Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

I’m Lauren Harper, the first Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), and welcome to “The Classifieds.” Read on to learn about how Marco Rubio’s role as acting archivist may rear its ugly head during the next presidential election, a hack that led to a FOIA outage, and more of this week’s top secrecy news stories.

A big reason why Rubio’s role as acting archivist needs more scrutiny

This week, Rubio proved he has no qualms parroting whatever hollow arguments the Trump administration wants him to, even when those arguments aren’t based in fact.

This is an immediate problem. Americans should be able to trust that the person serving as secretary of state and national security adviser will promote the truth over lies.

It also poses a potential issue down the road. If Rubio stays in his role as acting archivist of the

United States indefinitely, he would be in charge of managing the constitutional amendment process for any proposed amendments, and ensuring that the electoral college process is followed during the next presidential election.

This is not a job for a political hack.

Americans need to trust the archivist to fulfill these responsibilities independently and professionally. Rubio hasn’t demonstrated he has that skillset.

FOIAXpress hacked

The FBI is investigating the hack of software company Opexus, which operates a Freedom of Information Act case management system used by 80% of federal agencies — FOIAXpress.

In February, reporter Jason Leopold was told that the Environmental Protection Agency, one of many agencies that use FOIAXpress, had lost his FOIA requests and he’d have to resubmit them. Leopold investigated how his requests could have been lost and uncovered a bizarre story in the process. Twin brothers who had been hired by Opexus despite having been previously convicted for hacking the State Department had deleted 33 databases after finding out they were being terminated. One database “held FOIA requests submitted to numerous government agencies.” Leopold has more on the story, which highlights the risks of the government heavily relying on third-party vendors to administer FOIA, here.

Don’t politicize declassification

Trump administration officials routinely tout the importance of transparency. But so far, its efforts have focused on releasing records to score political points rather than substantive information. This includes declassifying the Jeffrey Epstein client list, political assassination records, and anything that Trump world thinks might make President Joe Biden look bad.

This pattern, combined with the apparent attempts within the intelligence community to shape reports that could not be used against the president, is a recipe for disaster.

One way to fight against these joint dangers is to have a systematic approach to declassification that promotes resources the government already has, like the National Declassification Center, which can help multiple agencies properly declassify important records on timely topics. Otherwise, we may walk blindly into a self-created crisis.

Read more on our website.

What I’m reading

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to keep DOGE records secret (Politico). Solicitor General John Sauer has filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court to put a hold on an earlier ruling from District Judge Christopher Cooper that found the Department of Government Efficiency was “likely covered” by FOIA. In March, Judge Cooper ordered DOGE to begin turning over records in the discovery process in a FOIA lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as a result. In his SCOTUS petition, Sauer repeats the government’s tired argument that DOGE merely advises the president, rather than acts as an operational entity that has played a leading role in radically reshaping many federal agencies.

Pentagon says it has taken possession of 747 from Qatar (The Wall Street Journal). The Pentagon announced this week that it has officially taken possession of a luxury jet from Qatar that will serve as Air Force One. The government has reportedly contracted with defense contractor L3 to transform the commercial plane into one with the security and defense systems required for the president’s plane. The Justice Department approved the gift on the condition that the plane be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation (which never has to build an actual library) before the end of Trump’s second term.

White House purges transcripts of Trump’s remarks from its website (NBC News). The White House is no longer publishing transcripts of the president’s remarks, opting instead to post selected videos of Trump’s appearances. This is a blow to those who want a quick way to digest the president’s statements — and will make it more difficult for the president himself to prove if he is being misquoted.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time.

Transparently yours,

Lauren Harper

Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation