FOIA

FOIA requests submitted to the Department of the Navy (DoN) are for requesting existing records. Requests for research or compiling information not already existing as a record cannot be processed under FOIA.

The DoN has no centralized repository or directory for records. In as much, it is not possible to accept open-ended requests for "Any" or "All" records without further specificity. Descriptive information falls within two broad catagories:

• Category I is file-related and includes information such as type of record, title, index citation, subject area, date the record was created, or its originator.
• Category II is event-related and includes the circumstances that resulted in the record being created or the date and circumstances surrounding the event the record covers.

Generally, a record is not reasonably described unless the description contains sufficient Category I information to permit the conduct of an organized, non-random search based on the existing filing arrangements and retrieval systems, or unless the record contains sufficient Category II information to permit inference of the Category I elements needed to conduct such a search.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) -- such as social security numbers and date of birth -- should not be submitted with this request. If that information is needed during the FOIA process, you will be contacted at that time.