Pentagon — Elbridge Colby's financial-disclosure and ethics records: still open, delayed (26-F-2781)
What we asked for: The public financial-disclosure reports (OGE Form 278e — the yearly form senior officials file listing their assets, income, and outside roles) that Elbridge Colby filed for his Defense Department job, plus any ethics agreement, recusal statement (a promise to stay out of certain matters), or conflict-of-interest decision about his ties to outside organizations.
What we got so far: A status letter, not an answer. The office gave the case its number and said it will miss the normal 20-working-day deadline because of "unusual circumstances": it does not hold the records itself, so it must collect them from other offices and may need to consult other agencies. The request is in the "complex" line, handled in order received, behind about 3,683 open requests.
Appeal: the letter gives 90 days to appeal the denial of fast processing. No final answer has arrived yet.
Fee waiver / faster processing: We asked for both; the July 28 letter turned down fast ("expedited") processing, saying we had not "clearly demonstrated how the information will lose its value" if handled in the normal order, and said the fee waiver will be decided after the search, with fees charged only if the office answers within the legal time limit or the records run over 5,000 pages.
View the Pentagon's status letter Download PDF, 3 pages