MORNING SMOKE: Justice's Proposed FOIA Regs Update: We "Will Deny That Certain Records Exist"

[kpete]

APR 22, 2011
Morning Smoke: Justice's Proposed FOIA Regs Update: We Will Deny That Certain Records Exist
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/04/morning-smoke-justices-proposed-foia-update-we-will-deny-that-certain-records-exist.html

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed to update its regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The regulations would apply to DOJ and its components, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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First, we note appreciatively the greater emphasis on proactively disclosing information online, rather than waiting for a FOIA request. We call for DOJ to go even further and post all its responses to FOIA requests online.

Second, we call attention to a provision of the proposed regulations that seems to deviate from the law. Under FOIA, if a requester asks for certain law enforcement, intelligence, or terrorism records, the agency can deny that the records exist. The regulations go further, though, and say that DOJ will deny that the records exist.

That would be a step backward. Even if an agency thought, after a careful consideration and balancing, that the records should be released, the new regulations seem to tell the agency to keep them hidden. In fact, Attorney General Eric Holder's 2009 FOIA memo directs agencies not to do exactly this: don't withhold records simply on a technicality – you need to have a good reason for doing so. DOJ should take its own advice and restore the flexibility to release records where it makes sense.

http://www.ombwatch.org/node/11625

[SpiralHawk]

1. The Ministry of Truth hath spoken

So all you smelly American proles can just STFU and ingest your soma and choco-rations -- available from the Minsistry of Plenty.

[crickets]

2. Kicking for the "You just can't make these things up" dept. -nt

[Angry Dragon]

3. Transparency .............

[CelticThunder]

4. A Democratic administration proposed this - ?

[TheKentuckian]

5. Putrid

[gratuitous]

6. All of a piece

No sense lookin' backwards to the past, we're lookin' forward to the future! So don't you worry your pretty little heads about documents from the past. Look forward, ever forward.

[Ezlivin]

7. So much for continued investigation of various state-sponsored crimes

We can just sit back and believe the official story, regardless of how preposterous it is.

[eleny]

8. Taking "Nothing to see here - move along" to the next level