OPINION AND ORDER Gizmodo Media Group, LLC brings this action pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. §552, against the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In May 2017, Gizmodo submitted a FOIA request to the FBI seeking records relating to Roger Eugene Ailes, the founder and former CEO of Fox News. The FBI conducted a search of its systems for records and released 113 pages to Gizmodo. Gizmodo now challenges the scope of the search conducted. The parties cross-move for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the following reasons, the FBI’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and Gizmodo’s is DENIED.I. BACKGROUNDBefore addressing Gizmodo’s FOIA request and the instant lawsuit, the Court will briefly describe the FBI’s record-keeping system.A. FBI’s Records SystemThe FBI files information that it acquires in the course of fulfilling its law enforcement, counterterrorism, and intelligence gathering missions in its Central Records System (“CRS”). Doc. 17 13. The CRS contains records of files from the entire FBI organization, including files from the FBI Headquarters, FBI Field Offices, and the FBI Legal Attaché Offices worldwide. Doc. 17 13. Many classification systems exist for the vast amount of records in the CRS; for example, one system classifies records by the type of criminal conduct investigated. Doc. 17 14.FBI records are indexed so that they may be searchable. Doc. 17 15. The “General Indices” to the CRS are the means by which investigators and support staff can determine what files the FBI possesses on a particular topic. Doc. 17 15. Indices generally fall into two types: main entries and reference entries. Doc. 17 15. Main entries pertain to the subject of the document; such a document carries the name of the individual, organization, or other subject matter that is the designated subject of the file to which the document belongs. Doc. 17 15. Reference entries refer to records that concern a different subject matter but make some mention of another individual, organization, or subject.1 Doc. 17 15. FBI investigators and support staff index information out of operational necessity only. Accordingly, the general indices do not exhaustively list every subject matter referenced in the FBI’s records. Doc. 17 16.FBI agents rely upon two case management systems in their line of work: Automated Case Support (“ACS”), and the subsequently implemented Sentinel system. Doc. 17
17-19. ACS houses the Universal Index (“UNI”), an automated index of CRS, which enables the FBI to search through the CRS. Doc. 17 18. A UNI search is capable of locating FBI records created before the 1995 implementation of ACS. Doc. 17 18. Older CRS records that were not indexed to UNI remain searchable by manual review of index cards known as “manual indices.” Doc. 17 18 n.4. Currently, UNI consists of approximately 118 million searchable records. Doc. 17 18.Sentinel became effective FBI-wide on July 1, 2012. Doc. 17 19. As with ACS, when a record is generated in Sentinel, its information is indexed for future retrieval. Doc. 17 19. All FBI records are created electronically via Sentinel since its 2012 implementation. Doc. 17 19.On August 1, 2018, the ACS case management system was decommissioned. Doc. 25 7. All ACS data, including record indices, migrated to Sentinel. Doc. 25 7. Records formerly searched through the UNI application in ACS are now searchable through the “ACS index search” function within Sentinel. Doc. 25 7. This Sentinel search function has slightly different search capabilities than UNI. Doc. 25 7.B. Gizmodo’s FOIA Request and LawsuitOn May 18, 2017, Gizmodo submitted a FOIA request seeking “[a]ll records and communications specifically referring to, or otherwise regarding the deceased: Roger Eugene Ailes.” See Doc. 1, Ex. A. Roger Ailes is the former CEO of a popular media company, Fox News. Citing to a news article, Gizmodo claimed that “Fox News is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as reportedly the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, over settlements it paid to women who filed sexual harassment suits against Ailes, the subject of this request.” Doc. 1, Ex. A. Gizmodo requested that, in addition to the records relating to Ailes, the FBI provide “records describing the processing of this request, including records sufficient to identify search terms used and locations and custodians searched and any tracking sheets used to track the processing of this request.” See Doc. 1, Ex. A.On June 1, 2017, the FBI confirmed receipt of Gizmodo’s FOIA request and assigned the request the number 1375045-000. Doc. 17 7.Upon receiving Gizmodo’s FOIA request, the Record/Information Dissemination Section (“RIDS”) in the Records Management Division (“RMD”) of the FBI conducted an initial CRS index search for responsive records using UNI and the manual indices. Doc. 17 20. RIDS used the following terms in its UNI search: “Ailes, Roger, Eugene,” “Ailes, Roger, E,” “Ailes, Roger.” Doc. 17 22. The UNI search included a three-way phonetic search, a search done based on the phonetic characteristics of the name entered, Doc. 17 22 n.6. Doc. 17 22. RIDS also searched through the manual indices available at the FBI Headquarters, Newark Field Office, New York Field Office, and Washington Field Office. Doc. 17 22. These two searches produced responsive documents totaling 147 pages indexed under the subject’s name, Roger Eugene Ailes.2 Doc. 17 24.On August 1, 2017, more than two months after submitting its request, Gizmodo sued the FBI. Because more than twenty days had elapsed since Gizmodo had made its request, and the FBI had failed to provide any documents in that time, Compl. 12, the FOIA request was constructively denied under 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6)(A).3 In its complaint, Gizmodo alleged that the FBI violated FOIA by wrongfully withholding agency records. Compl. 14.After Gizmodo’s suit was filed, the FBI conducted another search of CRS, Doc. 17 23, this time using Sentinel in addition to ACS and the manual indices. Doc. 17 23. RIDS used the same search terms as the original search. Doc. 17 23. No additional responsive records were found. Doc. 17 23. The FBI filed its answer on September 18, 2017. Doc. 10.On January 12, 2018, the FBI released its responsive records to Gizmodo. Doc. 17 11. The FBI had reviewed 147 pages in total, Doc. 17 4, and 113 of those pages were released to Gizmodo. Doc. 17 4. The FBI withheld certain parts of the released pages, and certain entire pages, pursuant to FOIA Exemptions (b)(3), (b)(6), (b)(7)(C), and (b)(7)(E). Doc. 17 11. In addition to the 113 pages that were disclosed, the FBI’s search also identified three files that were destroyed and one file that was transferred to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”). Doc. 17
