New Foia/privacy Act Procedures At Ros

[Ascomdepot68]

According to a letter I received today:

"As of March 3, 2014 future request with some exceptions for FOIA/PA actions received at the Atlanta Regional Office AFTER March 3, 2014 are forwarded to ST. Louis Records Management Center for scanning and processing on disc.You will be notified by that office to your request if your request is in this category."

Exact spelling and grammar of letter.

Apparently applies to all RO's. I had a hint this was what they were doing since May 2014 when my Congressman's aide was told by the

Congressional liaison at the Atlanta RO "we don't do that here anymore" and a C file disc was sent from RMC at St Louis.

I am not sure if the actual documents are mailed to RMC from the RO for putting on disc or if the documents are copied from electronic records at RMC.

I do know that that they still managed to lose 65 documents and there are still several other Veteran's documents co mingled with my records on the disc.

More efficient? Who knows. More likely to take more time and involve more handling which increases errors? Yes.

I do know that only letter and legal sized documents were on records received. Crucial maps sized 2'X3' and 2'X2' were missing.

Also another FOIA/PA "claim" popped up on eBenefits for me today. And low and behold this time they did list an expected date of

completion as 120-187 days out. FOIA supposed to be done in no longer than 30 days! No real time limit on PA items. I have an

idea though that this might be a VCAA matter. The VA is placing some requests of assorted types under the "FOIA/PA" as they

say they don't have a "button" for everything so they just use that.

Another thing I have to discuss with Secretary McDonald

[Commander Bob]

.... "Due Process"

"NOTICE OF DISAGREEMENT"

August 20, 2014

Board of Veterans'Appeals C-00 000 0000

Department of VeteransAffairs

Washington DC 20420

Dear BVA,

Please accept this letter as my "Notice of Disagreement" (NOD), in response to your decision letter dated April 23, 2014.

I request additional time so we may reach an equatable conclusion to this case.

I still have not received, or had the opportunity to review copies of my "Claims Folder", requested on December 7, 2011 , per FOIA requirements, prior to my BVA Hearing held on May 22, 2013. I had to go before the Honorable... BVA Judge, at my BVA hearing without ever reviewing copies of my records, putting me at a disadvantage and causing harm to my claim.

I have waited till the last moment to file this NOD, hoping the VA would comply with my request before the 120 day BVA, NOD time limit runs out. It has taken almost six years to get this far, and I do not want to start over because I missed a deadline.

Enclosed please find a letter from the DVA office of the General Council in support of my efforts to resolve this in a timely manner.

Yours Truly,

Commander Bob

Edited October 12, 2014 by Commander Bob

[ArNG11]

This is actually interesting and both nerve-racking for me now. I believe it was several months ago that I had commented on my request for my C-file, at the Okmulgee Regional office in Oklahoma. My request took exactly 7 days. Arrived at my home in a big plastic bag. I guess that is not really common. Long story short, in trying to get an IME and running out of time on my NOD I didn't get to make a copy for myself. 11 1/2 inches was more than my single page copier could handle and more than my pockets could pay for at the local Kinkos. In any case the record review company destroyed my records if I did claim a specific disability for the doctor that was doing my IME/IMO, bad bad Bad, BAd, BAD move on my part. I have seen my whole file, actually had it in my hands more than once, however, now all i have left is maybe 6" worth of records. DETRIMENTAL to say the least. My attorney has asked for my file and even has VBMS access yet he hasn't received a copy of my files and the evil doers at the VA didn't give him the password for access to my files through VBMS, let me correct this, a password that works. Sooooo I'm willing to bet, that although this would be highly illegal, probably break countless laws and regulations, be detrimental to my claim, not to mention an obstruction of justice charge that items will be missing in the copy that they afford my attorney now. All I would have to contest to the accuracy of my c file is my memory and word of what it looked like before this brilliant transformation into the digital shedder. I would even state that this action might stir up memories in long term members here at Had it of the Sheddargate days at the Regional offices, instead of shredding evidence it is going to be done by a click here and click there. Welcome to the digital age folks. Before I stir people up, I want to make this perfectly clear, this is just my OPINION, and my opinion only that I am writing, however, for any members, that might be going through this process or just starting the process be very cautious and smart. Don't make the mistake of not making a full copy of what information the VA sends you from an FOIA request.

I may be off my rocker but my gut feelings have kept me around and alive through out my existence in this life I can't really stray away from them now, even if I am not operating on all cylinders. JMHO

Edited October 12, 2014 by arng11