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 the week’s top secrecy news.
DOGE’s work is done. But where are its records?
The Department of Government Efficiency has quietly ended its formal mission, leaving behind the most transformative restructuring of the federal government in a generation — and little public accounting of its actions.
The “most transparent administration in history” is using a twofold strategy in an attempt to ensure no DOGE records ever see the light of day.
First, the White House contends that DOGE was never a federal agency subject to the real-time disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, claiming instead that it was a group with no independent authority that existed solely to advise the president. This convenient, albeit dubious, designation shields DOGE’s files under the Presidential Records Act, locking them away from FOIA requests — and public scrutiny — for a mandatory minimum of five years after an administration ends. (Dual lawsuits by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and American Oversight are challenging the FOIA dodge, forcing the government to preserve records while the cases proceed.)
Second, the administration recently declared the PRA itself unconstitutional. It’s an absurd take: No previous president — including Donald Trump during his first term — ever argued the law was invalid, because treating the most consequential records in government as personal trophies to be hoarded or incinerated is a clear affront to democratic accountability. The government’s radical position prompted FPF to join forces with CREW to sue and save White House records.
The administration isn’t hiding its disappearing DOGE records agenda. On June 30, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought confirmed the intent to let the paper trail go dark, telling a House subcommittee that the White House has no plans to issue a final closing report because the metrics are simply “sprinkled all across the government.”
The hypocrisy is staggering for a project that marketed itself as a public audit that would improve government accountability. Instead, it leaves the public with no clear explanation of what exactly DOGE accomplished or how much it actually saved, if anything.
State Department IG’s records shell game
I recently received a FOIA denial from the State Department that highlights a massive, long-standing frustration for researchers and journalists: An agency claiming it cannot find records that the public already knows exist.
Here’s the backstory: In 2025, ProPublica published an article revealing the existence of a State Department inspector general investigation into the highly controversial relationship between El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, and former U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson (including an incident where an FBI-led task force contractor was ousted at Bukele’s request).
I filed a FOIA request with the IG’s office for that report. Their official response? “No records found.”
I know the document exists because ProPublica quoted it, and the FOIA office’s response raises troubling questions: Was the record improperly destroyed, or did the FOIA office intentionally conduct an inadequate search to shield a sensitive report from public scrutiny?
Yes, we are appealing.
What I'm reading
Historians reject White House’s criticism of Smithsonian museum
The White House has accused the Smithsonian of “extreme political activism,” claiming its exhibits present a vision of America defined by “regret, tragedy, and shame.” The administration further argues that the over $1 billion in public funding the trust receives grants the president authority to push for direct institutional reform.
Making the Smithsonian subject to FOIA could decisively settle this debate — either by refuting the White House’s claims through proof of its nonpartisan scholarship, or by providing the very evidence of bias the administration alleges. While the Smithsonian currently operates outside of FOIA under a voluntary, internal disclosure policy, its lack of independent administrative remedies leaves its transparency, and its defense, vulnerable.
Trump says Pulte can declassify ‘whatever’ he wants, sparking fears of exposing intelligence
Many have primarily focused on the intelligence community’s panic over acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte’s authority to declassify “whatever” agency documents he wants. But this obscures a deeper structural crisis: The federal government overclassifies an estimated 75% to 90% of its documents, a national security threat in and of itself. Yet instead of implementing the systemic, structural solutions desperately needed to fix this broken system, Pulte appears poised to weaponize selective declassification as a partisan tool of retribution.
DOJ refuses to hand over Epstein files after judge’s order
How did the Department of Justice respond to a court order forcing it to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act? By arguing that its ongoing noncompliance is the best it can do. Learn more about the suit, brought by independent journalist and former MSNBC host Katie Phang, here.
Transparently yours,
Lauren Harper
Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation
