Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, Inc. v. United States Department of Defense

MEMORANDUM **

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 , Plaintiff Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, Inc., seeks to enjoin the United States Department of Defense from withholding agency records regarding a triangular aerial object. The district court granted summary judgment to Defendant on the basis that it proved that it had conducted a search that was reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents, but found none. See Zemansky v. EPA 767 F.2d 569, 571 (9th Cir.1985) (stating standard). Plaintiff appeals, and we affirm.

The question is only whether the search was adequate, not whether responsive documents might possibly exist. Citizens Comm’n on Human Rights v. FDA 45 F.3d 1325, 1328 (9th Cir.1995). Defendant’s affidavits described the search in adequate detail. For example, McBride’s affidavit fisted each keyword used in the computerized file search, and the Hilfin and Rohrkemper affidavits described emails sent to employees.

*776 Plaintiff raises a variety of arguments as to why the search was insufficiently thorough and why the affidavits describing the search were deficient. None persuades us.

First, Plaintiff argues that the initial handling of…