Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Where and How to Submit a FOIA Appeal
Any appeal regarding the denial of records or the denial of a fee waiver must
be made in writing. Your appeal must be received within 45 days from the date of
the denial letter. The term "FOIA APPEAL" should be placed in capital letters on
the front of the envelope and should be addressed as follows:
Joe Leonard, Jr. Ph.D
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 240-W, Whitten Building
Washington, DC 20250-0115
VIA FACSIMILE: (202) 690-1782
VIA E-MAIL: ascrfoia@ascr.usda.gov
(NOTE: While e-mail attachments are often an important and legitimate means of
conducting business, they also have the potential to cause great harm to our e-mail
infrastructure, as well as to individual workstations. Please place the text of your
FOIA appeal into the 'body' of the email message.)
If you choose to mail or fax your appeal, providing these optional items will expedite the processing of your appeal:
- a copy of your original FOIA request, and
- copies of any correspondence you received from CR regarding your initial FOIA request and/or the FOIA control number assigned to your initial FOIA request.
If you choose to email your appeal, please include in the subject line the term
"FOIA APPEAL." Please also include in the body of the email the FOIA control number
assigned to the initial request that you are appealing.
According to 7 C.F.R. Subpart A, Section 1.14, all final appeal responses require review by the USDA Office of the General Counsel (OGC) for legal sufficiency. When OGC has completed its review, we will forward our final response to you.