Secrecy and FOIA

Archive, CREW, Historians Ask Federal Judge to Preserve Head of State Records

Washington D.C., October 1, 2019 – The National Security Archive together with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) today filed a motion in federal court for a temporary restraining order to compel the White House to preserve records of foreign leader phone calls and meetings with the president, and records of White House record-keeping practices and policies.

Is the CIA Bypassing Senate Judiciary with New (B)(3) FOIA Exemption? FRINFORMSUM 6/20/2019

Submitted by admin on

Proposed CIA Exemption Will Make It Harder for Historians to get Agency Information   A provision in the pending intelligence authorization bill would allow the CIA to indefinitely withhold information on “the identities of all undercover intelligence officers, and United States citizens whose relationship to the United States is classified, regardless of the location of […]

FOIA Helps Show Elaine Chao’s Transportation Department Has Special Liaison for Husband’s Home State Projects: FRINFORMSUM 6/13/2019

Submitted by admin on

Emails Released through FOIA Show Special Relationship between Transportation Dept. and State of Kentucky FOIA-released records obtained by American Oversight and provided to Politico illuminate how Transportation Department Secretary Elaine Chao prioritizes requests from Kentucky – home state of her husband and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Specifically, the department established a special liaison, Chao’s […]

DOJ FOIA Report Shows OIP Still Living in “La-La-Land”: FRINFORMSUM 6/6/2019

Submitted by admin on

Year after year, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) issues a summary of annual agency FOIA reports that misinterprets FOIA performance across the federal government to the point the report’s main conclusions are unreliable, and this year is no different. OIP’s mandate is to “encourage” government-wide FOIA compliance – an important step […]

Presidential Memo “Effectively Amends” EO 13526: FRINFORMSUM 5/30/2019

Submitted by admin on

Trump Memo “Effectively Amends” EO 13526 to Transfer Limited DNI Authority to AG Barr President Trump recently signed a presidential memo that “effectively amends” Executive Order 13526 on classification of national security information to grant Attorney General William Barr the “authority of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify intelligence information concerning the 2016 election.” […]

FOIA Highlights Trouble Integrating Submarine, US Attorney Accused of Sexual Misconduct, and More: FRINFORMSUM 5/23/2019

Submitted by admin on

FOIA Shows Sailors Created “Rape List” That CO Failed to Properly Address A FOIA request from Military.com won the release of a 74-page investigation into a “rape list” created by members of the USS Florida’s Gold Crew – the second submarine to integrate women. The report found “Navy leaders failed to address sailors’ safety concerns after […]

White House Secrecy “Will Blast a Huge Crater in the Work of Historians”: FRINFORMSUM 5/16/2019

Submitted by admin on

Trump’s Secrecy will “Blast a Huge Crater” in work of Historians if not Checked The Washington Post Editorial Board weighed in on the National Security Archive’s lawsuit against the Trump administration for failing to document meetings with heads of state, noting “The failure to document these meetings is not only about compliance with the law. […]

Declassified CIA Clandestine Service Emails Fret Over “UBL/Devil dolls” Story

Submitted by admin on

A June 16, 2014 CIA “FLASH FYSA [For Your Situational Awareness] email to the Office of the Director of the National Clandestine Service [ODNCS] warned of a “Possible Future Washington Post Article regarding CIA Covert Influence Operations.” The “covert influence operation” was a doll.  A doll with a likeness of Osama bin Laden, except that […]