A request for documents related to “ecoterrorism” in the possession of the FBI’s Countering Violent Extremism Office produced an intelligence bulletin warning that “animal rights extremist” activity may be on the rise, as well as a report from researchers at the University of Maryland on recent trends in terrorism.

Last year, the DEA earned no small amount of infamy for putting a $1.4 million price tag on on a Freedom of Information Act request - among the largest ever recorded. This week, the Department of Defense blew that out of the water with a fee estimate of $660 million, nearly 500 times the previous record.

If you’re interested in a public company, their Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings are an easy, obvious place to look for information. That said, SEC filings can be pretty drab, and even those of private prison companies CCA and GEO Group aren’t so different on the surface - but inside this unappetizing letter-number salad, as much can be made of what’s going on behind our national system as can be made of what’s on the forms.

As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If a machine is doing its job, reliably and without error, then common sense dictates that you just shouldn’t mess with it. This is doubly true for computers and quadruply true for government computers. This lends itself to an obvious question: what’s the government computer most in need of an upgrade?

The word cloud of prison privatization has two standouts: CCA and GEO. They stand on the stock exchange, some believe as a demonstration of nefarious American ties between justice and capitalism. But ticker symbols and federal filing one-liners are just formal summations of one side of the pipeline. The word cloud shows more dimly the individuals, whole communities, and states that are tethered to them.

To the delight of Gary-Busey-doing-the-Cha-Cha fans everywhere, Dancing With The Stars will return for its 22nd season next month. And as FCC complaints released to Courtney Spencer reveal, there are at least a few viewers hoping the show’s cleaned up its act by then.

Nate Jones is the Director of the Freedom of Information Act Project for the National Security Archive, and editor of their Unredacted blog. For this week’s Requester’s Voice, he spoke to Michael Morisy about how he got started in public records, why you should always appeal a denial, and how that warehouse from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark is totally a real thing.

After reading several articles referring to the Department of Defense creating an inventory/impact assessment in the wake of the Snowden reveal, Michael Morisy filed a FOIA to the Defense Intelligence Agency for a copy. Almost exactly a year later, they delivered, with some notable excisions - including any direct mention of one Edward Snowden.

Terry Southern’s career is the stuff of Hollywood legend, but the celebrated satirist is perhaps best known for his work as the principle screenwriter for Dr. Strangelove. While that film appeared to have raised a few eyebrows at the Bureau, it was a different kind of strange love that finally earned Southern the FBI’s attention - files released to Shawn Musgrave show the DOJ’s finest legal minds grappling with the question of whether his satirical pornographic novel Candy was pornography or satire.

Happy FOIAentines Day from us here at MuckRock! If you’re not familiar with the holiday, this celebration of transparent affection is observed the Tuesday after President’s day. It’s pretty much Valentine’s Day, but a couple days late and the important parts are missing.

In Requester’s Voice, I’ve asked dozens of people to share their public records journeys, including how they became interested in requesting and their advice for others. I’ve learned an incredible amount from them. For our sixth anniversary, JPat asked that I turn the tables on myself, and share what I’ve learned since starting MuckRock. Having helped file over 20,000 requests all around the country, hopefully I’ve learned at least something.

Over its six year history, MuckRock has processed over 20,000 public records requests - nearly half of those in the last year alone. So, how does a full time staff of four handle that workload? One FOIA at a time.

With MuckRock’s birthday later this week, we thought it would be fun to take a stroll through the archives and look at the most popular pieces from each of the last six years. Several hours of cleanup and hundreds of deleted lines of junk HTML later, we’re happy to take you along for the tour.

In response to a recent Freedom of Information Act request seeking information on potential abuse of Census records, the FOIA officer sent a letter saying “[t]he U.S. Census Bureau neither confirms nor denies the existence of any records responsive to your request.” This makes Census Bureau just the latest in a string of unlikely agencies to handing out the infamous GLOMAR exemption.

After months of hearings, editorials, and one very chilly rally on the State House, yesterday the long-awaited ‪Massachusetts‬ ‪Public Records‬ Reform bill passed the Senate with unanimous support. MuckRock’s Beryl Lipton was there, and she live-tweeted the whole thing, withdrawn measures and all.

For 17 seasons, Dick Wolf and co. have captivated the nation with their sexual violence specialized Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, featuring stories of New York City’s elite squad investigate these “especially heinous” crimes. Considering the subject matter, it should come as no surprise that FCC complaints show viewers had a problem with SVU’s … mild swears and racy commercials?

A DEA agent sparked ridicule from the marijuana community last year when he pointed to zombie-like rabbits as an argument against medical legalization. MuckRock submitted a FOIA for substantiating materials and what we got back will not surprise you in the least.

One of the best-selling authors of all time, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels pioneered the modern military thriller. Tales of the square-jawed CIA analyst using cutting-edge tech to take out the bad guys on the global stage earned Clancy millions, and according to his FBI files, some friends in high places.