This week’s round-up: FEMA gets ICE’d, a splurging superintendent in Texas, and a chance to nominate your free speech hero
For this week’s FOIA round-up, we’re taking a look at FEMA cuts for ICE programming, a school leader’s spending habits, and Scott Pruitt’s money problems. Plus, open nominations for the FAC Free Speech and Open Government Award.
Help release the FBI’s files on its wartime “Postal Censorship” program
Back in August, MuckRock user Paul Galante requested the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s files on its wartime “Postal Censorship” program. This week, the Bureau responded, having located approximately 83,000 pages. Despite the fact that the files will be released electronically through the FBI’s supposedly cost-saving portal, the Bureau is insisting Galante pay $2,485 in duplication fees. Due to the important historical nature of these records, Galante has opened the request to crowdfunding.
FBI suspected “Ramparts” was a foreign agent that provided propaganda and intelligence services
Files recently released to MuckRock shed light on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation of the radical Ramparts magazine. Originally classified SECRET, the investigation described in the FBI files was an “internal security” matter relating to the magazine’s registration status. Paralleling and seemingly predicting some of the later investigations of WikiLeaks, the Bureau suspected that Ramparts “may currently be engaged in acts of distribution of propaganda, acting as a political agent, collecting information, forwarding information, et cetera, while acting as the agent of a foreign principal.”
The CIA had a SECRET report on Soviet superstitions
A formerly SECRET report uncovered in the Central Intelligence Agency’s declassified archives shows that in the earliest days of the Cold War, the CIA took an interest in Soviet superstitions. The report, classified for 60 years, details familiar fears such as black cats with more involved customs, such as road bucket etiquette.
Investment records show small Massachusetts towns are heavily invested in Big Pharma
As part of MuckRock’s Municipal Investments project, we’ve received the stock and bond investment reports from a few Massachusetts towns, and each one of them appears to have some significant portion of their stock holdings in a variety of pharmaceutical companies.
Projects See all
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The Private Prison Project
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- 44% funded
- $4495.00 raised
- 111 backers
For-profit detention continues to reap the rewards of an incarceration system filled to the brim and facing an uncertain future. Our FOIA requests have released thousands of documents that show how for-profit prisons have leveraged the legal system to their advantage, letting companies pick-and-choose inmates to off-load costs, ignore complaints and concerns, and create dangerous conditions for prisoners and staff alike. This is all done while billions of taxpayer dollars are funneled into these private companies, which then pour millions into politicians' campaigns to keep their growth going. With your help, we can provide needed scrutiny of an industry few are even aware exists. -
Subjects Matter: FBI Files
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- 43% funded
- $2150.00 raised
- 19 backers
This project aims to sift through the hundreds of thousands of pages of FBI archival material we've released, so we can better understand why the Bureau had an eye on these people - and through that, better understand who they're keeping tabs on today. -
Unearthing CREST: CIA's Declassified Archives
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- 1% funded
- $10.00 raised
- 1 backer
After our three-year lawsuit led to the public release of 13 million pages of declassified CIA records, we've begun a daily-deep dive into the depths of the Agency's seven-decade history. -
FOIA 101: Tips and Tricks to Make You a Transparency Master
★ FeaturedWhether it's your first request or your first request *today,* it never hurts to go over the basics. MuckRock's compiled a lot of FOIA advice over the years, and with this project, it's all in one place.