Welsh v. U.S. Dep’t of State, No. 21-1380, 2023 WL 2424606 (D.D.C. Mar. 8, 2023) (Kelly, J.)

Welsh v. U.S. Dep’t of State, No. 21-1380, 2023 WL 2424606 (D.D.C. Mar. 8, 2023) (Kelly, J.)

Re:  Request for list of all posts filled by a specific type of U.S. personnel that had international travel restrictions imposed on them

Disposition:  Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  The court holds that “[t]he State Department has satisfied its burden to show that its search was adequate under FOIA, and it is therefore entitled to summary judgment.”  The court relates that “[t]he State Department began with the six offices the Information Office identified as reasonably likely to have a responsive list, should any exist.”  “[Plaintiff] does not contend that the State Department should have focused on any other offices.”  “The Information Office tasked each office with searching all files likely containing relevant documents and relied on the ‘knowledge and expertise’ of the employees in each office to determine what files would be responsive, where they would be, and how best to find them.”  “Despite their efforts, no office located any list responsive to [plaintiff’s] request.”  The court then finds that “[t]he State Department's search of the eRecords Archive was also adequate.”  “The State Department explained the type of the search conducted, the databases searched, and search terms used.”  “In sum, the State Department engaged in a multi-office effort, explained its search methodologies, identified and searched relevant . . . , and provided the search terms used.”  “Under these circumstances, there is no genuine dispute that this process was adequate.”  The court relates that “[plaintiff] also stresses that ‘the Department has shown that it can, in fact, provide information which is not in a list format,’ which, he suggests, means the State Department should provide such a list even though none exists.”  “But [the court finds that] an agency need not ‘create a document’ or ‘conduct research’ in response to a FOIA request.”  “The State Department’s ‘discretionary decision’ to go beyond its FOIA obligations and create and provide Welsh a document that is partially responsive does not change any of this.”