Opinion ID: 709483
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Scope of Appellants' Request

Text: 10 To assess the adequacy of Customs' search, we must first ascertain the scope of the request itself. Customs limited its search to Privacy Act systems of records, which include all records accessible by a name or personal identifier. 4 Supplemental Decl. of Kathryn C. Peterson at 2. The agency argued that this search was adequate because appellants only asked for records indexed and cross-indexed to Perot's name. Appellants disagreed with this characterization of their request, arguing that it extended to documents which we will call subject matter files for the sake of convenience--those documents which contain information relevant to Perot's offers of assistance, but are not filed under Perot's name. They claimed that since a search of Privacy Act records would not necessarily turn up such files, Customs' efforts were inadequate. 11 Although a requester must reasonably describe[ ] the records sought, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552(a)(3), an agency also has a duty to construe a FOIA request liberally. Truitt v. United States Dep't of State, 897 F.2d 540, 544-45 (D.C.Cir.1990) (citing Senate Report accompanying relevant provision of FOIA); Founding Church of Scientology v. NSA, 610 F.2d 824, 836-37 (D.C.Cir.1979) (same). Appellants' request does ask for records indexed under Perot's name, but it also explicitly seeks information pertaining to Perot and information regarding offers by Perot to assist Customs in drug interdiction efforts. The one document that appellants did identify with specificity, the Chadwick memo, does not mention Perot's name. Isikoff, Perot Proposed Buying Island for Drug Stings, at A10. The words pertaining to, coupled with the inclusion of references to the Chadwick memo in the materials appended to the request letter, were sufficient to alert the agency that appellants sought information about Perot, even if it was not indexed under his name. Accordingly, appellants' request should be interpreted to include subject matter files on topics of interest to appellants (for example, a file labeled assistance provided by private citizens in drug interdiction efforts would be relevant), in addition to files indexed under Perot's name or personal identifier.