[Transmitted by fax 
January 29, 2008]

Mark Schleifstein
The Times-Picayune
3800 Howard Ave.
New Orleans LA 70125
504-826-3327

Catherine Papoi, J.D., Cipp/G
Deputy Chief FOIA Officer
Director, Departmental Disclosure & FOIA
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington DC 20528

Re: FEMA FOIA 06-021

Dear. Ms. Papoi,

I've received your Jan. 22, 2008, letter that seems to be in response to my Oct. 5, 2005, FOIA request.
The answer to your immediate question is YES. 
I'd like to point out that that's the exact same response I provided in a Nov. 13, 2006, response to Jeff Ovall's letter of Nov. 6, 2006.

As in that letter, which is attached (along with a copy of my original letter), I reiterate my request for EXPEDITED REVIEW and an explanation of why my request was not treated as required by law. 

It is now 884 days since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, flooding 80 percent of my community, killing more than 1,500 people. Last week, New Orleans Homeland Security Director Terry Ebbert, in an address to the American Meteorological Society, said he still has grave concerns about the ability of this nation's emergency preparedness preparations and their potential to respond to a Katrina repeat in New Orleans. 

My readers are still waiting for a detailed explanation of why things went so wrong in the aftermath of Katrina, an explanation that is still not possible in part because of your agency's failure to respond to this request. 

Mark Schleifstein 
Staff Writer
504-826-3327
mschleifstein@timespicayune.com

C.C.: Joe Davis, chair, Society of Environmental Journalists First Amendment Committee