Secrecy and FOIA
Apr 3, 2013 | Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 3, 2013 – The U.S. government's Freedom of Information Act reviewers produced four different versions of the same State Department document over a 12-year period, releasing different information each time, according to the National Security Archive's posting today of the documents obtained by author and journalist Michael Dobbs.
Apr 2, 2013 | News
Washington, DC, April 2, 2013 – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today rejected the Justice Department's "impermissible" "maneuver" that would have kept "FOIA requests bottled up in limbo for months or years on end," according to the unanimous decision in the CREW v. FEC case, now remanded to the District Court.
Mar 15, 2013 | News
Washington, DC, March 15, 2013 – The Department of Justice has earned the dubious distinction of winning the infamous Rosemary Award for the second time in a row, for worst open government performance of any federal agency over the past year, according to the award citation posted today by the independent non-governmental National Security Archive at www.nsarchive.org.
Mar 15, 2013 | Rosemary Award
The Department of Justice has earned the dubious distinction of winning the infamous Rosemary Award for the second time in a row, for worst open government performance of any federal agency over the past year, according to the award citation posted today by the independent non-governmental National Security Archive at www.nsarchive.org.
Mar 13, 2013 | Briefing Book, FOIA Audit
IN THE NEWS Agencies lag on transparency, report says By Josh Hicks, The Washington Post, December 4, 2012 Federal Agencies Are Failing to Uphold Obama's Stated Commitment to Transparency By Rebecca J.
Jan 17, 2013 | Briefing Book
Washington, DC, January 17, 2013 – The poster for the blockbuster movie Zero Dark Thirty features black lines of redaction over the title, which unintentionally illustrate the most accurate take-away from the film - that most of the official record of the hunt for Osama bin Laden is still shrouded in secrecy, according to the National Security Archive's ZD30 briefing book, posted today at www.nsarchive.org. The U.S.
Dec 7, 2012 | News
Washington, D.C., December 7, 2012 – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit yesterday rejected the CIA's attempt to shortcut the National Security Archive's lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the last still-secret history of the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. With the ruling, the Archive has moved a step closer to compelling openness for the only remaining unreleased volume of a draft history of the Bay of Pigs operation, written by a CIA staff historian in the 1980s. One volume of the five-volume history reached the public through the John F.
Dec 4, 2012 | Briefing Book, FOIA Audit
IN THE NEWS
Updated December 6, 2012
Agencies lag on transparency, report says By Josh Hicks, The Washington Post, December 4, 2012
Federal Agencies Are Failing to Uphold Obama's Stated Commitment to Transparency By Rebecca J. Rosen, The Atlantic, December 5, 2012
TexMessage: Cornyn chides Obama administration for failing to meet transparency standards of his 2007 law By Jana Kasperkevic, Houston Chronicle, December 5, 2012
Obama's FOIA lag draws fire from left and right By Dave Boyer, The Washington Times, December 4, 2012
Jul 4, 2012 | News
Washington, DC, July 4, 2012 – Marking the 46th anniversary of President Johnson's signing the Freedom of Information Act, the National Security Archive today posted a compilation of 46 news headlines from the past year made possible by active and creative use of the FOIA.
May 10, 2012 | News
Washington, DC, May 10, 2012 – More than year after the National Security Archive sued the CIA to declassify the full "Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation," a U.S. District Court judge today sided with the Agency's efforts to keep the last volume of the report secret in perpetuity.