NEW: AG Garland issued a new memo on #FOIA guidelines for federal agencies. It's the first such memo to be issued since former AG Eric Holder's 2009 FOIA memo, which was supposed to usher in a new era of transparency and open govt but failed
One important point in this memo, which I have complained about loudly since the passage of the 2016 FOIA amendments, is that agencies fail to consider the foreseeable harm standard when withholding docs/info. Garland's memo aims to rectify that
Garland reminds agencies they cannot withhold docs " based merely on speculative or abstract fears or fears of embarrassment."
Agencies still do this this often. Let's see what happens.
Garland reminds agencies they cannot withhold docs " based merely on speculative or abstract fears or fears of embarrassment."
Agencies still do this this often. Let's see what happens.
Garland instructs agencies about proactive disclosures. After the 2016 FOIA amendments were passed there was some progress but it was short lived. Many govt agencies, such as NSA, CIA, DNI, DHS and DOD, fail to update their websites and post documents.
Garland cites the massive FOIA backlog, which has delayed the release of docs for years. He says agencies should continue to reduce the backlog but doesn't really say how. DOJ, for example, does not appear to have earmarked any funds for additional staff to reduce its own backlog
The key word here is "encourages." It should be DIRECTED (Iif you know, you know)
Again, very weak language (in my opinion) on how to tackle the FOIA backlogs
With all that said, it's still great to have a new FOIA memo to point to when I sue the government.
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I obtained damning internal reports that show USAID probed allegations of bribery, child labor & child sexual abuse at humanitarian orgs it funds, Twitter threats posted from its own employee & the outing of a CIA officer
🧵 bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
In February, I filed a #FOIA request with the agency’s internal watchdog – the Office of Inspector General – for all of its final reports on closed investigations in 2023 and 2024. That’s generally a pretty good way to find out if there's been any accountability for wrongdoing related to an agency's work.
A couple months after I filed my request, the inspector general’s FOIA office did something uncommon, compared with other federal agencies: it released documents to me every two weeks – nearly 400 pages.
FOIA Files EXCLUSIVE: It took 11 yrs & 3 separate #FOIA requests but I finally obtained docs from DOJ about the agency's legal analysis of the trillion-dollar platinum coin, which #MintTheCoin advocates view as a way to circumvent the cycle of debt crises
🧵 bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
The docs show that a “large denomination platinum coin” was indeed discussed at the highest levels of govt. But there’s a huge caveat. The records are pretty heavily redacted. Still, there's useful details to glean, many of which will be of interest to all you trillion dollar coin aficionados.
As far as I’m aware, this is the first time since discussions about the platinum coin began more than a decade ago that the DOJ has released any portion of its analysis related to it.
NEW FOIA Files SPECIAL EDITION: 2 yrs ago, I filed a #FOIA request w/Secret Service for records of threats to Trump & security breaches at MAL between 2017& 2024. Last Wed, Secret Service finally turned over the documents. They're wild.
Long before the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday, I spent years using the #FOIA to look into the way the Secret Service responded to threats against all of its protectees & political violence in general.
The 159 pages of records I received from Secret Service last Wednesday provide a behind the scenes look at how the agency responds to potential threats against presidential protectees.
BIG SCOOP: I obtained the 266-page transcript of the intv Special Counsel Robert Hur's team conducted with Biden's ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, during their probe into Biden's handling of classified records
Portions of Zwonitzer’s testimony were briefly mentioned in Hur’s final report, but the transcript fleshes out the narrative of how he ended up entangled in the high-profile investigation and reveals what he told Hur's team
Zwonitzer was fiercely protective of Biden. He noted more than once that Biden’s memory was sound – in stark contrast to Hur’s own conclusions –and that much of what ended up in his book came from the president’s diaries and recollections.
NEW in this week's FOIA Files newsletter: I just obtained docs from NARA and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s about the discovery of ... wait for it... a stolen document that’s been missing for two decades! Plus, another internal report I obtained shows how NARA’s internal watchdog investigated a series of disturbing threats sent to former President Barack Obama at his presidential library bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
I’ve never made it a habit of requesting documents that pertain to the inner workings of NARA itself, which is how I wield the FOIA when I’m looking to open up a government agency. But my approach changed after news broke about the agency’s yearlong effort to recover boxes of presidential records that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago. Since then, I’ve filed dozens of requests and have liberated some really interesting records about what took place behind the scenes.
A few weeks ago, the agency’s inspector general sent me another batch of documents: reports of various internal investigations that haven’t been previously disclosed.
One in particular is fascinating and it’s a twist on the suddenly relevant theme of missing documents. It’s related to the work of a special unit called the Archival Recovery Team that’s tasked with tracking down missing records and artifacts that were lost or stolen from NARA facilities.
A couple of years ago, I obtained a transcript of an off the record discussion Obama had with progressive journalists about Trump as he was leaving office.
This is what he told them. 21 page transcript linked in the story.
“I think that four years is okay,” Obama said. “Take on some water, but we can kind of bail fast enough to be okay. Eight years would be a problem. I would be concerned about a sustained period in which some of these norms have broken down and started to corrode.”
“I think his basic view -- his formative view of foreign policy is shaped by his interactions with Malaysian developers and Saudi princes, and I think his view is, ‘I’m going to go around the world making deals and maybe suing people,’” Obama said. “But it’s not, ‘let me launch big wars that tie me up.’ And that’s not what his base is looking from him anyway.”