct such requests to the liaison of the Office or DHS Component you wish to seek records from, which can be found listed in Appendix A to Subpart 5 or found here: https://www.dhs.gov/foia-contact-information. In addition, if a requester does not know which DHS component may maintain responsive records to a request, the requester may explicitly ask for assistance from the DHS Privacy Office with identifying the proper component that most likely maintains any potential responsive records. Upon a request for assistance and based on information provided in the FOIA request and by the requester, the Privacy Office will forward the request to the DHS component(s) that it determines to be most likely, as of the date of the request for information, to maintain the records that are sought. The Privacy Office will notify the requester that it is forwarding the request, including identifying the component(s) where the request has been sent, provide the FOIA Public Liaison contact information for the respective component(s), and provide administrative appeal rights in the response. If the requester does not agree with the Privacy Office's determination regarding which components would likely have records responsive to the request, the requester must submit a timely appeal of the Privacy Office's determination. Although these are not to be considered misdirected requests, the recipient DHS component shall be granted the same number of days to respond as permitted by 6 CFR 5.4(c) and 5.5(a).

(a) Components ordinarily will respond to requests according to their order of receipt. Appendix A to this part contains the list of components that are designated to accept requests. In instances involving misdirected requests that are re-routed pursuant to § 5.4(c), the response time will commence on the date that the request is received by the proper component, but in any event not later than ten working days after the request is first received by any DHS component designated in appendix A to this part.

(c) All misdirected requests and consultations, coordination, and referrals for requests of records subject to the Privacy Act or JRA will follow the same process and procedures as described in § 5.4(c) and § 5.4(d), including how to handle those requests that pertain to law enforcement information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2), and classified information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2) and (e). Further, whenever a request is made for access to a record containing information that has been classified by or may be appropriate for classification by another component or agency under any relevant Executive order concerning the classification of records, the receiving component will refer to § 5.24 for processing.

(a) The DHS Chief Security Officer (hereafter “Chief Security Officer”) is designated as the Senior Agency Official as required by section 5.4(d) of Executive Order 13526, and, except as specifically provided elsewhere in this part, is authorized to administer the DHS Classified National Security Information program pursuant to Executive Order 13526.

(c) All misdirected requests and consultations, coordination, and referrals for requests of records subject to the Privacy Act or JRA will follow the same process and procedures as described in § 5.4(c) and § 5.4(d), including how to handle those requests that pertain to law enforcement information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2), and classified information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2) and (e). Further, whenever a request is made for access to a record containing information that has been classified by or may be appropriate for classification by another component or agency under any relevant Executive order concerning the classification of records, the receiving component will refer to § 5.24 for processing.

(c) All misdirected requests and consultations, coordination, and referrals for requests of records subject to the Privacy Act or JRA will follow the same process and procedures as described in § 5.4(c) and § 5.4(d), including how to handle those requests that pertain to law enforcement information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2), and classified information, as specified in § 5.4(d)(2) and (e). Further, whenever a request is made for access to a record containing information that has been classified by or may be appropriate for classification by another component or agency under any relevant Executive order concerning the classification of records, the receiving component will refer to § 5.24 for processing.