Pentagon tries to hide unclassified records from FOIA

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.

Pentagon tries to hide its unclassified records

While the Trump administration’s crackdowns on whistleblowers and journalists have dominated headlines, the Defense Department is quietly pursuing an even greater systemic threat to public accountability.

Last month, the Pentagon asked Congress to exempt all “controlled unclassified information” from the Freedom of Information Act. If approved, the military would be allowed to hide hundreds of millions of unclassified records from taxpayers, journalists, and open records laws — potentially forever.

This proposal is dangerous for three main reasons.

First, the scope is massive. CUI is an administrative handling label, not a security classification like “secret” or “confidential.” Because virtually all of the Defense Department’s 2.8 million employees and hundreds of thousands of contractors handle CUI, this rule could hide the vast majority of military records.

Second, the secrecy is potentially permanent. Unlike classified documents, which are generally subject to release after 25 years, these unclassified records would have no expiration date — making them de facto forever secrets. This means that everyday paperwork would effectively face longer-lasting secrecy than classified documents.

Third, it overrides state laws. This proposal could unfairly restrict access to records that would otherwise be released through state and local public records laws.

The Pentagon’s attempt to hide its unclassified records follows other, more high-profile anti-accountability efforts by the Trump administration. These include subpoenaing New York Times journalists following reporting on security concerns over the jet accepted from Qatar; launching a joint leak task force to target whistleblowers; rolling back media guidelines that protected journalists during leak investigations; and trying to institute a media access policy so unconstitutional that it prompted much of the Pentagon press corps to turn in their credentials.

A CUI stamp is currently not sufficient to withhold records under FOIA — and that’s the way it should be. From hiding its legal rationale for the lethal strikes against alleged drug boats, to underreporting military casualties from the war with Iran, the department already operates with dangerous impunity. It doesn’t need more leeway to hide information from the public, and Congress must reject this attempt to expand government secrecy.

FPF launches the Penlight Prize!

FPF has officially launched the Penlight Prize, a new $25,000 award honoring an outstanding piece of public-interest journalism. To qualify, entries must be free to the public and largely based on government records obtained through state, local, or federal FOIA requests.

Submissions are due Sept. 1 and will be evaluated by an all-star panel of judges: Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University’s Jameel Jaffer, and the National Security Archive’s Kate Doyle.

Archivist nomination advances despite lack of credentials

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced the nomination of Bradford Wilson to serve as archivist of the United States this week, despite his lack of qualifications.

Wilson’s appointment demands heavy scrutiny from the full Senate. At a time when agencies and the White House alike are flouting records laws, we need an archivist committed to independently upholding the agency’s preservation mission — not someone who may be willing to rubber-stamp decisions to destroy records.

Transparently yours,

Lauren Harper

Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation