Opinion ID: 6330598
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 9 FAM material was compiled for law

Text: enforcement purposes “The threshold requirement for qualifying under Exemption 7 turns on the purpose for which the document sought to be withheld was prepared.” F.B.I. v. Abramson, 456 U.S. 615, 624 (1982). The Supreme Court has interpreted this requirement broadly. For example, a document initially compiled for law enforcement purposes but later provided to a different, non-law-enforcement 25 agency may still fall within Exemption 7. Id. at 624–25. Still, an agency that performs both administrative and law-enforcement functions is “subject to an exacting standard when it comes to the threshold requirement of Exemption 7.” Tax Analysts v. I.R.S., 294 F.3d 71, 77 (D.C. Cir. 2002). DOS acknowledges that it is a “mixedfunction” agency. Knight argues that 9 FAM was not compiled for law enforcement purposes because it was compiled “to help an agency apply the law—in this case to process visa applications,” which is “not a sufficient basis to conclude that the information was compiled to enforce the law.” Knight Br. at 29 (citing United Am. Fin., Inc. v. Potter, 531 F. Supp. 2d 29, 46 (D.D.C. 2008)). But as Justice Alito has explained, “[t]he ordinary understanding of law enforcement includes not just the investigation and prosecution of offenses that have already been committed, but also proactive steps designed to prevent criminal activity and to maintain security.” Milner v. Dep't of 26 Navy, 562 U.S. 562, 582 (2011) (Alito, J., concurring). Enforcing the law always requires a degree of analysis and application. While some aspects of visa adjudication might fall outside the common understanding of “law enforcement,” the provisions at issue here do not. DOS’s explanations for its redactions clearly establish that the redacted provisions relate to the detection of connections to terrorism. See, e.g., Joint App’x at 67 (summarizing reason for redactions, including “defin[ing] terrorist activity, adding specific details and clarification about how they fit into the security investigation process.”). The detection and prevention of terrorism are archetypal law-enforcement purposes. The district court concluded that the 9 FAM documents were not compiled for law enforcement purposes because they included “mere descriptions of codified law and policy” and “to be compiled for law enforcement purposes, the information must go a step further and describe proactive steps for preventing criminal activity and 27 maintaining security.” Knight I, 407 F. Supp. 3d at 333 (internal quotation marks omitted). That view finds no support in the text of the exemption. The threshold inquiry under Exemption 7 is the reason for which material was compiled, and the material should be considered as a whole rather than broken into parts and scrutinized in isolation. While an agency’s discrete description of law and policy might not be subject to exemption in every context, when a larger series of descriptions is compiled to provide comprehensive guidance to employees in the field on how to apply and enforce the laws within the agency’s purview, that subsequent compilation enters the potential ambit of Exemption 7(E). An agency’s compilation of laws and policies might provide insight into its conduct and approaches to law enforcement even if it reveals no “proactive steps.” Such compilation might reveal the agency’s reliance on specific laws, reflecting the use of certain techniques or the limitations on the implementation of those techniques in the field. Certainly, records 28 that reflect only descriptions of publicly available statutes are less likely to create a risk of “circumvention of the law” if released. 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(E). But that does not mean they were not “compiled for law enforcement purposes” in the first instance—only that they might not meet the requirements of Exemption 7(E) at the second step. Here, DOS has established that 9 FAM includes specific guidance to DOS employees on how to detect ties to terrorism. We conclude, therefore, that it was “compiled for law enforcement purposes” within the meaning of Exemption 7(E).