01
FOIA Request Builder
Structure narrowly targeted requests around identifiable agencies, offices, facilities, programs, record series, date ranges, document identifiers, and known cross-references.
Records Recovery Center
FOIA Research Center
Turn documentary gaps into disciplined records-recovery projects. The Rosetta FOIA Research Center organizes requests, custodians, record series, responses, appeals, and recovered evidence without confusing a request with proof that a record exists.
Evidence Gap → Record Custodian → Request → Response → Recovery → Verification → Evidence
Research infrastructure
Recover the records behind the unanswered question.
FOIA is one tool within a larger archival strategy. Rosetta begins by defining the evidentiary gap and identifying the office, record series, date range, facility, program, contract, or transaction most likely to have generated the needed records.
02
Agency & Custodian Directory
Track the federal agencies, field offices, laboratories, records centers, archives, and successor custodians that may hold historical nuclear-weapons records.
03
Request & Response Register
Preserve filing date, request scope, tracking number when appropriate for public release, agency response, referrals, searches performed, fees, exemptions, and disposition.
04
Appeals & Follow-Up
Document administrative appeals, clarification requests, narrowed searches, referrals, mandatory declassification review pathways where applicable, and subsequent recovery efforts.
05
Recovered Records
Route recovered records through provenance, citation, evidentiary, rights/public-access, and publication review before they enter Rosetta's public evidence collections.
Declassified Document Reading Room →06
FOIA Research Guides
Develop facility-, agency-, and record-family guides for recurring searches such as contracts, shipments, monitoring, incidents, rosters, drawings, and technical correspondence.
Research Guides →07
Missing-Record Targets
Connect a request to the exact documentary gap it is intended to address. An unsuccessful search remains part of the research history but does not prove that the record never existed.
The Missing Archive →08
FOIA-Derived Evidence
Connect verified recovered records to facilities, organizations, contracts, materials, shipments, operations, worker populations, and occurrence records without promoting unsupported relationships.
Public Evidence Explorer →Build the request from evidence
Start with what is known.
A strong historical request identifies the documentary trail already visible: a report citation, contract number, office symbol, drawing, accession, shipment reference, meeting minute, record-series description, or correspondence trail. Those clues can make a request reproducible and easier for a records professional to search.
Rosetta will preserve the relationship between the original research question, the requested records, the response, and any evidence ultimately recovered.
Core principle
A FOIA request is not evidence.
The fact that Rosetta requests a record does not establish that the record exists, that the proposed relationship is correct, or that the record—if recovered—will support the research proposition. Recovery begins evaluation; it does not end it.
Common recovery pathways
Connect FOIA work to the rest of Rosetta.
Contracts & Procurement
Contract files, modifications, purchase orders, specifications, vendor correspondence, payrolls, inspection files, and acceptance records.
Contracts & Contractors →Shipments & Accountability
Transfer forms, bills of lading, receiving records, shipping surveys, material-balance records, accountability forms, and disposition files.
Shipments & Connections →Occupational & Monitoring Records
Dosimetry, bioassay, air sampling, contamination surveys, work permits, procedures, rosters, enrollment criteria, and follow-up records.
Occupational History →Occurrences & Investigations
Occurrence reports, investigation files, photographs, monitoring data, corrective actions, emergency records, and follow-up correspondence.
Occurrences, Incidents & Accidents →Public/private separation
Publish the research trail responsibly.
The public FOIA Research Center will present publication-cleared research tools, requests, recovery histories, and records. Personal contact information, sensitive personal data, private correspondence, and unpublished working material remain outside the public site unless appropriate for lawful and responsible release.
Recovery cycle
Gap → Request → Record → Evidence
GAP IDENTIFIED → CUSTODIAN IDENTIFIED → REQUEST FILED → RESPONSE DOCUMENTED → RECORD RECOVERED → SOURCE VERIFIED → EVIDENCE QUALIFIED → NETWORK UPDATED