UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, Plaintiff, v. Civ. No. 17-1037 (EGS) U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, and U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff Center for Biological Diversity (“Center”) brings this action pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (“FOIA”), seeking, among other things, disclosure of records withheld by Defendants U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Army Corps”) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) (collectively “Defendants”). The withholdings are documents that were provided to President-elect Trump’s Transition Team that concern then-candidate Trump’s campaign promise to construct a wall along the United States’ southern border. Concerned for the biological diversity of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, particularly the allegedly imperiled wildlife species that currently reside there, the Center submitted a FOIA request to the Army Corps and CBP in an attempt to understand how the defendants advised the Presidential Transition Team on the border wall. In response to the FOIA request, defendants produced over 5,000 documents with many records redacted or withheld pursuant to several FOIA exemptions. The Center has challenged defendants’ withholdings pursuant to the various claimed FOIA exemptions. Pending before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. Upon careful consideration of the parties’ submissions, the applicable law, and the entire record herein, the Court GRANTS defendants’ motion for summary judgment, and DENIES the plaintiff’s cross-motion. I. Background Unless otherwise noted, the following facts are taken from the Complaint, ECF No. 1, and from the parties’ statements of undisputed material facts, See Defs.’ Statement of Material Facts (“Defs.’ SOMF”), ECF No. 21-1; Pl.’s Statement of Material Facts (“Pl.’s SOMF”), ECF No. 22-2. This case involves a FOIA request by the Center to the United States Army Corps, in which the Center requested the following documents: “all records . . . that reference walls, barriers, and/or other physical constructions along the U.S.- Mexico border and/or U.S. Canada border, for purposes of the Presidential transition process, created for and/or provided to brief members of the Presidential Transition Team and/or their 2 representatives.” Defs.’ SOMF, ECF No. 21-1 at 1 ¶ 1. 1 The Center made the same request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). Pl.’s SOMF, ECF No. 22-2 ¶ 5. The Army Corps “produced . . . a total of 661 records . . . in full or in part,” and “with[eld] 152 pages of ‘attachments’ in their entirety.” 2 Pl.’s SOMF, ECF No. 22-2 ¶¶ 18, 19. The Army Corps withheld the information pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 5, 6, and 7(E). Id. ¶¶ 21–23. CBP released in whole or in part “approximately 4,264 pages of responsive records.” Howard Decl., ECF No. 21-2 ¶ 25. CBP withheld information pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 4, 5, 6, 7(C) and 7(E). Id. DHS made a final determination on the Center’s FOIA request on May 30, 2017. Pl.’s SOMF, ECF No. 22-2 ¶ 14. The Center appealed the decision on July 3, 2017,id. ¶ 15, and DHS made a ...
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