We will be unable to respond to this request within the 20 [day] statutory time period as there are unusual circumstances which impact on our ability to quickly process this request. These unusual circumstances are: the need to search for and collect records from a facility geographically separated from this office; the potential volume of records responsive to this request; and the need for consultation with one or more other agencies or components having a substantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of the records.
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I sent a DM to Rodriguez, soon as I found him, because, frankly, it was exciting to find a co-conspirator, someone who had had the foresight to ask for the video game inventory specifically. By this point, thanks to the foresight of another FOIA filer, I had already seen a list of the books in the Detainee Library, but I wanted what Rodriguez wanted.So, on April 5, 2017, when Villalobos updated Rodriguez's file and stated that the response to his request had been "mailed out on 03/24/2017," I got downright giddy. Who cared that it'd taken a little under three years? The documents were coming!But then, somehow, the materials were never received. Rodriguez wrote, stating that he'd never received the mailed documents, and Villalobos responded, "This case was closed on 3/24/17 thus no further action is required from our office." And this is, in many ways, a common Gitmo narrative: years of waiting, some minimal progress, followed by major setbacks. Will Rodriguez need to file yet another FOIA request and wait another three years to get his inventory list? God, I hope not.Before I went to Gitmo, I reached out via email to ask him what prompted him to file the request. Interestingly, he referenced a VICE article that had been written in 2015 by fellow Gitmo reporter Jason Leopold. Rodriguez clarified what specifically had led him down the FOIA rabbit hole.