JTF 633 Command and Control Arrangements
Dear Department of Defence,
I request:
1. documents authorising or establishing JTF 633 and any updates or amendments.
2. documents assigning any command or control of SOTG/Task Force 66 to any non-ADF chain of command.
Yours faithfully,
Simon Harris
OFFICIAL
Good afternoon Simon
Acknowledgement
I refer to your correspondence of 26 November 2023 seeking access to
documents held by the Department of Defence (Defence), under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). This email is to advise you that your
request has been received and allocated for Case Management.
The scope of your request is:
1. documents authorising or establishing JTF 633 and any updates or
amendments.
2. documents assigning any command or control of SOTG/Task Force 66
to any non-ADF chain of command.
Timeframe and Request for extension of time
The statutory timeframe to provide you with a decision on your request
ends on 26 December 2023. Please note the Department of Defence observes a
period of reduced activity and staffing through December and January
(Christmas/New Year period) each year. This office has determined that it
may not be possible to finalise your FOI request by 26 December 2023 as
it falls within the reduced activity period.
For this reason, this office is seeking your agreement to a 30 day
extension of the statutory deadline under section 15AA [extension with
agreement] of the FOI Act. Should you agree, the statutory deadline for
you to receive a response to your request will be 25 January 2024. We will
still endeavor to complete your request as soon as possible.
I would appreciate your response by COB 14 December 2023.
Please note that where the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public
holiday, the timeframe will expire on the next working day. This is in
accordance with the FOI Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act.
Disclaimer
Where staff details are captured in documents within the scope of your FOI
request, this information will be redacted; this includes private email
addresses, signatures, personnel (PMKeyS) numbers and mobile telephone
numbers, unless you specifically request such details. Defence excludes
duplicates of documents and any documents sent to or from you.
Furthermore, Defence only considers final versions of documents.
Charges
Defence may impose a charge for the work involved in providing access to
the documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Charges)
Regulations 2019. We will notify you if your request attracts a charge.
Please note that there is no charge for documents that contain the
personal information of the applicant.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published on Defence’s
disclosure log, located on our website.
Contact Details
We will contact you via the email address you have provided. Please advise
if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.
I am the Case Manager for this request. Should you have any questions
relating to your request, please do not hesitate to contact me via email:
[1][email address].
Thank you and regards
Erin
Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Department of Defence
[2]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
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References
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Hello Erin,
I would be able to agree to extend the deadline to 12 Jan 2024.
Thanks
Simon Harris
OFFICIAL
Dear Simon
I am writing in relation to your request under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (FOI Act) for documents in which you have sought access to:
1. documents authorising or establishing JTF 633 and any updates or
amendments.
2. documents assigning any command or control of SOTG/Task Force 66
to any non-ADF chain of command.
Clarification of Scope
While processing your request, the relevant line area has identified that
clarification is required in relation to Part 2. To ensure the Department
is providing you with the correct information, we ask that you provide a
timeframe and/or points of contact to assist in the identification of
documents that relate to the ‘assigning any command or control of
SOTG/Task Force 66 to any non-ADF chain of command’. These additional
details will ensure that we have correctly identified the documents to
which you are seeking access.
Request for Extension of Time
Thank you for previously agreeing to a 17-day extension of time in
relation to FOI 480/23/24.
Defence is continuing to process your request, however we require
additional time to be able to ensure a robust decision is made.
Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI
Act to further extend the processing period for 13-days. Should you
agree, the statutory deadline for you to receive a response will be 25
January 2024. This will ensure sufficient time to finalise a decision on
access.
If possible, we will endeavour to notify you of the decision prior to this
extended date.
Next Steps
It would assist us with the management of this request if you are able to
provide a response by 5:00pm 8 January 2024.
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Erin
Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Department of Defence
[1]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...
Dear FOI Case Management,
To clarify by timeframe, the timeframe is from 2006 to 2014
To clarify by "points of contact", by way of example and not to limit any other "points of contact", for instance a point of contact may be ISAF SOF or COM ISAF SOF.
I do not consent to the further extension of time. An extension in excess of the statutory time frame has already been provided. The documents sought should be relatively straightforward to access as they will be official and formal documents as opposed to documents such as email correspondence.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Harris
OFFICIAL
Dear Simon,
Freedom of information request no. 480/23/24
I refer to your request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act) in which you have sought access to:
1. documents authorising or establishing JTF 633 and any
updates or amendments.
2. documents assigning any command or control of
SOTG/Task Force 66 to any non-ADF chain of command.
To clarify by timeframe, the timeframe is from 2006 to 2014
To clarify by "points of contact", by way of example and not to limit any
other "points of contact", for instance a point of contact may be ISAF SOF
or COM ISAF SOF.
Section 24AA(1) of the FOI Act provides that:
(1) For the purposes of section 24, a practical refusal reason exists in
relation to a request for a document if either (or both) of the following
applies:
(a) the work involved in processing the request:
(i) in the case of an agency – would substantially and unreasonably divert
the resources of the agency from its other operations; or
(b) the request does not satisfy the requirement in paragraph 15(2)(b)
(identification of documents).
I am writing to inform you that the work involved in processing your
request in its current form would substantially and unreasonably divert
the resources of this agency from its other operations due to its size.
This is called a ‘practical refusal reason’ (section 24AA).
On this basis, Defence intends to refuse access to the documents you
requested. However, before a final decision is made to do this, you have
an opportunity to revise your request. This is called a ‘request
consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You
have 14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below.
Why the Accredited Decision Maker intends to refuse your request
Your request seeks access to ‘all’ documents within a 9 year period
relating to the above mentioned matter. Please be advised that a request
for all documents concerning a particular subject will likely attract
refusal under section 24AA of the FOI Act because, with few exceptions, it
would simply not be possible for the decision maker to certify that he or
she has identified every copy of every document in the Department's
possession. To do so would require a search of every hard copy file and
the electronic communication and records management systems used by
Defence. It is considered that the workload involved in conscientiously
attempting to do so would involve a substantial and unreasonable diversion
of the resources of the agency.
As you have requested access to ‘any’ updates or amendments and have not
specified a particular Defence related operation, update or amendment, the
scope encapsulates a significantly expansive range of topics, and it has
been identified that potentially thousands of documents fall within scope
of the request.
Taking the above into consideration, under section 24AA of the FOI Act and
for the purposes of section 24 of the FOI Act, Defence considers that a
'practical refusal reason' exists in relation to your FOI request.
Specifically, Defence considers that the work involved in processing the
request in its current form would substantially and unreasonably divert
the resources of the Defence from its other operations. In particular, a
very significant amount of resources would have to be diverted to arrange
for the required searches to be undertaken, to then review any documents
that were identified as being possibly relevant to your request. And
finally, to undertake the decision making process on any documents that
did meet the parameters of your request.
This diversion would constitute a significant impact on the resources of
the agency, and would have an unreasonable, substantial and adverse effect
in the ability of areas to conduct their normal business.
In accordance with section 24AB of the FOI Act, Defence is required to
consult with you advising of the intention to refuse access to your
request in its current form.
Request consultation process
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to
proceed.
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make
it more manageable or explaining in more detail the documents you wish to
access. For example, by providing more specific information about exactly
what documents you are interested in, our agency will be able to pinpoint
the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive resources to process
documents you are not interested in.
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the
following, in writing:
· withdraw your request
· make a revised request
· tell us that you do not wish to revise your request.
The consultation period runs for 14 days and starts on the day after you
received this notice.
During this period, you are welcome to seek my assistance to revise your
request. If you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the
practical refusal grounds outlined above, we will recommence processing
it.
In your consideration of submitting a revised request, the line area has
requested you provide further detail regarding the exact documents to
which you are seeking access to.
For instance, you may like to consider:
· limiting your request to be for one particular type of update or
amendment; and
· specifying the particular Defence operation or topic you would
like documents relating to.
If you do not do one of the three things listed above during the
consultation period, on or before 5:00pm Friday, 26 January 2024, your
request will be taken to have been withdrawn.
Should you have any questions relating to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact me via email at [1][email address].
Kind regards,
Erin
Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Department of Defence
[2]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...
Dear FOI Case Management,
Dear Erin,
Your response is out of time.
It is also vague. You've said I've asked for "all" in quotes but that word does not appear in my request.
You've said " it has been identified that potentially thousands of documents fall within scope of the request." without any basis for this calculation or details of initial searches performed. I also note that Defence is a very large and well resourced organisation and has a large FOI team. It is not likely that this request would be a major diversion of the entire agencies resources.
On the above basis, the request has been sent for review by the OAIC.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Harris
OFFICIAL
Dear Simon,
Thank you for your response.
I have sought further information from the relevant line area and they have advised that the establishment of JTF633 took place prior to date range specified. Furthermore, as the request includes the terms ‘any updates and amendments’, all amendments to the structure, Force Assignment and chain of command over the nominated period would be relevant which would result in potentially hundreds of documents and resources.
Noting the above, we request that you please specify a particular type of update or amendment to enable Defence to undertake more directed searches in relation to your request.
Kind regards,
Erin
Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Department of Defence
Freedom of information requests | About | Defence
Dear FOI Case Management,
In relation to JTF 633.
1. The initial document which established the JTF633 (there should only a few documents)
2. Each document which assigned or authorised the CJTF633 and DCJTF633 (say, two documents per year, so ~40 documents)
3. An org chart for each of the above changes (so another ~20 documents)
In relation to assignment of SOTG/TF66:
4. The documents which assigned a commander to SOTG/TF66 (there should only be one or two per year, so maximum 40)
5. The documents which assigned or gave control of SOTG/TF66 to anyone outside of Australian chain of command, e.g. to ISAFSOF (estimated between 10-30 documents).
Save for item 3, the request relates only to the formal instruments or documents, in other words, they are likely to be letters or in a similar format and signed, and would not be in an informal email format (although they may be attachments to emails). Given the effect and importance of these documents they should be well managed in a centralised location and easy to obtain (i.e. intensive and broad searches should not be required).
Yours sincerely,
Simon Harris
OFFICIAL
Dear Simon,
Defence are continuing to process your request, and, following an
extension granted by the OAIC, Defence will make a revised decision under
section 55G of the FOI Act by 29 March 2024.
Kind regards,
Erin
Freedom of Infomation
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Department of Defence
[1]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...
OFFICIAL
Dear Simon
Please find attached the Decision and documents relating to Defence FOI
480/23/24. A schedule of documents is also attached.
FOI Disclosure Log
In accordance with the requirements of section 11C of the FOI Act, Defence
is required to publish details of information released under the FOI Act.
Defence publishes identified documents relating to finalised requests
within ten working days of receipt by the applicant. Defence will also
publish the statement of reasons with privacy deletions.
Review Rights
If you disagree with the decision made by the Department of Defence or the
Minister under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), you can
ask for the decision to be reviewed. You may want to seek review if you
sought certain documents and were not given full access, if your
application to have your personal information amended was not accepted or
your comments in response to formal consultation were not accepted.
You must apply in writing and should include a copy of the notice of the
decision provided and the points to which you are objecting and why. You
may apply directly to the Information Commissioner, within 60 days of
receiving your decision.
Further information about the external review process or how to make a
complaint to the Information Commissioner is available:
Online: [1]www.oaic.gov.au
Post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2000
Email: [2][email address]
Regards
Freedom of Information Team
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Department of Defence
[3]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...