Pass the PRESS Act
The PRESS Act is the most important press freedom bill in modern history.
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Stop Arresting Journalists
Too often, police arrest journalists for doing their jobs. These arrests and prosecutions chill important reporting.
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Reform Government Secrecy
The U.S. classifies far too many secrets, obstructing democracy.
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These Are the 99 FOIA Requests Top Pentagon Officials Had to Approve
Ninety-Nine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by journalists and researchers since last July were flagged by the Department of Defense (DOD) and had to receive “Department Level Clearance” before agencies within DOD could issue a response and/or responsive records. I obtained the latest so-called Department Level Interest list …
Judge Orders FBI to Conduct New Search for Documents on Internet Activist Aaron Swartz
A federal court judge on Monday ordered the FBI to conduct a new search for documents on Aaron Swartz, the late Internet activist who was being aggressively prosecuted by the federal government for downloading millions of academic articles. Swartz committed suicide in January 2013 before his case had gone to …
How the "Most Transparent Administration in History" Undercut FOIA and Covered Up Torture
The nonpartisan organization Cause of Action has a new report out for Sunshine Week, "Grading the Government: How the White House Targets Document Requesters." The report includes an April 15, 2009 email Cause of Action obtained last year from the Justice Department written by then White House counsel Greg Craig. …
Government FOIA Officers Complain About House FOIA Reform Bill
The House last month, by an overwhelming majority, passed a bipartisan-sponsored Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill that received strong support from more than two-dozen news organizations and public interest groups. But, as Federal News Radio reported this morning, government FOIA officers are now complaining that the legislation …
Government Opposes Preservation Order in FOIA Lawsuit for CIA’s “Panetta Review”
At the center of the controversy between the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA is a report known as the “Panetta review” that apparently matches up with the findings and conclusions of the Senate panel’s own report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. Last December, after Sen. Mark Udall …
Obama Administration Official Whitewashes Truth About FOIA
Last week, as she does every year around Sunshine Week, Melanie Pustay went to The Hill and testified before a congressional committee about how great government agencies haven been doing responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and providing requesters with responsive records. Pustay, the head of the Department …
FOIA Lawsuit No. 5: My Attempt to Access the Secret Report Claiming Snowden’s Leaks Could Damage National Security
Last month, Shane Harris published a report in Foreign Policy revealing that that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) prepared a report and concluded Edward Snowden’s leaks and the news reports on the top-secret documents he disclosed could “gravely impact” national security. The Foreign Policy report quoted House Intelligence Committee Chairman …
NSA Refuses to Confirm or Deny Whether It Has Documents on Spy Program It Already Talked About
I’m getting a kick out of the letters the National Security Agency (NSA) has been sending me in response to my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.A couple of weeks ago, the NSA refused to release 156 pages of draft talking points the agency created in the wake of …
NSA Sees "Grave Damage" to National Security If Draft Talking Points on Surveillance Released
The National Security Agency appears to have spent a lot of time trying to agree on a set of talking points agency officials could use to respond to revelations that originated with Edward Snowden about the lawfulness of the agency’s classified surveillance programs. Indeed, last October, I filed a Freedom …
DOJ: Feinstein’s Committee Controls Torture Report; Has Final Say Over Public Release
A report completed more than a year ago by a Senate panel that investigated the CIA’s torture program can only be released by the committee, which maintains complete "control” over the highly classified document, the Justice Department said in a court filing late Friday. The Justice Department made that claim …
