FOIA Case Study 
 

Reporter: Christian Lowe

Publication: Marine Corps Times

Story: “US marines accepted defective body armor, partial recall ordered after newspaper investigation”

Date of publication: May 9, 2005 

Background

The U.S. Marine Corps issued body armor to nearly 10,000 troops that government experts urged the corps to reject after tests revealed critical, life threatening flaws in the vests. In all, the corps accepted 19,000 Interceptor outer tactical vests that failed government tests due to “multiple complete penetrations” by 9mm pistol rounds, failing scores on other ballistic or quality assurance tests, or a combination of the two. According to documents obtained through FOIA, the service rejected advice not to use the vests. 

After receiving a tip from a government source about the body armor controversy, Lowe filed the FOIA request.  He was able to pinpoint correspondence that demonstrated military personnel were aware of defects in bulletproof vests used by U.S. troops in Iraq.   

Why was this information important for the public? 

The United States Marine Corps has recalled thousands of bulletproof vests that were deemed defective.  Inquiries have also begun as to why the recall took almost a year after the defect was discovered.   

What information was requested?

On September 29, 2004, Lowe made a request to the Army Developmental Test Command Information Services Team at Aberdeen Proving Ground for correspondence, test documentation, and other relevant material regarding outer tactical vests.  

Specifically, this included all written and electronic correspondence between officers as the Army Developmental Test Ground, the Army Aberdeen Test Center, and the Research, Development and Engineering Command as to Point Blank body armor used by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army, including ballistics test results, funding schedules and waivers of bulletproof vests acquired.  

How long did the reporter wait for the requested information?

On April 26, 2005, almost eight months after the request was made, Lowe received 800 pages of documents. 

What was the reported cause of the delay?

Lowe received a letter from the United States Marine Corps System Command stating that his request was considered “complex” and would not be fulfilled for some time.   

He was also told by this office that some records he requested were originally obtained from a non-governmental source and that the source had to be given an opportunity to determine whether the information should be given out.  He was told that he would receive a determination as to this issue by May 2005, though such a determination was never received.   

The request was farmed out to several different offices, including the three specifically listed in the letter.  In the end, only one government agency responded:  the US Army Robert Morris Acquisition Center at Natick, Massachusetts.   

There were negotiations, but they were not protracted in nature.  Lowe received a call from a FOIA officer at the US Army Robert Morris Acquisition Center inquiring to whether he required pricing information.  The officer said that if he did require that information, it would delay the response for at least another month.  The officer asked Lowe to provide a separate letter stating that he did not require pricing information.   

How complete was the information?

There were “minor” redactions, consisting mainly of some names (but not all), as well as redactions of the quantities of vests purchased from the outside vendor. He had requested information as to the total number of vests affected and believes the total number of vests was redacted because it is proprietary information that would lead the seller’s competitors to know how much it was charging the government per vest.   

Were there heavy fees or objections to a fee waiver request?

There were no objections to a fee waiver request, but Lowe was given a bill for $105 for copying charges.  Payment of the charge was requested in July and the reporter was told that no further requests would be honored by the US Army Robert Morris Acquisition Center until payment was received.   
 
 
 
 

What has been your general experience with FOIA?

Lowe’s experience with FOIA has led him to believe that the more specific you can be, the better. However, you don’t know what you don’t know.  Therefore, you must put ‘any and all’ as part of any request for information in order to get what you really need.   

Link to the story

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-832873.php