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 sued the government three times this week

We filed three new Freedom of Information Act lawsuits this week, bringing the total number of FOIA lawsuits we’ve brought against the government this year to five.

The suits target records about the administration’s tactics for targeting members of the press and efforts to hollow out its own transparency infrastructure.

Here are the details:

  • We are suing for records about the Trump administration’s outrageous claim that it wanted to prosecute CNN for reporting on “ICEBlock,” an app that allows users to track Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
  • We are suing for any documents that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard relied on to support her July 3, 2025, assertion on social media platform X that Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima refused to identify herself in the course of her reporting, lied about the fact she worked for The Washington Post, and demanded agency officials share sensitive information.
  • Together with 404 Media, we are also suing the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a copy of the July 14, 2025, agreement granting ICE access to the personal data of the nation’s nearly 79 million Medicaid enrollees.

FPF is represented by Matthew Cate in each of these cases. Read more on our website.

Annual classification report released

The Information Security Oversight Office, which is in charge of overseeing government-wide compliance with the classification program, recently issued its latest report. The whole thing is worth reading, but here are two things that jumped out at me:

  • At least 34% of classification decisions contain errors.
  • An interagency panel that reviews agency classification decisions overruled agencies 79% of the time (specifically, the panel reviewed 33 documents agencies initially said must stay secret and only upheld agency decisions for seven of those documents).

Our top FOIAs this week

We filed more FOIA requests this week. Here are some of the most interesting:

  • We asked the Federal Communications Commission for communications about its communications with Nexstar and Sinclair employees in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s killing.
  • We asked the U.S. Park Police for records about the removal of a statue of President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein from the National Mall by Park Police officers, despite a permit allowing it to remain until Sept. 28.
  • We asked the FBI for a copy of its 2024 recordings of Tom Homan, now the White House border czar, accepting $50,000 in cash.

And the most absurd FOIA denials

This week we also continued to receive responses to our FOIAs — usually in the form of denials — from agencies.

This one really caught my eye: The Department of Homeland Security told us they couldn’t release any portion of the 35-page program pitch that was put together by Rob Worsoff in coordination with DHS for a TV show called “The American,” where immigrants compete on a reality show for citizenship.

Apparently DHS thought disclosure could violate trade secrets and commercial interests — even though the show wasn’t picked up and details of the pitch have been widely reported.

We are appealing this and every denial.

FPF on NPR

This week I joined Freedom Forum’s Kevin Goldberg and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s Conor Fitzpatrick on NPR’s 1A program to discuss the weaponization of the FCC, the Defense Department’s misguided attempt to limit what journalists can report on, and more.

Here are my top reads from this week. To see my full reading list for all things secrecy-related, check out The Classified Catalog.

What I'm Reading

Documents offer rare insight on ICE’s close relationship with Palantir

The Guardian

Just Futures Law, an immigrants rights law group, used FOIA to obtain documents showing how ICE used Palantir between 2014 and 2022. The disclosure includes hundreds of emails between ICE officials and Palantir, which should underscore that private companies’ communications with the government are not automatically off-limits from FOIA requests, no matter what corporations or agencies may try to say.

The Pentagon, the press and the fight to control national security coverage

The New York Times

Pete Hegseth’s attempt to vet what reporters publish is a nonstarter. It’s the press’ job to sort through “a messy mix of unclassified, sensitive and, at times, classified data,” and tell the public and Congress when the administration is wrong or when it’s lying. If Hegseth wants fewer disclosures to the press, maybe he should just get off Signal.

Transparently yours,

Lauren Harper

Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation