Popular Posts

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

CIA Argues The Public Can’t See Classified Information It Has Already Given To Favored Reporters

The CIA claimed that limited disclosures to reporters do not waive national security exemptions to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests

Intelligence officials can selectively release classified information to trusted journalists while withholding the same information from other citizens who request it through open records laws, CIA lawyers argued Wednesday.

In a motion filed in New York federal court, the CIA claimed that limited disclosures to reporters do not waive national security exemptions to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies frequently deny records requests on the basis of protecting sensitive national security information, one of nine exemptions written into the federal FOIA law.

The case stems from lawsuit against the CIA by New York-based independent journalist Adam Johnson, who had used FOIA to obtain emails between the agency’s public information office and selected reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and The New York Times. The emails the CIA provided to Johnson were redacted, leading him to question why he was not allowed to see the same information that had been given to uncleared reporters.

Johnson challenged the redaction in court, arguing that the CIA, once it has selectively disclosed information to uncleared reporters, cannot claim the same information is protected by a FOIA exemption.

Read more

3 comments:

  1. Once the can of worms has been opened, it's opened. The cat is out of the bag and there's no putting them back, so why be belligerent? Just for belligerence sake?

    Sure, why not select who sees it and who doesn't?

    Answer: To make sure the Agenda is served through the right channels.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mockingbird Media

    ReplyDelete
  3. They KNOW it's against the law, but have NO FEAR.

    Why?

    Two Sets of Laws.

    They put a sailor in prison for 5 years for a photograph. THEY let a housekeeper have access to classified info, distribute it through various devices, destroy subpoenaed material, thumb their nose at any law, and we STILL debate whether or not is was illegal.
    Seriously?
    Two Sets of Laws.
    They don't give a rat's ace what you think, either.
    We are just one day closer to the hanging.

    Keep cheering.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.