Are there documented FOIA releases that reference William Kyle Riley or related names in federal archives (NARA) or the DOJ FOIA library?
Executive summary
There are no explicit FOIA releases in the supplied documents that name “William Kyle Riley” in full; the materials supplied show FOIA logs and public FOIA libraries at NARA and DOJ that contain many entries referencing “Riley” or “Ft. Riley” and other Riley-family names, but none of the provided records unambiguously cite a release for a person identified as William Kyle Riley [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. The available sources show where such a reference would typically appear (NARA’s Electronic Reading Room and DOJ’s FOIA library), and they also demonstrate the practical limits of searching FOIA holdings by name without running a direct query or filing a request [2] [3] [5].
1. What the supplied FOIA logs and indexes actually show
The redacted FY20 NGC FOIA log and related NARA indices provided include entries that reference Ft. Riley, Army CID reports, and assorted records lists where the string “Riley” appears in context — for example an item described as “Army CID Ft. Riley KS death report on daughter 2019” appears in a NARA FOIA log excerpt [1], and NARA’s public-facing pages explain that archival FOIA holdings and operational records are cataloged in the Electronic Reading Room and FOIA request systems [2] [3]. Those entries confirm that NARA and its logs do contain Riley-related descriptors, but the supplied excerpts do not contain a record explicitly labeled “William Kyle Riley” or any FOIA release document text that names that full name [1] [2] [3].
2. DOJ / OIP FOIA libraries and name-based hits: Riley appears, but not William Kyle Riley
The Department of Justice’s FOIA “available documents” pages host frequently requested records and searchable FOIA-processed documents; supplied material confirms such a library exists and is where one would expect public releases to be posted [5]. One supplied DOJ-area release (Office of the Pardon Attorney list) includes multiple RILEY surname occurrences — for example Leonard Pearson Riley and Jorge Aaron Riley appear among numerous names in a pardon-certificate release — demonstrating that “Riley” as a surname is present in DOJ-published FOIA outputs [4]. That same source does not, in the supplied excerpt, include a listing for “William Kyle Riley,” and there is no supplied DOJ page that prints a FOIA release naming him [4] [5].
3. Ambiguities and common failure modes when searching FOIA holdings by name
FOIA logs, indexes and bulk lists often use inconsistent name formats, redaction, or partial identifiers; NARA explicitly warns that archival finding aids, transferred Presidential records, and FOIA releases can have varying levels of access and redaction and that researchers may need to file formal requests for DOJ or FBI case files [2] [3] [6]. The Mary Ferrell Project and related JFK-release spot checks illustrate how record lists and spreadsheets can change across releases and how names or citations can be moved, redacted or omitted over time [7]. Those dynamics create real risk that a search of public indexes will miss a particular individual unless the seeker checks multiple repositories and time-stamped releases.
4. What can be concluded, and what cannot be concluded from these sources
From the supplied documents, it is accurate to conclude that the repositories that would hold FOIA releases referencing an individual named William Kyle Riley (notably NARA’s Electronic Reading Room and the DOJ FOIA library) exist and contain Riley-surname material, but that no supplied release explicitly names “William Kyle Riley” [2] [3] [4] [5]. It cannot be concluded from the provided material that no FOIA release anywhere references William Kyle Riley — only that the excerpts and indexes supplied to this analysis do not show such a documented release and that a targeted search or formal FOIA request would be the next necessary step [3] [6].
5. Practical next steps and hidden pitfalls for verification
To move beyond absence-of-evidence in these excerpts, a researcher should query NARA’s Electronic Reading Room and DOJ/OIP FOIA library directly for “William Kyle Riley” and known variants, examine FOIA logs by date ranges and subject (Ft. Riley, Army CID, pardon lists), and if needed file targeted FOIA requests for DOJ, FBI, or NARA archival files — steps explicitly recommended by NARA’s FOIA guidance and request pages [2] [3] [6]. Researchers should also guard against conflation: the presence of other Rileys in DOJ release lists [4] or Ft. Riley references in NARA logs [1] can be misread as evidence for a specific individual unless the release text or metadata names that person explicitly.