FOIA office responds to fee waiver request

From the Number One Coast Guard News and Sea Services Site on the Internet

by Michael DeKort

First I want to say that the response was timely. I applaud that.

It was explained to me that my request for waiver is under review but that I am 30 out of 31 so it may take a while. I appreciate the explanation.

Where my problem lies is with having to request a waiver at all. As I have received info before with the fee waived and my use of the data has been demonstrated to be for public consumption my conclusion is that the CG is playing games and stalling. That is unfortunate.

What I won’t do is stall in return. We will file the complaint against ICGS in the fraud Qui Tam case within the 120 day period that started in February – assuming the DoJ again decides to decline to intervene after they finish the document review we are providing them the additional time to do. I will be making sure to not make the Coast Guard and the American taxpayer wait one more day than they have to to get their money back and hold the contractors accountable. I will do what the Coast Guard is apparently unwilling to do for themselves.