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This memorandum opinion by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, dated March 27, 2007, rules in Leslie Kean's FOIA suit against NASA over records about the object said to have crashed in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965. The court found NASA had not shown its searches were adequate and noted likely overlooked Cosmos 96 records. It upheld NASA's withholding of two emails under Exemption 5 and ordered the parties to propose new search procedures.
2 the hearing on March 20, 2007, the applicable law, and the entire record, the Court determines that defendant has not yet met its burden of demonstrating that the search for documents was adequate. Therefore, for the reasons stated herein, defendant’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part without prejudice, and plaintiff’s cross-motion for summary judgment is DENIED without prejudice. BACKGROUND I. NASA’s FOIA Searches This action arises from plaintiff’s request for historical documents concerning an object that allegedly fell from the sky and crashed in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania in 1965. On January 31, 2003, plaintiff submitted a FOIA request to NASA seeking documents related or referring to Kecksburg, the December 9, 1965 incident, the “Fragology Files” for 1962 to 1967, Richard M. Schulherr, Project Moon Dust, and “Cosmos 96.” NASA has conducted four searches pursuant to this FOIA request, which plaintiff argues have been insufficient. A. First Search NASA’s first search was initiated by NASA FOIA specialist Kellie Robinson. Robinson conducted a “key word” search in the NASA database, reviewed several previous FOIA requests for similar information, considered that the documents requested were Case 1:03-cv-02509-EGS Document 45 Filed 03/27/07 Page 2 of 21
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