Whilst many would consider those charges excessive, divided amongst the number of 911 truth movement supporters it is a paltry sum. I would be happy to contribute $5 towards a fund to call their bluff. Are you in a position to set up such a fund perhaps using PayPal? If the request is closed by NIST after 30 days can it not be re opened ?

My suggestions:

Have them show you the formula for determining the cost. Ask for documentation showing how long that formula has been the standard. Ask for a list of other request for information that you can compare this one to. Do they all require payment within 30 days? I know NIST is under the Department of Commerce, but should they be attempting to make a profit from FOIA compliance?

At these prices, you should be able to get all the documents, photos and videos within a week.

You can call their bluff and do this too. They are not mutually exclusive. Do both.

Thanks Aidan for your important work.

The Truth Will Be Known.

........I will chip in $20...Wish i could give more. If there is a way to donate here at the blogger, i think this information if it's not censored, and nothing withheld may prove worth it in our quest for the truth.

I also would offer donations if a 'fund' was used to obtain these archives.

But would it set a precedent that the 'truth' costs money? I dunno.'

The power that NIST has in this matter is obscene. The whole thing stinks to high hell.

"Upon receipt of a check or money order payable to the "United States Treasury" in the amount of $19,112.29, we will begin the search and duplication of responsive documents"

America is a shopping mall with psychopaths having a clearance sale.

These FOIA requests of yours are probably some of the most important work done to uncover and resolve heretofore hidden knowledge about what happened on 9/11.

Please keep it up.

As for this FOIA reply requiring $19k to respond, I believe it is absolutely worthwhile to discover a) how NIST respond and b) what they have considered in making their reports, even if ~50% of the material may not be released (it can still be viewed right?). This will lay bare the terrain for future requests and help clarify the state of knowledge.

I understand it will be a lot of work but if there ever was a good reason for 9/11 truth fund-raising, this is one!

I would happily contribute as well.

Any difference refunded could be sent to the FEALGOOD Foundation.

$5.00 per person would be great. That would work out to about 3,823 separate donations of $5.00. Aiden, I recommend that you set this up. These photos would also encompass my building 7 south side photo request I presume. Is that not the case? Set up a pay pal and physical address for checks, as everyone does not have paypal. This could be done in a very short time.

I've occasionally gotten a letter from a government agency telling me they would want money for searching for something, but I have always haggled and have not yet had to pay anything for searches (although you have to pay duplication costs). I have a few comments:

(1) Write back and ask them how they got that number, suggesting it is excessive. They presumably thought of a number (say 20 bucks) and then multiplied it by the number of items (over 7000). Probably, they know where all the damn photos are and they are next to each other, so it is not actually going to take fifteen minutes to find each photo. The resulting amount should be a lot less because the photos will be in a big pile.

(2) You can authorise them to incur costs up to a certain amount. You can say give me the two free hours, then I'll pay 200 bucks max, then stop, I'm not paying more than 200 bucks for searches (you would have to pay duplication on top of that, but it shouldn't be that much).

(3) Claim that you're not an other requester, but the news media - this is a bit iffy if you only have a blog, but it is at least worth making the argument. The news media category does cover some stuff on the internet, not just traditional papers and TV stations. If you have ever disseminated stuff you got from FOIA, then you should make that very clear. If you could get a bigger media outlet to say it would publish anything you got, then that would probably do it. You can even claim a fee waiver and, if they don't give it to you, conditionally agree to pay costs up to a certain amount. This means they have to start searching before the fee waiver issue is resolved.

(4) You could also withdraw part of the request, for either the videos or the photos.

Generally, institutions are swamped with FOIA stuff and often send slightly nasty letters out at the start to put people off. If you give them a robust response, they might just change their tune.

This is horseshit!

"....search and duplication of responsive documents...$19,112.29"

What the fuck else have they been doing for seven fucking years but searching and duplicating documents and imagery?

They obviously want to run out some kind of clock. A liberty doomsday clock? After which all questioners are turned over to the Department of Extermination?

Flush the Nauseating Institute of Shits and Turds!

--
"But truthfully, I don't really know. We've had trouble getting a handle on Building No. 7."
~Dr. Shyam Sunder - Acting Dir. Bldg. & Fire Research Lab. (NIST)
"We are [still] unable to provide a full explanation of the total collapse." (NIST)