Opinion ID: 437450
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Investigatory Records Compiled for Law Enforcement Purposes

Text: 14 The censure letters satisfy the threshold test of Exemption 7 in that they are investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes. This circuit has had several opportunities to determine when government records will be deemed to satisfy this test. The version of Exemption 7 that accompanied the original FOIA exempted investigatory files compiled for law enforcement purposes except to the extent available by law to a private party. In reaction to broad judicial interpretations of that language, Congress amended the exemption in 1974 to enumerate specific categories of undesirable consequences that the exemption is intended to avoid. 2 O'Reilly, FEDERAL INFORMATION DISCLOSURE 17.04 (1982). Because the 1974 amendments did not substantially alter the threshold test under Exemption 7, we can avail ourselves of our pre-1974 cases to understand the scope of that test. See Pratt, 673 F.2d at 419 n. 27. 15 The threshold test entails two inquiries--whether the letters are investigatory records and whether they were compiled for law enforcement purposes. The first inquiry is readily answered here. As the very outcome and conclusion of what was indisputably an investigation, the censure letters are investigatory records. See FBI v. Abramson, 456 U.S. at 623, 102 S.Ct. at 2060; see also Rural Housing Alliance v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 498 F.2d 73 (D.C.Cir.1974), reh'g denied, 502 F.2d 1179 (1974); Stern v. SBA, 516 F.Supp. 145 (D.D.C.1980). 16 As to the second inquiry, the government has the burden of showing that the records it seeks to shelter under Exemption 7 were compiled for adjudicative or enforcement purposes; the government, however, need not show that the investigation led to, or will lead to, adjudicative or enforcement proceedings. Pratt v. Webster, 673 F.2d 408, 421 (D.C.Cir. 1982); Bast v. Dept. of Justice, 665 F.2d 1251, 1254 (D.C.Cir.1981); Rural Housing Alliance, 498 F.2d at 80. In addition, the type of law enforcement to which Exemption 7 is addressed includes the enforcement of both civil and criminal federal laws. Pratt, 673 F.2d 408, 419, 420 & n. 32 (D.C.Cir.1982). 17 A review of the relevant case law indicates that there are two general categories of agency investigations that arguably fall within the scope of Exemption 7. The first category involves an agency's investigation of non-agency personnel and of activities external to the agency's own operations. The vast majority of investigations that have been found to be conducted for law enforcement purposes fall within this category of external investigations. Where an agency's principal function is criminal law enforcement, we have accorded deferential treatment to the agency's claims that its external investigation was for law enforcement purposes. Pratt, 673 F.2d at 418. Other circuits have adopted a similar stance. See, e.g., Binion v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, 695 F.2d 1189, 1193-94 (9th Cir.1983). 18 The second general category of investigations involves internal investigations directed at the investigating agency's own activities and employees. This is the type of investigation at issue in the instant case. Internal agency investigations present special problems in the Exemption 7 context, for it is necessary to distinguish between those investigations conducted for a law enforcement purpose, and those in which an agency, acting as the employer, simply supervises its own employees. 19 We have held that an agency's general internal monitoring of its own employees to insure compliance with the agency's statutory mandate and regulations is not protected from public scrutiny under Exemption 7, although another exemption, such as Exemption 6, may apply. Rural Housing Alliance, 498 F.2d at 81. This conclusion stems from a concern that protection of all such internal monitoring under Exemption 7 would devastate FOIA: 20 If this broad interpretation is accepted, however, we immediately encounter the problem that most information sought by the Government about its own operations is for the purpose ultimately of determining whether such operations comport with applicable law, and thus is for law enforcement purposes. Any internal ... monitoring conceivably could result in disciplinary action, in dismissal, or indeed in criminal charges against the employees. But if this broad interpretation is correct, then the exemption swallows up the Act ... [and] defeats one central purpose of the Act to provide public access to information concerning the Government's own activities. 21 Id. 22 In Rural Housing, we developed the following test to distinguish between internal investigations conducted for law enforcement purposes and general agency internal monitoring that might reveal evidence that later could give rise to a law enforcement investigation: an agency's investigation of its own employees is for law enforcement purposes only if it focuses directly on specifically alleged illegal acts, illegal acts of particular identified officials, acts which could, if proved, result in civil or criminal sanctions. Id. This test is less deferential to the agency's own characterization of its investigation than the test we set forth in Pratt in the context of external investigations. See Pratt, 673 F.2d at 419. 23 We conclude that the Rural Housing test is met in this case. By focusing on specific and potentially unlawful activity by particular employees, the investigation went beyond general monitoring of agency activities. The DOJ had obtained sufficient information to warrant the initiation of the investigation. After the DOJ uncovered evidence that the FBI had failed to discover and report all incidences of surreptitious entries, the Attorney General directed the FBI to conduct an inquiry to determine the causes of the FBI's failure and to determine in what way FBI employees had contributed to this failure. The activity under investigation constituted potential violations of federal criminal laws prohibiting the obstruction of justice. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1505 (obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees); 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1509 (obstruction of court orders); 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1510 (obstruction of criminal investigations). The FBI has explicit statutory authority to investigate such violations of title 18 involving government employees, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 535, and there is no question that title 18 criminal investigations conducted by the FBI are within the reach of Exemption 7(C). See, e.g., Bast, 665 F.2d at 1252-53 (Exemption 7(C) analysis applied to FOIA request concerning an FBI investigation of a federal judge accused of violating 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1506 (obstructing justice by altering court records)). 24 The FBI inquiry in this case constituted an investigation of potentially criminal activity, and not general agency monitoring. Appellee argues, however, that, even if activity which constitutes potential violation of federal laws was the subject of inquiry, the investigation was not for law enforcement purposes because the FBI contemplated resort only to administrative disciplinary actions and not to criminal penalties. Appellee suggests that the FBI decided, prior to the investigation, that none of its employees had committed a federal crime, and, therefore, limited the inquiry from the start to the question of whether any employees should be disciplined for violating FBI personnel rules. The record does not support appellee's characterization of the investigation. 25 There can be no question that an investigation conducted by a federal agency for the purpose of determining whether to discipline employees for activity which does not constitute a violation of law is not for law enforcement purposes under Exemption 7. This is assumed in the Rural Housing Alliance test, which requires that the acts investigated must be ones which could, if proved, result in civil or criminal sanctions. Rural Housing Alliance, 498 F.2d at 80. Furthermore, this is assumed in all of the FOIA cases respecting requests for the disciplinary records of federal employees which are analyzed under Exemption 6 (which protects certain personnel files), rather than Exemption 7. See Dept. of the Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 96 S.Ct. 1592, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976); see also Washington Post Co. v. U.S. Dept. of Health, Etc., 690 F.2d 252, 264 (D.C.Cir.1982); Chamberlain v. Kurtz, 589 F.2d 827 (5th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 842, 100 S.Ct. 82, 62 L.Ed.2d 54 (1979); 2 O'Reilly, FEDERAL INFORMATION DISCLOSURE 17.05 (1982). 26 Contrary to appellee's assertions, however, this is not the sort of disciplinary investigation presented here. The Attorney General directed the FBI to conduct an investigation to ascertain the causes of a possible cover-up of illegal activity by the FBI. The cover-up itself involved potential criminal activity. The DOJ mandate to the FBI nowhere suggested that the scope of the sanctions should be limited to administrative discipline. See Office of the Attorney General, Press Release (April 10, 1978). In addition, the investigation was conducted by the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, which has responsibility both for investigating all allegations of criminality on the part of FBI employees and for monitoring disciplinary action taken concerning FBI employees. See Appendix to FBI Report. The fact that the investigation did not end in prosecution does not remove it from Exemption 7 coverage. Pratt, 673 F.2d at 421. The only evidence appellee can point to that suggests that the investigation was not for law enforcement purposes was that the FBI referred to the investigation as an internal disciplinary process at various times in the course of this dispute. The label chosen by the FBI, however, cannot be determinative where the scope of the investigation was defined by the DOJ, not the FBI, and where presumably it is the DOJ's decision whether or not to bring criminal charges. 27 We conclude that, because the DOJ requested the FBI to conduct the in-house investigation of FBI employees to uncover evidence that could provide the DOJ with the grounds to bring criminal charges against those employees, the FBI investigation was for law enforcement purposes.