(a)The Chief Counsel may initiate an investigation of any statement in an application and utilize in his or her evaluation any relevant facts obtained by that investigation. The Chief Counsel may solicit and accept submissions from third persons relevant to an application and will provide the applicant an opportunity to respond to all third person submissions. In evaluating an application, the Chief Counsel may consider any other source of information. The Chief Counsel on his or her own initiative may convene a hearing or conference, if he or she considers that a hearing or conference will advance his or her evaluation of the application.
(b)The Chief Counsel may dismiss the application without prejudice if:
(1)He or she determines that there is insufficient information upon which to base a determination; or
(2)He or she requests additional information from the applicant and it is not submitted.