Jun 17
Philip HalinUncategorized FBI, Firefighter, FOI, FOI Friday, FOIA, FOIA Friday, ICE, Rhode Island, RI, Sargent Shriver
You thought we were above it, but if Jon Stewart goes there, so do we. Remember that most of the stuff we’re looking at can be found here anytime you like, and if you have any suggestions, please send them on over to tips@muckrock.com.
Now, without interruption, the news:
FBI investigated Sargent Shriver’s links to communists: We’ll start this week with an interesting look back on the politics of the past. R. Sargent Shriver Jr., who passed away in January, was the founder of the Peace Core, leader of Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, and held numerous other political positions. After his passing, his FBI file was released through a FOIA request, revealing that Shriver had been investigated for Communist ties after being appointed by LBJ to the post of ambassador to France. One Red flag that arose in the investigation was Shriver’s travels in Europe with a youth group through the Experiment in International Living, who had previously been investigated for their sympathies towards Chinese Communists. The FBI was still investigating Shriver’s communist ties as late as 1986, when the agency reported on Shriver’s relationship with former campaign employee David Karr, who the FBI believed passed information to the KGB.
ICE Stalling On More FOIA Requests Concerning Domain Name Seizures: I’m beginning to doubt I’ll ever get to write one of these without having to call out ICE for something. One would think the agency wasn’t actually in support of increased government transparency! The horror. Anyways, the scoop this time is pretty simple: ICE has been seizing domain names, and people want to know why. Requests by Michael Robertson’s NakedGovernment and MuckRock’s own Aaron Schwartz (director of Demand Progress) have been stonewalled for months.
FOI hearing officer backs police on release of Haberek images: Man, what is it with politicians and sending illicit pictures to people they aren’t married to? No, I’m not talking about Anthony Weiner. I’m talking about First Selectmen Ed Haberek, who allegedly sent inappropriate pictures to an unnamed woman in 2010. The Connecticut-based newspaper The Day requested the pictures, which were sent from the Selectman’s town-issue Blackberry. After the original request was rejected, The Day appealed the decision, but the FOI Commission rejected the appeal because the investigation involved uncorroborated allegations and would reveal private information.
Public records outrage of the day: North Providence edition: Finally, from WPRI news: after reporter Tim White broke a story about a Providence, RI firefighter stealing prescription painkillers during an emergency call, he called the fire department to ask some followup questions. After gathering some basic info, he requested that, pursuant to Rhode Island’s public information laws, the department send over the arrest record. What he received was less a useful document and more a sheet of redactions and a few innocuous sentences, despite the assurances from the station that only names would be redacted. White refused to take that lying down, and after a new call to the station, received a much less-redacted document. You can compare the two by clicking the link, but what we can take away from this is that the attitude of redact first, ask questions never pervades even local government.
Jun 06
Philip HalinUncategorized cannabis, FDA, FOI, FOIA, MuckRock, NCI, NIDA, PDQ, pmocek
Most FOI requests make, at the most, one ripple. Someone writes an article, others spread it, and then it’s forgotten. Sometimes, requests have a wider impact, with major papers printing about them. And sometimes, as in the case of the request filed on March 30th by MuckRock user pmocek, spread across the ‘net like wildfire, with everyone and their cousin holding an opinion.
Phil Mocek’s request, asking for “all records of communications regarding the creation and modification of National Cancer Institute’s Physician Data Query (PDQ) ‘Cannabis and Cannabinoids’ section, including but not limited to any discussion of any ‘direct antitumor effect’ of cannabis or cannabinoids, along with associated metadata,” was fulfilled early this month, and the results were, to say the least, interesting. Included in the files released were correspondences between NCI doctors and researchers and concerned agencies such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), wherein the latter two agencies pressured the writers of the PDQ to omit information such as the potential tumor-reduction abilities of cannabanoids, as well as pushing for the addition of warnings about cannabis’ addictive potential and illegal status in the U.S. What made it into the final PDQ was still a good argument for the use of cannabanoids on chemotherapy patients—it relieves nausea and pain in such patients—but the internal politicking that led to omissions and edits is what makes this whole saga fascinating.
Cannabis falls into a sort of medicinal sweet spot where the FDA doesn’t approve its use because of lack of conclusive evidence of its supposed benefits (indeed, marijuana is a Class 1 restricted drug for individuals) but also refuses to approve the clinical trials of cannabis that would be required to prove such benefits. Much of the results used in the PDQ were from trials on animals, and therefore inconclusive when it comes to human benefit.
All of the cogent information (and much supposition) has been covered elsewhere, as you can see in the sidebar of the original request. What I find most interesting about what was released in response to Mocek’s request is how it reveals, essentially, the parts that make up a political machine. It’s all too easy to lose sight of the fact that governments are made up of people, and that those people have many differing viewpoints; from the outside, all we see is the party line. As such, the communications from people such as Donald Abrams at the NCI, who expressed sentiments such as “I am considering resigning from the Board if we allow politics to trump science!” are essential, because they remind us (and I use us to mean anyone who is for more government transparency) to see that there are indeed good people on the inside. There are those who want to edit the message, sure, but there are also the Abramses who resist the pressure of agencies like NIDA. And especially close to all our hearts here at MuckRock, there are the people like Phil Mocek, who ask the right questions of the right people.
Jun 06
Jason SmathersUncategorized FOI Processing Guide, Government Manuals, Immigration, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS
On August 2, 2010 a FOIA request was made to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services via email. The request sought “all documentation and training material made available to USCIS employees or contractors concerning the policies and practices of processing FOIA requests.”
Nearly 10 months later, on May 31, 2011, a CD arrived in the mail from USCIS containing a 1,161 page PDF file of approximately 22 Megabytes. USCIS is to be commended on their use of modern technology. The FBI would have responded to this request requiring a $45 fee after splitting the request into three CDs at $15 each. The FBI processes requests in 500 page increments causing this problem in their agency. At the compression rate use by USCIS, they could fit 37,760 pages on a single CD in PDF format, while the FBI lags behind at a mere 500.
These 1,161 pages give a unique insight into the thinking and training of the person who will be processing your FOIA requests. Going through this handbook will allow FOIA requesters to understand exactly how their request will be handled and possibly allow them to tailer their request to better fit the USCIS processes.
Download the full manual here as a PDF.
Jason Smathers is a MuckRock user and contributor as well as an independent investigative journalist. You can follow his writing on his website.
Jun 03
Philip HalinUncategorized ACLU, Canada, FOI, FOI Friday, FOIA, FOIA Friday, ICE, Illinois, Vancouver
Okay, I’ll admit it, I had just run out of May puns. Luckily, we’ve a new month now! Unluckily, June is fairly unpunnable. Sigh. Remember that most of the stuff we’re looking at can be found here anytime you like, and if you have any suggestions, please send them on over to tips@muckrock.com.
Now, if you will, the news:
ACLU seeks records on ICE enforcement activities: Once again, the ACLU is clashing with ICE, and once again it seems that the the former are in the right. This time, the dispute is over the detention and assault of a lawful permanent resident and her son (an American citizen) in Grand Rapids in February. Mother Telma Valdez and her college-age son, Luis (born in the US) were grabbed by ICE agents when en route to a cousin’s house. An agent pulled a gun on the pair, and allegedly slammed Telma’s head into the side of the van that they put both Telma and Luis, handcuffed, into the back of. They were then driven to an apartment and questioned, which is when it became clear that they were both in the US perfectly legally. The ACLU has filed a FOI request for all the planning materials of the raid, as well as ICE’s racial profiling protocols and interrogation methods.
CIA Won’t Release All Info on Catholic Group Opus Dei: In a fairly bizarre case that began with a purely-academic FOI request, the CIA now faces a lawsuit from Public Citizen in support of Harry Carson, a graduate student at the City University of New York. Caron was working on his Ph.D. dissertation on the US’s involvement in Franco’s Spain when he found he needed more information on the Catholic group Opus Dei. He put in a FOI request for the CIA’s files on the group in June 2009, and though he received just over 200 pages, the more interesting part of the CIA’s response is the agency’s insistence that they cannot confirm or deny the existence of any further records. . . for reasons of national security. Public Citizen and Caron, unsatisfied with the implication that records that are at least 31 years old could have national security ramifications, have brought suit.
City of Vancouver fed up with FOI requests from journalists: Chad Skelton of the Vancouver Sun writes here about the submission filed by the City of Vancouver to Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham that, in part, spent time complaining about the use of FOI laws by journalists. Primary among the city’s qualms is the habit of journalists of keeping a scoop secret before releasing their article (a process streamlined by MuckRock’s “Embargo” option), which it argues is using public-information laws for personal profit. The city also takes exception to “hundreds” of FOI requests that journalists are submitting every year, to which Skelton responds by saying he has only submitted one, and it was delayed several times by city bureaucracy.
Mayors, watchdogs at odds over changes to Illinois FOIA: Perhaps just to prove that US city and state officials can be as obtuse about FOI laws as their Canadian counterparts, there is a proposed amendment to FOI laws in Illinois that would limit all citizens to a maximum of seven requests per week. Frequent filers who pass that limit would have their requests put at the back of the queue and would remove the time limit on how long the agency can take to respond. Mayors across the state allege that this amendment would give the government more time to respond to requests, and that many requests are unfeasible given the time they have to be completed in.
May 26
Michael MorisyUncategorized MuckRock, Site Features, Site Updates
We’ve been pretty quiet lately (ok, extremely quiet) but that’s only because we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes to improve the MuckRock experience for you, and the past two weeks have seen a number of important features roll out. I’m highlight the biggest ones here, but there have been lots of smaller surprises that you’ll just have to come across yourself. We hope you enjoy, and huge kudos to Mitch for pushing these all through.
Instant Filing
While this has almost zero impact on the visible user experience, Instant Filing is probably the biggest new feature. Previously, every request submitted through MuckRock was hand copied-and-pasted into an e-mail program or fax software before being sent out. Now, that’s all automated. This means less downtime between when you want something and when it gets to the agency, and it covers about 96% of the agencies we have in our database. Those pesky remaining 4% only accept mailed-in requests, but since we have less administrative busy work, we can get to those faster, too. Better yet, replies to these instant requests go directly to the request page (each request now has its own secret e-mail address), speeding up the whole process by hours or, in some cases, days.
Tagging Requests
Working on a big story? Want to quickly see all the documents that the government used a particular exemption on? Want to share a collection of requests on a particular topic? Then are tagging tool is perfect for you. At the top of every request you’ve submitted will be our intuitive tagging tool, which lets you quickly just type in whatever category you want to place this request in and hit enter to start your collections.
Each tag also has its own landing page, giving you a new way to share or review multiple requests.
Improved Request Management
Speaking of reviewing multiple requests, we’ve vastly improved the “inbox” view of all your requests. Now, with one click you can see all of your completed requests, drafts, items needing attention and more. You can also pull up all of the requests you’ve sorted into a given tag, or tag multiple requests all at once. We’re pretty excited about this update: MuckRock made managing a few requests much easier right from the beginning, but for our power users juggling dozens of requests, things could get hairy. We think this puts much more power at your fingertips minus all the confusion, and we’d love to hear what you think.
Better Error Reporting
Previously, when you noticed something wrong on the site or if you wanted to perform an action the site wasn’t yet ready to handle, you had to fire up your favorite e-mail program and send us your request manually. No longer! Once logged in, every request page now has a “Submit Correction” link right next to it. Want to submit an appeal or clarification when the request is marked “Processing”? Worried your document is missing a page or two? Need some help crafting an appeal letter? Just click “Submit Correction”, tell us all your worries, and we’ll help you get back on the right track. Eventually, flagging typos and other errors will even earn you accolades, but for now you’ll have to settle for the warm fuzzies of making the site better and getting your own problem solved.
Follow Other Users’ Requests
See something you wish you’d filed? Or maybe it just piqued your interest? Happens to us all the time. Now, after you’re logged in, you can click “Follow” on any public request, and you’ll get instant updates as soon as there’s something new going on, just as if you’d filed it yourself. Never miss a breaking news flash again!
Improved Deadline Handling
Previously, our deadline handling was fairly “stupid”: We set the date 5, 10 or 20 days in the future after submitting your request, and simply counted down. This missed out on a lot of realities: Holidays, responses from the agency that required a “fix” and any other number of odd cases. We haven’t addressed them all quite yet, but we’re now a lot better about not counting holidays against the agency time frames and, when the requests require you to submit a fix or pay a fee, we put the timer on hold until you respond. This is very helpful when you later want to appeal onerous fees.
But wait, there’s more!
We don’t want to spoil all the surprises, but we’ve also added:
- Alternate embedding options if you can’t include IFRAMEs.
- Spam filtering on blog comments.
- Non-document files (Images, Excel databases, etc.) now get attached inline, instead of up top where it was hard to see where they came in, or that they came in at all.
- Unread updates are now highlighted when you check in on your requests page.
This is by far our biggest feature update in some time, and we’re already finding bugs to squash on it so please let us know if you come across some, either by using the “Submit Correction” button or simple e-mailing us at info@muckrock.com. We think the new tools go a long way towards our vision of empowering citizens to effectively ask the questions they want to, but if you have more ideas we’d love to hear from you.
In the meantime, keep digging up more great data! I can’t wait to see what you come up with next, particularly as we head towards to the 10,000 page mark.
May 21
Philip HalinUncategorized CIA, FBI, FOI, FOI Friday, FOIA, FOIA Friday, Massachusetts, Public data
That’s how you know it’s spring, in spite of the rain outside. That, and the continued presence of FOIA Fridays in your life. As usual, most of the stuff we’re looking at can be found here anytime you like, and if you have any suggestions, please send them on over to tips@muckrock.com.
Now to the news:
Trends in Parking Ticket Appeals: First off, some local color for all you MA MuckRockers out there, as from Somerville comes this report of odd dismissal patterns for parking ticket appeals. After Watertown native Mark Pickering’s appeal of a parking citation was responded to with a rejection, plus an additional $5 fine, author Barry Rafkind filed a request (through MuckRock!) for data on the rejection rates for traffic citation appeals over the past four years. The results themselves are laid out in graphs in the article, but suffice it to say that Somerville’s appeals process has been quite inconsistent in its results for similar appeals based on such unimportant factors as whether the person appealed online or not.
Court says FOIA request cannot be used in whistleblower lawsuit: The Supreme Court ruled recently on the case Schindler Elevator Corp. v United States, setting a precedent by saying that in False Claims suits, Freedom of Information request results are not admissible as evidence because they count as public information, which is covered by the False Claims Act. After Daniel Kirk sued his former employer over a failure to correctly report the employment of Vietnam vets, his wife confirmed his suspicions with a FOI request. Unfortunately for Kirk, the Supreme Court considered the request’s results “publicly disclosed information” and so sided with his former employer.
DHS Accused of Hiding Fingerprinting Data: In response to controversy over whether the DHS is forcing local law enforcement to hand over or collect fingerprint data from illegal immigrants, critics of the department (specifically the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law) have filed a FOI request for the metadata (labeling data, list of recipients, formatting information, etc.) of emails sent by and to DHS employees concerning the fingerprinting program. As you may remember from way back, a New York federal judge has previously ruled that agencies must release metadata in FOI requests (in a case that also involved the DHS and the NDLON).
FBI, CIA Must Comply With FOIA Request: Finally, in Salt Lake city, one Jesse Trentadue has won his case against the FBI and CIA, whom he argues have deliberately withheld information and obstructed his FOI requests concerning the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 that his brother perished in. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups ruled that the intelligence agencies must release all information, videos, or other such things gathered in the aftermath of the bombing, or provide evidence as to why the search for such information would be so difficult as to be exempt.
May 13
Philip HalinUncategorized AP, DHS, FOI, FOI Friday, FOIA, FOIA Friday, Liberal, New Democrat, O CANADA, OBL, Osama bin Laden, Whistleblower
This week’s FOIA Friday’s a little shorter than usual because I have to head off to opening night of the production of Hamlet I’m in as soon as I finish. Worry not, however, because it’s still chock full of good information! Basically everything we’re looking at can be found here anytime you like, and if you have any suggestions, please do send them on over to tips@muckrock.com.
Now to the news:
Top lawmaker protests ‘whistle-blower’ demotion: From AP writer Ted Bridis come the opening chapters of what is sure to be a long fight. After Catherine Papoi, the former deputy unit chief in charge of the Freedom of Information Act for the DHS, reported to an internal whistleblower organization that political appointees were interfering in the FOI process, she was demoted and stripped of her title. Republican Rep. Darrell Issa has called for Papoi to be given her job back, and for the DHS to remind their employees of their whistleblowing rights. The DHS does not consider Papoi to have been demoted because she has not taken a pay grade hit, and they deny all allegations that the change in status was a move of revenge.
If FOIA Request Is Successful, AP Says It Will Decide Which OBL Pictures the Public Will See: From Newsbusters.org, a watchdog site that aims to “expose Liberal bias”, writer Tom Blumer cries foul at the AP’s proposed procedure if their request for the death photos of Osama Bin Laden is fulfilled. AP’s Michael Oreskes has stated, in an interview with The Atlantic, that the AP will “decide what’s publishable and what’s not publishable based on the possibly (sic) that it’s inflammatory.” Blumer is rightfully confused; if the AP objects to the government withholding the pictures, why should they be able to choose what’s shown and what isn’t? Other considerations must enter the discussion, too, if I may inject my own opinion: what if the images are gruesome? Or too numerous to place in an article? The government should simply make the images available to all who want to see them.
Ontario Liberals ‘interfering’ with freedom of information: Opposition: And now for our dosage of foreign news: from the far white wastes of Ontario comes a new political controversy centering around impeded FOI requests. The New Democratic party, currently the opposition, filed a FOI request to discover how their other FOI requests had been handled—always a good idea for those of you taking notes on good requests to file—and discovered that requests from the opposition party were being flagged by Liberal staffers as “contentious”. The New Democrats argue that this indicates a politicization of the FOI process, which is death to fair practice. Liberal Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, however, asserts that the flagging “. . .has no bearing in law or regulation. We see hundreds of things every day and (it means) look at this carefully, it’s contentious, and that’s it.”
See you all next week with a full length FOIA Friday post, and remember: when your murderous, incestuous uncle-king invites you to duel someone. . . it’s probably not just because he wants to see you show off your swordplay.
May 06
Philip HalinUncategorized ACLU, Bin Laden, EFF, FBI, FOI, FOI Friday, FOIA, FOIA Friday, OBL, Osama
Apparently, my comment in the last FOIA Friday about April showers was presumptive, because at least here in Massachusetts they show no signs of leaving. Luckily for you, neither does FOIA Friday! Basically everything we’re looking at can be found here anytime you like, and if you have any suggestions, please do send them on over to tips@muckrock.com.
Now to the news:
Debate rages on over releasing bin Laden images: By now everybody’s heard the news about Bin Laden, be it from the strange emergency press conference, online, or various news outlets. Everybody has also probably been exposed to a number of conspiracy theories surrounding Bin Laden’s death, Pakistan’s involvement, the burial at sea, etc. President Obama, seeking to avoid a gloating feel and also to stem further violence, has made the decision to not release the photos of Bin Laden’s dead body, only spurring on the countless theories about the sketchy nature of the whole operation. A MuckRock user was one of the first to file a FOIA request for the pictures and videos, though it may take a while before anything is heard back.
Ex-Justice Department Official: Obama Could Be Forced to Release the Osama Death Photos: One of the voices heard in the maelstrom surrounding the Osama Bin Laden pictures is that of Daniel Metcalfe, the former chief of the Department of Justice’s Office of Information and Privacy. Metcalfe argues that the photos (taken, presumably, by Navy SEALS on the covert mission) are ineligible to be protected from FOIA requests because they come from a request-able agency, are not classified, and were not part of covert ops as defined in federal law. It remains to be seen if and how the government will challenge the requests for the now-hidden pictures.
FBI Lies to Federal Court: In a court case between the ACLU and FBI concerning a request the ACLU had filed in 2006, the court ruled that the FBI had the right to withhold information but that at the same time the judge criticized the FBI for lying to the court. The original request was filed on behalf of Muslim groups in California in response to rumors that the FBI was attempting to infiltrate mosques in Southern California. While it was upheld that the FBI could deny the request for information about the infiltrations, the judge blaster the FBI and DoJ for saying that no results were found that matched the ACLU’s request when, in fact, 120 results were located.
FBI using surveillance software to track suspects online: From Activist Post via Raw Story comes the information that the FBI, utilizing a software known as Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier (CIPAV), is able to see huge amounts of information from the computer the software is present on, including the URLs visited by the user. While it’s unclear how the software gets on a computer, it is suspected that it exploits holes in computer security like a regular piece of spyware. This chilling information was turned up by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a 2007 FOIA request after rumors hinted at government spyware usage.
May 02
Philip HalinUncategorized Australia, CREW, DoE, FOI, FOI Friday, FOIA, FOIA Friday, USEC
Editor’s note: Last week’s FOIA Friday was late through no fault of Philip’s, but due to MuckRock’s travel schedule and sojourn to Transparency Camp. We’ll be returning to our irregular broadcast scheduling presently. -MM
As April showers give way reluctantly to May weeds, the FOI requests don’t stop, and neither do we here at MuckRock. Most of the stuff we’re looking at can be found here anytime you like, and if you have any suggestions, please do send them on over to tips@muckrock.com.
Now to the news:
CREW Files FOIA Appeal Regarding Investigations of Rep. Mollohan: Our old friends at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington—who you may remember from last weeks’ FOIA Friday—are back with another FOI request. After Representative Alan Mollohan was connected to $250 million dollars in earmarks that benefited his campaign nonprofits, the DoJ launched a four-year investigation. In January 2010, they informed him that the investigation was at an end and he would not be prosecuted in spite of clear evidence of his culpability. CREW want to know why he was never punished by the government for his illicit dealings.
19 months and counting: The saga of an Energy Department FOIA request: From the American University School of Communication comes this saga of delays, redactions, and controversies. Author Sam Tranum filed a FOI request with the DoE 20 months ago, seeking information on a $2,000,000 grant sought by private company USEC Inc. from the DoE. After receiving overly-redacted information and lots of stonewalling, Tranum tried to submit a fresh request in order to re-enter the appeals period. However, because his first request is still stuck in pre-decision purgatory, his second request was not processed. As of now, Tranum has filed a request on all correspondence relating to his request and hopes to figure out what the department has been doing with its long delay time.
The Curious Case of Cam Davis: In Cary, Illinois, a longtime village administrator, Cameron Davis, has left the service of the village in a manner that suggest he was ousted without being fired. Don’t pity the man yet, however, as a FOI request by reporter Katie Anderson reveals that Davis will pocket $123,000 and free healthcare for a year after leaving his job. The circumstances of Davis’ departure, as well as that pesky dollar amount, are causing controversy in Cary.
Big Tobacco wields FOI docs against Labor: We round out this FOIA Friday with some international FOI news, this time from the land down under, where the Labor government is seeking to legislate plain packaging for all cigarettes. British American Tobacco Australia (BATA), in an effort to fight back, has filed upwards of 19 requests for various documents and records. Some of the records they’ve received, they argue, show that the proposed legislation would damage the trademark rights of the tobacco companies. More important to their case is the argument that no public benefit is served by plain packaging, an argument BATA hopes will be bolstered by documents currently withheld by the Australian government.
Apr 22
Philip HalinUncategorized DoJ, Eric Holder, FOI, FOI Friday, FOIA, FOIA Friday, Healthcare, Michigan
Happy Good Friday to everyone! This Friday is especially good because not only do you have the holiday, but there’s also another FOI Friday for you. Most of the stuff we’re looking at can be found here anytime you like, and if you have any suggestions, please send them on over to tips@muckrock.com.
Now to the news:
MI State Police: We have nothing to hide: After reports began to circulate in Michigan that police were downloading the full phone records (including texts, e-mails, etc.) of people pulled over in simple traffic stops, the Michigan branch of the ACLU got involved. They submitted their initial FOI request for the records in August of 2008 and were told that the cost of disassembling and disclosing information on five of the devices supposedly used illegally during the stops would cost upwards of $500,000, and the ACLU was told they needed to pay a $272,340 deposit before receiving any documents. Attempts to narrow the request to avoid such exorbitant fees were met with claims that no such records existed. The MI state police department claims that not only do they not use the devices the UCLA claims they do, but also that they had worked with the ACLU to try and lower the fees for the FOI request. The dispute is ongoing.
CREW Files FOIA Request With Secret Service for Records of Health Care Execs White House Visits: Seeking to identify how much, if any, influence healthcare executives had on the design of the “Obamacare” bill, CREW (Citizens for Ethics in Washington) have filed a FOIA request for the records of all visits to Obama by the aforementioned executives. While the president’s administration holds that the records are not subject to FOI laws, CREW is optimistic that the Secret Service will release the information.
General Who Resigned After Abu Ghraib Recruited For Senate Bid: Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez should be no stranger to controversial press, given his involvement as a commanding officer at Abu Ghraib prison. Now the report is that the Democratic party has been grooming him for a Senate run in a typically-conservative district. In spite of his claims to ignorance of the actions of his soldiers, Sanchez didn’t escape the Abu Ghraib hubbub smelling like a rose. According to the results of an ACLU FOI request in 2005, Sanchez issued orders to exploit the fear of dogs of “Arabs” in the prison, and several sources finger him as having been involved in the decision to torture the prisoners.
Bringing the outside in at Eric Holder’s Justice Department: After Attorney General Eric Holder announced a re-invigoration of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, a reasonable observer might expect a new era of equality and transparency. Instead, alleges J. Christian Adams at the Washington Examiner, Holder has ushered in an era of difficulty and political bias. The judges and lawyers hired by Holder’s Justice Department, says Adams, have been activists with extreme views on the issues they’ve been given influence over. Libertarian group Pajama Media filed a FOI request in the summer of 2010, asking for the resumes of all new DoJ hires. It has yet to be fulfilled, in contrast to an identical request that was responded to within three weeks by the Bush administration in 2007.
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