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 this week’s top secrecy news.
Justice Department tries to end public access to presidential records
Think about the wildest thing you’ve seen a president post on social media. Now, imagine what’s being said behind closed doors, because it might be even worse.
Usually, the public would eventually find out what’s being discussed in the Oval Office thanks to the Presidential Records Act. But the Department of Justice is threatening to change that.
The DOJ recently issued a sweeping new memo claiming the PRA is unconstitutional, arguing that a president’s records are private property, not public. As I wrote in The Intercept, this is wrong, and flips 50 years of transparency on its head.
This PRA has required every president since Ronald Reagan to turn their records over to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of their term. It’s given the public valuable insight on the inner workings of both Democratic and Republican administrations on topics ranging from President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran to the George W. Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
That’s because the PRA makes presidential records subject to the Freedom of Information Act five years after the end of an administration.
But the Justice Department is attempting to undo this route for public access to these important records. This threat isn’t just about one president. It’s a bipartisan emergency, because if this memo stands, every future president, Democrat or Republican, gets to operate in total darkness.
We can’t let that happen. Use our action center today and help fight back against this dangerous secrecy.
You might just be a ‘vexatious’ requester
A New Jersey school district is suing a journalist for filing too many Freedom of Information Act requests, seeking to shut down his website and stop him from filing any more requests for an entire year.
How many FOIAs were too many for the district to process, even though it had time to submit a 128-page court filing in the case?
Fourteen.
This ridiculous lawsuit is a result of a change to the state law that allows agencies to sue people for submitting requests that the government deems harassment. It’s also a microcosm of similar policy discussions at the federal level where agencies are seeking tools to deny requests, or requesters, they don’t like.
There’s no good reason to help agencies deny FOIA requests, even if you find the request — or the requester — distasteful or aggressive.
As I noted when the Heritage Foundation was being vilified for filing tens of thousands of FOIA requests: While there may be a nugget of validity to agency claims about vexatious requesters, it’s very likely that one day those same arguments will be weaponized against ... well, you.
FOIA reform needs to stay focused on ensuring agencies have the tools they need to respond to a growing number of requests and to post records proactively, so nobody has to file a FOIA in the first place — not on placing restrictions around the public trying to learn what the government is doing.
What I'm reading
Newly obtained video of Minneapolis shooting undermines ICE account
Video obtained through a public records request to the city of Minneapolis completely contradicts an immigration agent’s claim “that three assailants had beaten him with a shovel and broom for roughly three minutes before he opened fire” in the January incident. The release of the video shows, among other things, that if the federal government is stonewalling your FOIA request, filing a request with a city it placed under siege can be an effective workaround.
NARA’s FY 2027 performance budget
NARA leadership, which is now helmed by acting Archivist of the United States Ed Forst (a man who has no apparent qualifications for the role) is asking for $35 million less than it did last year. That’s nearly an 8% cut, on top of decades of stagnant and inadequate budgets. This pitiful amount all but ensures the agency will be unable to fulfill its mission to ensure that agencies are creating — and saving — their records. And maybe that’s the point.
White House wants to downsize DHS inspector general office
In other troubling budget news for fiscal year 2027, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to cut 85 employees from the agency’s inspector general’s office. The news comes in spite of the fact that DHS has more than enough money to fund the office, and after IG Joseph Cuffari accused former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s office of thwarting 11 of his investigations. (It should be noted that Cuffari himself has been accused of derailing investigations.)
Transparently yours,
Lauren Harper
Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation
