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.
US secrecy may deepen Venezuelan oil corruption
The U.S. military abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, five months ago. Since then, the Trump administration has seized de facto control of the Venezuelan oil industry. And while it promised more transparency of the oil industry, the U.S. government has kept the operational details of this takeover secret, adding a complicated new layer that may entrench the U.S. in the Venezuelan oil industry’s deeply ingrained corruption.
FPF is challenging this dangerous secrecy through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to the departments of Treasury and State. We’re seeking:
- All monthly budget requests submitted by Venezuela’s interim government to U.S. officials.
- Documentation detailing the specific flow of funds and the identities of the recipients.
- The formal agreements governing the audits of these budgets.
If this information remains hidden, we risk replacing one corrupt system with another.
This financial secrecy is mirrored by a lack of legal accountability regarding military operations in the region. The Defense Department has conducted 56 known strikes that have killed 190 people to date. Despite the deadly nature of these operations, including reports of strikes on defenseless survivors, the administration has yet to disclose the legal rationale justifying such force.
Congress presses for Israeli nuclear transparency
Dozens of lawmakers are requesting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration publicly acknowledge the existence of Israel’s nuclear weapons program, citing the heightened risk of a nuclear accident or miscalculation during the war with Iran.
The House Democrats, led by Rep. Joaquin Castro, asked for a response to 11 questions — ranging from specifics about Israel’s nuclear capabilities to whether or not Israel had given any indications about whether or not it would use nuclear weapons — by May 18.
Israel’s nuclear program has been an open secret for decades. One of the best places to read what (little) information the U.S. has declassified on Israel’s program is the National Security Archive’s Nuclear Vault. Some of their best posts on the topic include:
- In a 1974 estimate, the CIA found that Israel already had a nuclear stockpile and that “many countries” would soon have nuclear capabilities.
- Israel crosses the threshold and Israel crosses the threshold II, revealing the Nixon administration’s debates about the emergence of Israel’s nuclear program.
- Duplicity and self-deception: Israel, the United States, and the Dimona inspections, 1964-65, which detailed how Henry Kissinger, then a Harvard professor, told U.S. diplomats he believed Israel had begun a nuclear weapons project.
FPF on National Public Radio
I visited NPR’s “1A” program this week to discuss the looming threat of the public’s loss of access to presidential records, and FPF’s and Citizens and Responsibility for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s lawsuit to ensure the most important records created by the government stay public property.
What I'm reading
Medicare portal database exposed health providers’ Social Security numbers
Key questions raised by this article are: Why did the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have access to these physicians’ social security numbers in the first place, and what data sharing agreement allowed it? Add this story to the growing list of threats to your personal data.
A secret ICE directive is testing one of Florida’s strongest traditions: Open government
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has told Florida officials not to release information about their work with federal immigration officials — even if those records were created by local entities. This edict ignores the legal reality that federal agencies do not get to dictate to state officials what can and can’t be released.
Internal ICE records reveal widespread use of force in detention centers
A leak of ICE records has revealed that the agency has used “physical force or chemical agents” nearly 800 times during the first year of the Trump administration. This adds to the examples compiled by my colleague Caitlin Vogus of the important stories we wouldn’t know about if it weren’t for leakers.
Could changes to the U.S. Forest Service erase a century of historical documents?
The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is closing 10 offices, many of which house hard copies of records detailing the history of America’s forests and illustrating the impact of climate change that don’t exist elsewhere. The Center for Biological Diversity is FOIA’ing the agency to learn what its plans are for relocating any of its archival holdings, as well as a list of what records the Forest Service will not transmit to the National Archives for permanent preservation.
Transparently yours,
Lauren Harper
Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation
