IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
___________________________________ STEVEN AFTERGOOD ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) Case No. 01-2524 (RMU) v. ) ) CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY ) ) Defendant. ) ___________________________________)
JOINT STATUS REPORT Plaintiff commenced this action on December 7, 2001, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 (2000), seeking "disclosure of aggregate U.S. intelligence budget figures for the years 1947 and 1948," Pl.'s Compl. for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief Under the Freedom of Information Act at 1, based upon plaintiff's FOIA request of May 11, 1995. On February 19, 2002, defendant filed a motion to dismiss this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because plaintiff failed to file his Complaint within the statute of limitations period that applies to FOIA cases. On March 13, 2002, rather than opposing defendant's motion to dismiss, plaintiff filed a Motion for Leave to File a Supplemental Complaint, in which he requested leave to file a supplemental complaint based on his February 22, 2002, FOIA request to defendant, which sought the very same information sought by plaintiff's FOIA request of May 11, 1995.By Order dated September 5, 2002, the Court granted defendant's motion to dismiss the Complaint concerning plaintiff's request of May 11, 1995, and it also granted plaintiff's motion to file a supplemental complaint concerning his request of February 22, 2002. Plaintiff filed that supplemental complaint on October 17, 2002, and defendant answered it on December 10, 2002. By Order dated May 2, 2003, the Court ordered the parties to file a joint status report with a proposed briefing schedule for this case.
At this time, the administrative processing of plaintiff's FOIA request has not been completed. The parties have agreed, subject to the approval of the Court, that defendant will complete this administrative processing and respond to plaintiff's FOIA request by June 27, 2003. Furthermore, the parties respectfully propose that by July 21, 2003, either plaintiff may file a motion for summary judgment or, depending on the status of the contested issues in this case in light of defendant's response to plaintiff's FOIA request, the parties may submit another joint status report addressing this case's further disposition.
Dated: May 22, 2003
Respectfully submitted,
FOR DEFENDANT
ROSCOE C. HOWARD, JR.
FOR PLAINTIFF
(D.C. Bar #246470)
United States AttorneyMARK E. NAGLE
(D.C. Bar #416364)
Assistant United States AttorneyFRANK P. MENNA
Senior Attorney
Office of Information and Privacy
United States Department of Justice
Flag Building, Suite 570
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
(202)514-3642STEVEN AFTERGOOD