U.S. Navy: FOIA Appeal Granted for Drone Encounter Records
Naval legal authorities approved a request to reopen a records search. The decision found that the initial document search was inadequately documented. Officials must now conduct a new review and provide detailed status updates.
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Background
On February 16, 2022, the Office of the Judge Advocate General for the U.S. Navy granted a significant Freedom of Information Act appeal filed by The Black Vault. The appeal challenged both the adequacy of the original records search and the quality of released materials regarding 2019 unidentified drone encounters with naval vessels including the USS Russell and USS Paul Hamilton.
The appellate authority determined that the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which served as the Initial Denial Authority, could not provide adequate information about how the original search was conducted. Specifically, they had no knowledge of the search terms used or the methodology employed to locate responsive records. Consequently, the Judge Advocate General concluded that there was no basis to evaluate whether the search met statutory requirements.
As a result, the case was remanded to the Pacific Fleet with specific instructions to conduct a new search. The command must provide a detailed accounting of its search methodology, status reports every fifteen days, and complete its review within twenty working days from the date of the decision.
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