White House

As White House Choreographs Raid Anniversary, Bin Laden Death Photos Remain Secret

Eric Lach | May 1, 2012, 4:55AM

As you may have heard, it's the one-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Also coming up: the one-year anniversary of the first Freedom of Information Act requests for the photographs taken of bin Laden's body.

Obama and his re-election campaign have embraced bin Laden's death as one of the president's signature achievements, and are currently using it to bludgeon Mitt Romney, but photographs of that achievement are still considered a national security risk.

On "Fox News Sunday" this week, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan was asked why the White House has refused to release the presumably gruesome images.

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Osama bin Laden

Judge Denies Request For Release Of Bin Laden Death Pictures

Eric Lach | April 26, 2012, 6:01PM

A federal judge has denied a request by the conservative government watchdog Judicial Watch for the government to release photographs or video of Osama bin Laden taken during or after the Special Forces raid that resulted in the death of the al Qaeda leader last year.

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Mitt Romney

Romney Staff Spent Nearly $100,000 To Hide Records

December 5, 2011, 10:58PM

FOIA

Justice Department Pulls Proposal Allowing Government To Lie About FOIA Requests

Ryan J. Reilly | November 3, 2011, 3:50PM

Updated: Nov. 3, 4:05PM

The Justice Department is withdrawing a proposed rule to the Freedom of Information Act which would have allowed federal agencies to say that certain law-enforcement and national security documents didn't exist, even when they do.

"If the proposed regulations can be improved [in terms of transparency], we will work to improve them," the Justice Department explained in a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). "We believe that Section 16.6(f)(2) of the proposed regulations fall short by those measures, and we will not include that provision when the Department issues final regulations."

The regulation in question would have instructed agencies to "respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist." Agencies will still continue using the phrase "there exist no records responsive to your FOIA request" when records in question are exempt from FOIA, as spelled out in a 1987 memo issued by Attorney General Ed Meese.

"When a citizen makes a request pursuant to the FOIA, either implicit or explicit in the request is that it seeks records that are subject to the FOIA; where the only records that exist are not subject to the FOIA, the statement that 'there exist no records responsive to your FOIA request' is wholly accurate," the letter said.

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Darrell Issa

Issa: DHS FOIA Process 'Reeks Of A Nixonian Enemies List'

Ryan J. Reilly | March 31, 2011, 10:01AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has trumped up scandals involving the Obama administration that have turned out to be duds. But in his probe of political interference in the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) at the Department of Homeland Security, it looks like Issa has the goods.

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FOIA

DHS Process Of Vetting FOIA Request 'Bananas!' Says Insider

Melissa Jeltsen | March 28, 2011, 4:38PM

Obama administration appointees in the Department of Homeland Security purposely stonewalled Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by journalists and citizens, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. This disclosure comes days before Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is to hold an oversight hearing on the agency's handing of FOIAs -- including the claim that information requests were vetted for political reasons.

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Eric Holder

GOPer Wolf Questions AG Holder On Allegations Of Politicized FOIA Process

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 11:20AM

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and DOJ Whistleblower J. Christian Adams

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) had his first shot at Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday, and he based his first question on a report on the handling of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests authored the ex-Justice Department "whistleblower" behind the controversial New Black Panther Party case. But Holder said he looked into the allegations made by former Justice Department lawyer J. Christian Adams and found there was "no ideological component to how we answer the requests."

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Ted Stevens

Ted Stevens FBI File Posted

Ryan J. Reilly | February 11, 2011, 10:50AM

Former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)

The FBI just posted the massive FBI file of the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK).

From the FBI:

This release contains approximately 3,600 pages of responsive material; the majority of it--approximately 2,700 pages--consists of public source material from the media file associated with the pending "POLAR PEN" public corruption investigation of the FBI Anchorage Field Office.

The remainder of the release consists of 11 main files from the Anchorage and Washington Field Offices and from FBI Headquarters. The files include material on extortion threats to the senator, press reports and newspaper articles about public corruption, and correspondence between Stevens and the FBI.

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FOIA

Issa Expands Probe Of Alleged Politicization Of FOIA Requests At DHS

Susan Crabtree | February 1, 2011, 8:56PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is stepping up his investigation of the Homeland Security Department's alleged selective handling of Freedom of Information Act requests from citizens, journalists and others.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Issa said he plans to interview one of her senior political advisers and other political appointees as part of a expanded investigation into department's alleged practice of stalling hundreds of requests for federal records while political advisers looked into the backgrounds of people requesting the documents.

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Darrell Issa

Issa Wants Info On Homeland Security's FOIA Policy

Rachel Slajda | January 17, 2011, 12:05PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has asked the Department of Homeland Security to provide documents related to its Freedom of Information Act policy -- a policy which had political appointees reviewing FOIA requests.

The Associated Press reported in July that political appointees working for Secretary Janet Napolitano were reviewing FOIA requests, gathering information about the requesters and, in some cases, delaying responses.

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Open Government

Government Secrecy Report Card Offers Mixed Results For Obama

Ryan J. Reilly | September 8, 2010, 4:34PM

A new report by a coalition of 70 government watchdog groups found that the backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests has gone down by 40 percent during the first nine months of the Obama administration.

But the report also notes that the declassification system continues to fall further behind, and addresses "looming secrecy problems" that the Obama administration should address. The report does not measure the impact of the White House's Open Government Initiative.

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