#freedomofinformationact — Public Fediverse posts

A FOIA Update, Of Sorts

Last week, a Government Information Specialist at the State Department emailed to ask if I would still be interested in records I requested in 2021 under the Freedom of Information Act. “The Department is undertaking a comprehensive review of its backlog of FOIA requests,” she wrote, and if (after failing to respond to my request for five years) she did not hear from me within thirty days, “the Department will conclude you are no longer interested in pursuing this request, and your request will be administratively closed.”

The request itself concerned the Kalorama mansion purchased by Chilean billionaire Andronico Luksic Craig right after the 2016 election, where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump lived during Trump’s first term. (I’ve written several posts about the situation over the years. This one is a pretty good primer.) When Jared and Ivanka decamped to Florida in 2021, the Kuwaiti foreign mission leased Luksic’s Washington, DC property; federal law required State Department approval. So I asked to see the Kuwaiti foreign mission’s written request and the State Department’s Notice of Approval.

I was casting a wide net in order to learn what I could about Luksic, his influence operations, and his international network of business relationships, which now extends to the very edge of the Boundary Waters, where Luksic-controlled Antofagasta plc plans to build the Twin Metals copper and nickel mine.

It was a longshot request to begin with. Is there anything to learn from these Foreign Mission Office records, five years later? Not likely, but who knows? So I replied that I am still interested. I feel obliged to see the thing through, or to see that the Department of State meets its obligation to the public. 

While I had the attention, or at least the email address, of someone involved in the comprehensive review, I thought I should ask about two other requests I’d filed with the Department of State back in October of 2018, and which I’ve been trying to chase down ever since. These requests concern the use of the US embassy in Santiago, Chile as a business backchannel for Antofagasta: one asks for records of a 2017 meeting between Antofagasta CEO Ivan Arriagada and Carol Perez, then US ambassador to Chile; the other asks for embassy communications regarding Trump’s nomination of Andrew Gellert to replace Perez. Over the years, the Department has set and missed several estimated dates of completion for these requests. I detailed some of the back and forth in a 2023 post. Since then, or at least for the past couple of years, the FOIA Office has failed to respond to my requests for more information about the status of these requests.

On Monday, this reply came:

These requests remain in process and has [sic] a new estimated date of completion (EDC) of January 31, 2028.  EDCs are estimates and subject to change. You will be notified of the results of the Department’s search and review efforts in response to these requests as soon as that information becomes available.

This is just boilerplate, of course; the subject-verb disagreement in the first sentence looks like a copy-paste accident. Still, a few observations. 

The requests are said to be “in process,” but in eight years no “search and review efforts” have been undertaken. The new estimated date of completion falls in the last year of Trump’s second term – a year and a half from now – and the FOIA office is not even committing to a response when the 2018 request hits the ten-year mark. I am sufficiently annoyed by this delay that I have to wonder aloud (but without evidence) if there is some directive at State to push FOIA matters, or certain FOIA matters, to the end of this administration. 

The FOIA office blames a backlog of requests, and that backlog is real. “The State Department’s FOIA backlog spiked by 6,000 cases to a total of 27,619” this fiscal year, reports Justin Doubleday. Back in June, Minho Kim did some great data analysis for the New York Times showing that federal agencies “accumulated the highest-ever backlog of cases in fiscal year 2025, raising questions about compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.” Not surprisingly, “the problem appears to have worsened under President Trump.” And the backlog problem has been compounded by cuts to FOIA staff, leaving “several key FOIA leadership and staff positions vacant” at State. One administration official quoted by the Times says the Trump administration chose to “hire ICE officers instead of FOIA processors.” That snide remark alone speaks volumes about this administration’s misplaced priorities, its refusal of all accountability, and its contemptuous disregard for the public interest. 

To put it another way: the FOIA backlog is itself a symptom of bad government and corruption, a condition that is only exacerbated by the Trumpist dismantling and hijacking of public institutions and federal agencies.

In 2019, William J. Burns warned against Trump’s “diplomacy of narcissism, bent on advancing private interests at the expense of our national interests.” The events that prompted my FOIA requests in 2018 – the meeting of an Antofagasta executive with Ambassador Perez and the nomination of Gellert, a Kushner friend – fit the pattern. The cronyism and self-dealing of the first term have gotten much worse and much more blatant this go-round. Charles Kushner is ambassador to France! Jared and Steve Witkoff are the faces of US diplomacy. The ambassador to Chile is Brandon Judd, a longtime Trump campaign stalwart and former head of the Border Patrol union. Judd’s main qualification seems to be that he spent some time in Chile in the 1990s, proselytizing for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. José Miguel Insulza put it bluntly: “de diplomacia no sabe nada.”

AmbassadorJudd has not exactly covered himself in glory. He caused an uproar just a couple of weeks ago when he criticized Chilean cabinet ministers for expressing serious and legitimate concerns about the new 12.5 percent tariffs on Chilean exports, petulantly adding that there would be no agreement if they continued their criticisms. Judd went on to suggest that Chile’s business leaders should “complain to your authorities to prevent them from making declarations about the relationship with the United States.”

“The ambassador,” said Juan Gabriel Valdés, “does not seem to understand that he is not part of the Chilean political system…. he does not have a role to play in internal Chilean political debate.” And this was not an isolated incident, Valdés noted. It was “the third or fourth time” that Judd had acted more like a colonial viceroy than a diplomat.

For the moment, at least, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Pérez Mackenna and his team are handling Judd. Pérez Mackenna is a seasoned negotiator. Before joining the right-wing Kast government this past spring, he spent nearly three decades as CEO of Quiñenco, managing the global operations of the Luksic business empire. Make of that what you will.

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ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/ice-dna-collection-fbi-codis/

ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/ice-dna-collection-fbi-codis/

The Supreme Court ruling that hurt me may now protect trans youth

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/opinion/james-dale-pentagon-scouting-lawsuit

RE: https://journa.host/@muckrock/116861712423780727

Signed into law 60 years ago, and became effective the following day, FOIA is an indispensable tool for transparency and for keeping our government accountable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/how-journalists-use-foia-public-records-reporting/

#FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct #transparency #accountability

RE: https://journa.host/@muckrock/116861712423780727

Signed into law 60 years ago, and became effective the following day, FOIA is an indispensable tool for transparency and for keeping our government accountable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/how-journalists-use-foia-public-records-reporting/

#FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct #transparency #accountability

Effectively USING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) - often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.
https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2026/05/21/effectively-using-the-freedom-of-information-act-foia/
#FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct

Effectively USING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) - often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.
https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2026/05/21/effectively-using-the-freedom-of-information-act-foia/
#FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct

Effectively Using The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

“SMALLTOFEDS”By Ken Larson

“The FOIA is a law that gives you the right to access federal government information. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. Agencies must disclose any information that is requested – unless that information is protected from public disclosure.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BACKGROUND

Extract: United States Department of Justice Web Site:

“Enacted on July 4, 1966, and taking effect one year later, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions. A FOIA request can be made for any agency record. Before sending a request to a federal agency, you should determine which agency is likely to have the records you are seeking. Each agency’s website will contain information about the type of records that agency maintains.”

The FOIA is a law that gives you the right to access federal government information.  It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. Under the FOIA, agencies must disclose any information that is requested – unless that information is protected from public disclosure. The FOIA also requires that agencies automatically disclose certain information, including frequently requested records. As Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court have all recognized, the FOIA is a vital part of our democracy.”

POINTS OF CONTACT (POC)

Contacts
A typical Federal Agency POC page will look like this:
“Contacts

The Office of Management (OM) advises the public and U.S. Department of Education (ED) employees regarding FOIA requests and ED information available to the public. As the lead organization for ED’s FOIA Program, OM provides training for ED officials and guidance and support to the FOIA Coordinators and FOIA Review Officers in the Department’s Principal Offices and 12 regional and field offices.

Send requests via email to: [email protected]
Send requests via fax to: (202) 401-0920
Send requests via mail to:

U.S. Department of Education
Office of Management
Office of the Chief Privacy Officer
400 Maryland Avenue, SW, LBJ 2E321
Washington, DC 20202-4536
ATTN: FOIA Public Liaison

FOIA Requester Service Center
(202) 401-8365

FOIA Director
(202) 453-6362
Gregory Smith

FOIA Public Liaison and Team Lead 
(202) 205-0733
Robert Wehausen

FOIA Analysts
(202) 401-8365
Elise Cook
Arthur Caliguiran
Christie Swafford

FOIA Appeals
(202) 401-8365
Arthur Caliguiran

Privacy Act Requests 
(202) 401-8365

PRACTICAL USE

Although occasions may arise for use of the FOIA on legal matters, personnel issues, and records that relate to agency background and activities, the most common uses of the FOIA in government contracting are as follows:

• Market Research
• Copies of historical contracts issued by an agency as well as contractor proposals.
• Specific articles supporting a protest action.

RESPONSE TIME

The FOIA require a 30 day response time to your request, but actual response times vary by agency and backlog. 
If the agency determines the request will exceed $25 in costs, you should indicate in your request that you will be willing to pays those costs to receive the data. 

MAKE YOUR REQUEST  AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE

Identify the document or documents specifically by name and identifying number (s).  When requesting contracts, RFP’s, change orders and similar data, always include the contract number and be specific with regard to references to all changes.  If proposals are requested include a specific request for management, technical and cost volumes. The more detail you provide the more likely the response will supply what you wish to have.

BE PREPARED FOR GOVERNMENT REDACTING

When the government receives requests for copies of contracts, proposals and similar data that contain specific in formation pertinent to another company, they are required to contact that company and ask for identification of information the firm deems proprietary.  To the extent the firm identifies such data, expect the response you receive to have the data redacted (blanked out and unreadable). 

EXPEDITING

Among the larger agencies, especially DOD and Justice, it is rare to receive the information requested in a FOIA within 30 days.  Be prepared to expedite, by email, registered letter and by visitation if necessary, depending on the importance of the request to your business.  

REFUSALS

Refusals by the government can be appealed if you and your legal counsel make the judgment a given request falls outside of the following exemptions permitted the government or one of three special law enforcement record exclusions detailed at the FOIA web site:”Exemption 1: Information that is classified to protect national security.  The material must be properly classified under an Executive Order.
Exemption 2: Information related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency. 
Exemption 3: Information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law. Additional resources on the use of Exemption 3 can be found on the Department of Justice FOIA Resources page.
Exemption 4: Information that concerns business trade secrets or other confidential commercial or financial information.
Exemption 5: Information that concerns communications within or between agencies which are protected by legal privileges, that include but are not limited to:
Attorney-Work Product PrivilegeAttorney-Client PrivilegeDeliberative Process PrivilegePresidential Communications Privilege
Exemption 6: Information that, if disclosed, would invade another individual’s personal privacy.
Exemption 7: Information compiled for law enforcement purposes if one of the following harms would occur.  Law enforcement information is exempt if it:
            7(A). Could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings 
            7(B). Would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication 
            7(C). Could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy “
            7(D). Could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source
            7(E). Would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions
            7(F). Could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual 
Exemption 8: Information that concerns the supervision of financial institutions.

Exclusions:

Congress has provided special protection in the FOIA for three narrow categories of law enforcement and national security records.  The provisions protecting those records are known as “exclusions.”  The first exclusion protects the existence of an ongoing criminal law enforcement investigation when the subject of the investigation is unaware that it is pending and disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings. The second exclusion is limited to criminal law enforcement agencies and protects the existence of informant records when the informant’s status has not been officially confirmed.  

The third exclusion is limited to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and protects the existence of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence, or international terrorism records when the existence of such records is classified.  Records falling within an exclusion are not  subject to the requirements of the FOIA.  So, when an office or agency responds to your request, it will limit its response to those records that are subject to the FOIA.”

WHAT IF YOUR COMPANY DATA IS REQUESTED UNDER THE FOIA?

When notified by a contacting officer that copies of your company contract(s) and/or proposal(s) have been requested by another firm, identify to the officer  the pricing data, proprietary data and sensitive information you do not wish to have disclosed and formally indicate by letter the sections of the documents you wish redacted prior to release to another firm. The officer may or may not provide to you the name of the firm requesting the information. If you are involved in a re-compete effort for which you are the incumbent it is wise to inform the FOIA Officer of the agency involved that you expect to be notified when requests are made for copies of your information.  

SUMMARY

We suggest you study the FOIA site and the agency(s) you target for information.  Be specific in your requests and be prepared to expedite them. The FOIA can be a valuable tool for your business, but it usually takes patience and practice to use it effectively.”

Effectively Using The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

The FCC Received Hundreds of Complaints About Bad Bunny’s ‘Vulgar’ Super Bowl Performance

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/bad-bunny-super-bowl-fcc-complaints/

The FCC Received Hundreds of Complaints About Bad Bunny’s ‘Vulgar’ Super Bowl Performance

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/bad-bunny-super-bowl-fcc-complaints/

The FCC Has a Fast Lane for Complaints About Trump’s Media Critics

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/the-fcc-has-a-fast-lane-for-complaints-about-trumps-media-critics/

The FCC Has a Fast Lane for Complaints About Trump’s Media Critics

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/the-fcc-has-a-fast-lane-for-complaints-about-trumps-media-critics/

ICE Is Paying the Salaries of This Town’s Entire Police Force

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/ice-is-paying-the-salaries-of-this-towns-entire-police-force/

ICE and CBP’s Face-Recognition App Can’t Actually Verify Who People Are

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/cbp-ice-dhs-mobile-fortify-face-recognition-verify-identity/

ICE and CBP’s Face-Recognition App Can’t Actually Verify Who People Are

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/cbp-ice-dhs-mobile-fortify-face-recognition-verify-identity/

#ice to wear body cams.

And so i expect the next bar to be the #freedomofinformationact

If people decide to go on the offensive or more aggressive defensively...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyw75ww9g9o

#ice to wear body cams.

And so i expect the next bar to be the #freedomofinformationact

If people decide to go on the offensive or more aggressive defensively...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyw75ww9g9o

Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/trump-warned-of-a-tren-de-aragua-invasion-us-intel-told-a-different-story/

Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/trump-warned-of-a-tren-de-aragua-invasion-us-intel-told-a-different-story/

#FactCheck

#FBI paid nearly $1M in overtime to #redact #Epsteinfiles, documents show

@bloomberg reporter @JasonLeopold sued the FBI and #DOJ for the files as part of a #FreedomofInformationAct request.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fbi-overtime-redact-epstein-files/

#FactCheck

#FBI paid nearly $1M in overtime to #redact #Epsteinfiles, documents show

@bloomberg reporter @JasonLeopold sued the FBI and #DOJ for the files as part of a #FreedomofInformationAct request.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fbi-overtime-redact-epstein-files/

The #Pentagon has to provide #NewYorkTimes information about #ElonMusk #security clearances, a federal judge ruled Wednesday—and the #billionaire own #socialmedia habits helped decide the case. In September 2024, the Times filed a #FOIA #FreedomofInformationAct request seeking “a list of security clearances” granted to #Musk, including “any details about the extent and purview of each of the clearances.” #doge #transparency #accountability #democracy #trump #maga #firing #government #workers

The #Pentagon has to provide #NewYorkTimes information about #ElonMusk #security clearances, a federal judge ruled Wednesday—and the #billionaire own #socialmedia habits helped decide the case. In September 2024, the Times filed a #FOIA #FreedomofInformationAct request seeking “a list of security clearances” granted to #Musk, including “any details about the extent and purview of each of the clearances.” #doge #transparency #accountability #democracy #trump #maga #firing #government #workers

Effectively Using THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA). It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.
https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/effectively-using-the-freedom-of-information-act-foia/
#freedomOfInformationAct #FOIA

Effectively Using THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA). It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.
https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/effectively-using-the-freedom-of-information-act-foia/
#freedomOfInformationAct #FOIA

Michael Nedd’s BLM Calendar, From Election Day 2016 through the Inaugural Period

Back in 2019, I made a Freedom of Information Act request for the work calendar of Michael Nedd, a longtime Bureau of Land Management official, for the months following the 2016 election through the inaugural period. The documents were released just the other day, six years and four months after I submitted the FOIA request.

Nedd had been promoted from Executive Director, Energy Minerals and Management to Deputy Director at the Bureau of Land Management in March of 2017, just a couple of months after Trump took office. He would have been privy, I imagined, to any discussions of Twin Metals’ canceled mineral leases and the full-court-press flurry to renew them. I thought his work calendar might help me fill out the Timeline I made of that coordinated effort or help me reconstruct what was happening behind closed doors at BLM.

Upon review, these documents do not seem all that helpful in that regard. For example, the Timeline indicates that on February 7, 2017, Nedd forwards a briefing paper on land withdrawals to his colleagues; no surprise, his calendar for that day shows a “Land Withdrawal Proposal Discussion.” In my view, all this does is drive home a point I’ve made many times, that reversing land withdrawals was a priority for the incoming administration. And we already have Nedd’s calendar for April of 2017, when he met with then-solicitor Daniel Jorjani and other officials to discuss “Mining in Minnesota.” Or at least we had that calendar, but the link (to a domain called altgov2) has now gone dead. Well, not exactly dead: it’s a tarted-up 404 Page, occupied by “affiliate marketers.” I’m not going to bother linking to it, but if you want to see what I’m talking about, just go to the entry for April 10th on the Twin Metals Timeline and click the link to Nedd’s calendar.) It’s been a while, and, contrary to popular wisdom, the Internet is not forever.

So why put these documents up now? Circumstances have changed. The threat to the Boundary Waters looks even more menacing than it did during Trump’s first term, and we should be paying attention to what’s going on now, not what happened eight or more years ago, right?

What’s more, Michael Nedd was frog marched out of BLM’s office back in May, 2025, for telling employees to ignore a DOGE directive. (Politico has the details here; the Washington Post also has a story; I’ll note in passing that it’s classic Politico to report Nedd’s ouster, which is part of the clumsily executed destruction of modern American government that we’re witnessing, as a threat to Trump’s fossil fuel agenda.) Though Nedd is still listed on the BLM website as Deputy Director, Greenwire reports that Joe Stout has now replaced him as Acting Deputy Director. Things are unclear: there may be litigation underway or some reinstatement in the works. (After all, the DC kleptocrats wouldn’t want to do anything to threaten that fossil fuel agenda).

Anyway, I put these records up now because a) they arrived, so I might as well acknowledge the response; b) they help fill out the public record for a critical period; c) someone else might find these records useful; and d) I have a chance to test out Muckrock’s DocumentCloud plugin for WordPress — which I have not used until now.

In order to upload the 2000-plus-page calendar to documentcloud.org, I had to break it into two parts.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Postscript 30 August 2025: Results from the plugin experiment are mixed. Right now, it looks as if the documentcloud server is returning a 500 error. The docs, if you want them, are here.

Postcript 2, 9 Sept 2025. 1) It turns out the 500 error only shows up when I try to view the documents on Chrome, on my laptop. The plugin works just fine on Safari and Firefox. And when I emailed Sanjin Ibrahimovic at Muckrock to ask about all this, he said he could not replicate the 500 error, even when viewing the post in Chrome. So, who knows? I speculated that it might be an extension I’m running on Chrome. As long as people can access the documents, all is well, I guess. 2) On Chris D’Amico‘s suggestion, I tried looking at the post in an incognito window. And I can see the docs just fine.

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#antiScience #bureaucracy #climateDenial #corruption #FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct #kleptocracy #Muckrock #publicRecord #recordKeeping #Water #Wordpress

#DOGE affiliates Kenneth Jackson & Nate Cavanaugh “disabled & restricted access to the Institute's #FOIA system, terminated the employees responsible for processing FOIA requests, & restricted the use of Institute financial resources.”

#law #Trump #Musk #transparency #FreedomOfInformationAct
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-06-13/secret-service-still-probing-james-comey-s-86-47-instagram-post

#DOGE affiliates Kenneth Jackson & Nate Cavanaugh “disabled & restricted access to the Institute's #FOIA system, terminated the employees responsible for processing FOIA requests, & restricted the use of Institute financial resources.”

#law #Trump #Musk #transparency #FreedomOfInformationAct
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-06-13/secret-service-still-probing-james-comey-s-86-47-instagram-post

"The FOIA has taken a serious beating over the past five months. The mass firing of federal workers has hollowed out FOIA offices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the US Agency for International Development, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department and other agencies.

Now, add the State Department to that list. I’ve learned that a hiring freeze has stymied the agency from filling critical leadership positions, including roles that administer the agency’s FOIA operations and litigation. Additionally, contractors who review records and have classification authority were suspended through the end of the fiscal year as a result of cost-cutting measures. On the whole, the number of State Department employees and contractors who process FOIA requests has been cut in half due to the deferred resignation program and budget cuts, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

These cuts and departures will only exacerbate the State Department's awful track record when it comes to FOIA. The agency currently has more than 23,000 FOIA requests in its backlog, according to the latest stats on FOIA.gov. I alone have more than 50 requests pending at State, 46 of which have been stuck in a backlog for more than five years and 22 that have lingered for more than a decade.

To be clear, it’s certainly not the fault of FOIA analysts. While the FOIA is statutorily mandated, there’s not a single government agency that allocates funding specifically for FOIA operations."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-05-30/doj-memo-details-fbi-background-check-procedures-for-trump-appointees?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc0ODYxNjk3NCwiZXhwIjoxNzQ5MjIxNzc0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTWDJXQUFUMEFGQjQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIyQjE3NzFFOTlEODc0QzRDOTY1Njg1RTZBQkJGM0QwRCJ9.jr3OWe0A8tudaKrSinHGaG5rFgtKWeMJjL130RJXsDE

#USA #Trump #DOGE #FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct #Transparency #OpenGovernment

"The FOIA has taken a serious beating over the past five months. The mass firing of federal workers has hollowed out FOIA offices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the US Agency for International Development, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department and other agencies.

Now, add the State Department to that list. I’ve learned that a hiring freeze has stymied the agency from filling critical leadership positions, including roles that administer the agency’s FOIA operations and litigation. Additionally, contractors who review records and have classification authority were suspended through the end of the fiscal year as a result of cost-cutting measures. On the whole, the number of State Department employees and contractors who process FOIA requests has been cut in half due to the deferred resignation program and budget cuts, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

These cuts and departures will only exacerbate the State Department's awful track record when it comes to FOIA. The agency currently has more than 23,000 FOIA requests in its backlog, according to the latest stats on FOIA.gov. I alone have more than 50 requests pending at State, 46 of which have been stuck in a backlog for more than five years and 22 that have lingered for more than a decade.

To be clear, it’s certainly not the fault of FOIA analysts. While the FOIA is statutorily mandated, there’s not a single government agency that allocates funding specifically for FOIA operations."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-05-30/doj-memo-details-fbi-background-check-procedures-for-trump-appointees?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc0ODYxNjk3NCwiZXhwIjoxNzQ5MjIxNzc0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTWDJXQUFUMEFGQjQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIyQjE3NzFFOTlEODc0QzRDOTY1Njg1RTZBQkJGM0QwRCJ9.jr3OWe0A8tudaKrSinHGaG5rFgtKWeMJjL130RJXsDE

#USA #Trump #DOGE #FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct #Transparency #OpenGovernment

Elon Musk Tried Keeping Issues at His Texas Mansion Private, Emails Show - The tech billionaire’s staff were concerned that correspondence about his home in West La... - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/technology/elon-musk-texas-neighbors.html #realestateandhousing(residential) #fencesandpropertybarriers #computersandtheinternet #freedomofinformationact #building(construction) #westlakehills(tex) #citycouncils #muskelon #zoning

Elon Musk Tried Keeping Issues at His Texas Mansion Private, Emails Show - The tech billionaire’s staff were concerned that correspondence about his home in West La... - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/technology/elon-musk-texas-neighbors.html #realestateandhousing(residential) #fencesandpropertybarriers #computersandtheinternet #freedomofinformationact #building(construction) #westlakehills(tex) #citycouncils #muskelon #zoning

"In a previous edition of FOIA Files, I wrote that NARA spent a year trying to get Trump to return 14 boxes of documents he took to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in 2021. The documents should have been turned over in accordance with the Presidential Records Act. When the archivists finally got the boxes back a year later, they discovered classified records in the cache, prompting NARA to refer the matter to the Justice Department. Jack Smith was then appointed special counsel to lead the case.

Ever since, Trump has vilified NARA, once describing it as an agency controlled by the “radical left.”

It was in that context that Trusty told Fox News that Trump’s legal team had filed a FOIA request on the former president’s behalf demanding a wide range of records “that will expose NARA’s completely different treatment of President Trump from every other president.” (Trusty withdrew as Trump’s attorney in June of that year citing "irreconcilable differences.”)

I tried to get a copy of the request, but Trump’s team declined to turn it over. So, I FOIAed Trump’s FOIA. I also asked NARA for a copy of every document Trump demanded, even though I had no clue what he was after."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-04-04/trump-filed-foia-request-to-national-archives-about-classified-docs

#USA #Trump #FOIA #Journalism #FreedomOfInformationAct #News

"In a previous edition of FOIA Files, I wrote that NARA spent a year trying to get Trump to return 14 boxes of documents he took to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in 2021. The documents should have been turned over in accordance with the Presidential Records Act. When the archivists finally got the boxes back a year later, they discovered classified records in the cache, prompting NARA to refer the matter to the Justice Department. Jack Smith was then appointed special counsel to lead the case.

Ever since, Trump has vilified NARA, once describing it as an agency controlled by the “radical left.”

It was in that context that Trusty told Fox News that Trump’s legal team had filed a FOIA request on the former president’s behalf demanding a wide range of records “that will expose NARA’s completely different treatment of President Trump from every other president.” (Trusty withdrew as Trump’s attorney in June of that year citing "irreconcilable differences.”)

I tried to get a copy of the request, but Trump’s team declined to turn it over. So, I FOIAed Trump’s FOIA. I also asked NARA for a copy of every document Trump demanded, even though I had no clue what he was after."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-04-04/trump-filed-foia-request-to-national-archives-about-classified-docs

#USA #Trump #FOIA #Journalism #FreedomOfInformationAct #News

Some wild Freedom of Information Act stories, including an arrest, million dollar fees, and a secret guacamole recipe.

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2025/mar/11/ten-years-of-the-foilies/

#FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct #TheFoilies

Some wild Freedom of Information Act stories, including an arrest, million dollar fees, and a secret guacamole recipe.

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2025/mar/11/ten-years-of-the-foilies/

#FOIA #FreedomOfInformationAct #TheFoilies

Just dropping this here....

#elonmusk #DOGE #freedomofinformationact

Coinbase Chasing Receipts at SEC to Tally Cost of Agency's Crypto Saga - As the smoke clears on its own newly dropped enforcement case, Coinbase is demanding the ... - https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/28/coinbase-chasing-receipts-at-sec-to-tally-cost-of-agency-s-crypto-saga #u.s.securitiesandexchangecommission #freedomofinformationact #enforcement #breaking #coinbase #policy

Coinbase Chasing Receipts at SEC to Tally Cost of Agency's Crypto Saga - As the smoke clears on its own newly dropped enforcement case, Coinbase is demanding the ... - https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/28/coinbase-chasing-receipts-at-sec-to-tally-cost-of-agency-s-crypto-saga #u.s.securitiesandexchangecommission #freedomofinformationact #enforcement #breaking #coinbase #policy

Keeping secrets and dodging accountability.

Headline: #DOGE Employees Ordered to Stop Using Slack While Agency Transitions to a Records System Not Subject to #FOIA

Subtitle: Employees at Elon #Musk's agency have been told "OMB is asking us to stop generating new #slack messages starting now."

Source: https://www.404media.co/doge-employees-ordered-to-stop-using-slack-while-agency-transitions-to-a-records-system-not-subject-to-foia/

#FreedomOfInformationAct

Keeping secrets and dodging accountability.

Headline: #DOGE Employees Ordered to Stop Using Slack While Agency Transitions to a Records System Not Subject to #FOIA

Subtitle: Employees at Elon #Musk's agency have been told "OMB is asking us to stop generating new #slack messages starting now."

Source: https://www.404media.co/doge-employees-ordered-to-stop-using-slack-while-agency-transitions-to-a-records-system-not-subject-to-foia/

#FreedomOfInformationAct

The far-right Heritage Foundation is weaponizing the Freedom of Information Act to do Trump's dirty work.

#HeritageFoundation #Trump #FreedomOfInformationAct #FOIA

https://www.propublica.org/article/have-government-employees-mentioned-climate-change-voting-or-gender-identity-the-heritage-foundation-wants-to-know

The far-right Heritage Foundation is weaponizing the Freedom of Information Act to do Trump's dirty work.

#HeritageFoundation #Trump #FreedomOfInformationAct #FOIA

https://www.propublica.org/article/have-government-employees-mentioned-climate-change-voting-or-gender-identity-the-heritage-foundation-wants-to-know

The following image contains a message from Ben:

Please consider donating!

https://chuffed.org/project/journalist-sued-for-doing-his-job

#foia #journalists #losangeles #legal #freedomofinformationact

London Underground is testing real-time AI surveillance tools to spot crime - Enlarge (credit: John Keeble/Getty Images)

Thousands of people... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002361 #freedomofinformationact #londonunderground #aisurveillance #syndication #security #biz⁢ #ai

London Underground is testing real-time AI surveillance tools to spot crime - Enlarge (credit: John Keeble/Getty Images)

Thousands of people... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002361 #freedomofinformationact #londonunderground #aisurveillance #syndication #security #biz⁢ #ai

The NSA’s Furby Artificial Intelligence Scare: FOIA Documents Provide Insight - For those of us who were paying a modicum of attention to the part of the news aro... - https://hackaday.com/2024/01/25/the-nsas-furby-artificial-intelligence-scare-foia-documents-provide-insight/ #freedomofinformationact #toyhacks #furby #news #nsa

The NSA’s Furby Artificial Intelligence Scare: FOIA Documents Provide Insight - For those of us who were paying a modicum of attention to the part of the news aro... - https://hackaday.com/2024/01/25/the-nsas-furby-artificial-intelligence-scare-foia-documents-provide-insight/ #freedomofinformationact #toyhacks #furby #news #nsa