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.
FPF sues to find out if DOJ is hiding press protections to raid journalists
On Monday, FPF — with assistance from the Free Information Group — filed a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice.
Our goal is simple: To see if the Trump administration is hiding press protections to raid reporters and seize their devices.
This lawsuit follows the FBI raid on Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home. During the warrant process, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg admitted he deliberately withheld from the judge the existence of the Privacy Protection Act of 1980 — the law that prohibits raids on newsrooms and reporters’ homes — claiming it was department policy to do so. We filed a series of FOIA requests about the agency’s discussions around the PPA, as well as the raid on Natanson’s home itself.
Fortunately, a federal judge blocked the government from searching Natanson’s devices, noting that the DOJ’s secrecy “seriously undermined the Court’s confidence in the government’s disclosures.” Magistrate Judge William Porter also warned that this raid points to a broader pattern of retaliation against the press and internal purges across the government.
But the DOJ’s disregard for the PPA is compounded by its refusal to disclose records under FOIA. To date, the department has failed to provide a single document in response to our requests, forcing us to go to court to learn how it’s undermining press protections.
Free PACER bill tackles court secrecy
Sens. Ron Wyden and John Kennedy have reintroduced the Open Courts Act, a bill that would, among other things, make court records free. It would require the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the federal agency that manages the judicial branch, to develop a replacement for its records system, known as Public Access to Court Electronic Records. The bill would centralize many of the judiciary’s disparate case filing systems, making them more cost effective. It would also remove the paywall and improve cybersecurity for court records.
Earlier versions of the same bill unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in both 2021 and 2022.
Obama center opens soon — but don’t call it a presidential library
The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago will house many things, including the tallest structure ever featured at a presidential site — a 225-foot-tall tower called the Obamalisk — as well as a Chicago public library branch, a massive athletic complex, and more. It will not, however, be home to a presidential library.
The decision by former President Barack Obama not to officially partner with the National Archives and Records Administration was most likely rooted in money. Obama would have been the first president to have to pay NARA 60% of the cost to build the facility as an endowment for the agency to run a library (prior presidents had to pay 20%). Since the site cost $850 million, the Obama Foundation would have had to pay NARA over half a million dollars.
Obama’s decision not to partner with NARA has made it easier for President Donald Trump, aided by public confusion around the relationship between private presidential foundations and government-run presidential libraries, to fundraise for his own presidential center under the guise of building a presidential library.
In late March, the Trump Presidential Library Foundation released renderings of a proposed $1 billion, 50-story Miami skyscraper. The affiliated website makes it very easy to donate to the foundation, but there is still no evidence that Trump will build an official library, and he himself has said he’s not interested in building a museum or a library.
The foundation’s fundraising off dubious claims that it will build a library is especially egregious given the Trump administration’s efforts to eviscerate the Presidential Records Act — the law that requires the preservation of the papers that are stored at presidential libraries.
What I'm reading
Trump urges ‘less shackled’ Pulte to fire intelligence-community employees
Tulsi Gabbard fired nearly half of the employees at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, but that appears not to have been enough for Trump. He has privately instructed Bill Pulte, the incoming acting director of national intelligence who has zero intelligence experience, to fire even more agency personnel. My prediction? Pulte will start by further decimating the FOIA and privacy offices — even if he isn’t there for long.
CIA officer found with gold bars said to have created fake spy program
Searching for more evidence that there should be more oversight of, and transparency into, the intelligence community’s budget? Look no further than this story about a CIA official who created a fake, highly classified special access program to steal tens of millions of dollars.
Transparently yours,
Lauren Harper
Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation
