Robert v. CIA, No. 18-1575, 2019 WL 5151208 (2d Cir. Oct. 15, 2019) (per curiam)

Robert v. CIA, No. 18-1575, 2019 WL 5151208 (2d Cir. Oct. 15, 2019) (per curiam)

Re:  Request for records concerning Iran-Contra affair

Disposition:  Affirming district court's grant of government's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit holds that "[d]eclarations like [the CIA's] 'are accorded a presumption of good faith' and 'cannot be rebutted by purely speculative claims' or bare assertions."  "And [the requester] adduced no evidence that the CIA knew or should have known which documents satisfied his 'broad and vague' FOIA request."
   
• Litigation Considerations, Vaughn Index/Declaration:  The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejects the requester's argument that the district court erred in relying on EOUSA's declarant "because [the declarant] . . . 'speculated' that certain documents [the requester] sought 'may have been destroyed in 2005.'"  The court finds this to be immaterial because "[t]he District Court correctly noted that [EOUSA's declarant's] description of the availability of documents potentially related to [the] request had no bearing on the summary judgment proceedings, which concerned whether [the requester's] FOIA requests were valid."