Elizabeth Withnell
Departmental Disclosure Officer
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Lane, SW
Building 410
Washington, DC 20528
Re: Expedited Processing Freedom of Information Act request
Attention:
This letter is a renewal of our Freedom of Information Act request for the disclosure of all agency records[1] regarding the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange (MATRIX) (copy attached). Our first request was sent to you on October 17, 2003 and was received by the agency on October 20, 2003Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A)(i) a reply is mandated within twenty working days. To date we have received no response to this request. A phone call to the agency identified you as the proper contact for this request but we have also sent a copy to Secretary Ridge in order to assure that this letter reaches the appropriate official. We have also copied Nuala O'Connor Kelly on this request because we believe that this matter will be of interest to her.
Since our initial letter we have received additional information from the Pennsylvania State Police that makes clear that this request should receive expedited processing pursuant to 6 C.F.R. 5.5(d)(1) and we formally request such processing. This request meets the criteria for expedited processing under 6 C.F.R. 5.5(d)(1)(ii) because it has ""[a]n urgency to inform the public about an actual or alleged federal government activity"" and is made by ""a person primarily engaged in disseminating information.""
The MATRIX system is a combination of public and private databases containing an unknown amount of personal information about millions of Americans. Release of requested documents would allow the public to ascertain the scope of the system and its existing and potential uses.
Documents provided by the Pennsylvania State Police make clear that there is an urgency to inform the public about the status of this system. According to the State Police it, along with the state Department of Corrections and Motor Vehicles, has already completed an agreement with the state of Florida to share with both Florida and a private company, Seisnet Inc., the following information:
§ Motor vehicle and driver record information,
§ Criminal history record information,
§ Inmate visitor information,
§ Inmate account information, and
§ Inmate phone lists.
This personal information is now available to an undisclosed number of states and it is unknown how many other states have made similar agreements to share private information.
The Pennsylvania documents make clear that this system is already in use (""PSP has documents containing usage statistics (as of week ending 10/24/2003) from Seisint Inc."" State Police Right-to-Know letter, pg. 4) and that once information is accessed from the system it is outside the control of either the state of Pennsylvania or the state of Florida (""PSP acknowledges ? that the other parties to this cooperative effort will initiate searches upon such data for criminal investigative and intelligence efforts."" State Police Memorandum of Understanding, clause 7). Further, the public has already demonstrated a continuing interest in this status of the MATRIX system (State to link up private data, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, Oct. 10, 2003; Robert O'Harrow Jr., U.S. Backs Florida's New Counterterrorism Database, WASHINGTON POST, Aug. 6, 2003, at A1). The ongoing and potentially serious nature of the privacy issues at stake, as well as the demonstrated public interest, leaves little doubt of the urgency of informing the public about the nature of this program.
With respect to this request the ACLU Foundation is an entity primarily engaged in disseminating information. The Foundation meets the criterion laid out in National Security Archive v. Department of Defense, where a representative of the news media is defined as an entity that "gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public" and "uses its editorial skills to turn raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience." 880 F. 2d at 1387; see also 68 Fed. Reg. 4061; Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Dep't of Defense, 241 F. Supp. 2d. 5 (D.D.C. 2003). The ACLU Foundation publishes newsletters, frequent press releases, news briefings, right to know handbooks, and other materials on a variety of issues (including information obtained through FOIA requests concerning privacy matters). These materials are widely available to everyone including tax-exempt organizations, not-for-profit groups, law students and our 400,000 members. The ACLU Foundation disseminates information through publications available on-line at https://www.aclu.org and information on the MATRIX system has already been featured prominently at /node/22551.
We certify that the information contained in this request is true and correct to the best of our knowledge and belief and look forward to your reply within ten working days, as required under 6 C.F.R. 5.5(d)(4).
Sincerely,
Christopher R. Calabrese
Counsel, Technology & Liberty Program Barry Steinhardt
Technology & Liberty Program
CC:
Secretary Tom Ridge
Nuala O'Connor Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer
[1] Records include but are not limited to letters, correspondence, tape recordings, notes, data, memoranda, reports, email, computer source and object code, technical manuals, technical specifications, or any other materials.