FOIA News: Top Clinton aide at State Dep't vetted FOIA requests

Clinton’s Staff Vetted Public Records Requests, Emails Show

Alana Goodman, Wash. Free Beacon, Jan. 5, 2016

Hillary Clinton’s top aide was closely involved in vetting a politically sensitive document requested under public information laws, according to emails from the Department of State released on Thursday.

Public records officials at the State Department sought clearance from Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, in 2012 before releasing a memo related to the Bush administration’s enhanced interrogation program.

The email corroborates a Wall Street Journal article last May that reported that Mills had been involved in vetting documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act, a process that is typically expected to be independent of political influence.

Sheryl Walter, the director of the State Department’s public information office, wrote to Patrick Kennedy, the State Department’s undersecretary for management, and other officials on April 2, 2012 to inform of them of a “pending FOIA release likely to get press attention.”

The document being released was a 2006 paper known as the “Zelikow memo,” which had been written by a Bush administration official concerning the government’s enhanced interrogation program.

Walter told Kennedy in an email that “Cheryl Mills is aware and has cleared” the memo for release.

Read more here.

FOIA News: State Department Falls Behind Schedule With Latest Release of Hillary Clinton Emails

State Department Falls Behind Schedule With Latest Release of Hillary Clinton Emails

By Olivia Becker, Vice News, Jan. 1, 2016

The US Department of State released the latest batch of Hillary Clinton's emails from her tenure as Secretary of State last night, but still failed to meet the number of documents a federal judge required the government to make public by the end of 2015.

"We have worked diligently to come as close to the goal as possible, but with the large number of documents involved and the holiday schedule we have not met the goal this month," the State Department said in a statement Thursday morning.

Clinton's emails are being released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by VICE News senior investigative reporter Jason Leopold after it was revealed that Clinton had used a private email server when she was the top US diplomat. A federal judge ordered the government to release 15 percent of Clinton's 35,000 emails each month until the end of January 2016.

Read more here.

Q&A: juvenile detention records

Q.  When I was a minor I was sent by the Family Court of New York State to Spofford, a youth detention facility in the Bronx.  I want to obtain information contained in my family court records and any records kept by Spofford.  Is this allowed under the FOIA?

A.  Access to New York court records is governed by Section 255 of the Judiciary Law, not the state's Freedom of Information Law ("FOIL") or the federal Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA").  If you want to obtain court records, you can go to the courthouse where the case took place and request the records in writing from the clerk of the court.  As you may know, the Spofford Juvenile Center closed in 2011.  I do not know where the institution's records are located now, but you might want to try the New York State Office of Children and Family Services at info@ocfs.ny.gov.  

FOIA News: Nat'l Highway Traffic Safety Administration to amend FOIA regulation concerning confidential business information

The NHTSA is proposing to amend its FOIA regulation with respect to the submission and processing of requests for confidential treatment, according to a notice to be published in the Federal Register on January 4, 2016.  In sum, the proposed regulation would make the following changes:

1.  NHTSA will defer acting on requests for confidential treatment until the agency receives a FOIA request for the information at issue, unless it decides that making a determination is necessary or in the public interest. 
2. Submitters will be instructed to affirmatively specify whether the materials for which confidential treatment is sought were voluntarily submitted and provide an adequate basis for their claim of voluntariness.
3. Submitters will be provided the option of electronically submitting their requests for confidential treatment and the materials accompanying those requests.

The deadline for submitting comments to NHTSA's proposed regulation is March 4, 2016.  

FOIA News: Clinton emails to be released today

Questions and answers about the Hillary Clinton email release from State Department

By Ken Thomas, Associated Press, Dec. 31, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department will be delivering a New Year's Eve batch of more emails from Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state, bringing 2015 to a close for the Democratic presidential front-runner.

Clinton has faced questions about whether her use of a private email server was sufficient to ensure the security of government information and retention of records. The State Department has released installments of her emails every month since May.

Thursday's emails will be the second-to-last set of messages released to the public with the final segment expected just before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.

Here's some questions and answers about Clinton's email:

Q: What emails are these?

A: These are the work-related emails that Clinton sent and received on the private, unsecured server in her home in New York while she was President Barack Obama's secretary of state from 2009 through January 2013. She turned over 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department for the historical record and to be released to the public. Clinton contends that she never sent or received emails that were marked classified at the time but some emails on her server were later deemed top secret or included confidential or sensitive information.

Q: What have we learned so far?

A: The messages have shown how Obama's secretary of state dealt with a series of foreign policy hurdles, from the Arab Spring in the Middle East to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. It has also offered a more private window into Clinton's daily life, showing her asking an aide to help her find Showtime's CIA-focused drama "Homeland," getting political intelligence from longtime allies and managing a busy schedule and flights around the globe.

Q: Why on New Year's Eve?

A: By court order, the State Department is required to release as many of her emails as they can in a single installment on the last weekday of every month. The emails have been disseminated in increments that allow the department to review the emails and redact sensitive information. The blacked out material has ranged from actual secrets to the personal addresses and emails of people with whom Clinton has corresponded.

Q: How many emails are there?

A: It has varied from month to month, but the State Department estimates that this batch will include thousands of pages. While the documents tend to be voluminous, many have included terse replies from Clinton, such as, "Pls print," or "Ok. Thx."

Q: When and where will the emails be posted?

A: The State Department is expected to post them on its website Thursday. Past emails have been released here: https://www.foia.state.gov/Learn/New.aspx.

Q&A: bank account information

Q.  What is the process for using FOIA to obtain my complete personal bank account information and/or any other actions regarding said account from a banking institution of the Nation Association (NA)?

A.  You have a contractual right to your account information; you need not submit a FOIA request.  Indeed, "national" banks are not subject to FOIA requests.  

Court opinions issued Dec. 22-23, 2015

Dec. 23, 2015

Baird v. Dep't of the Interior (E.D. La.) -- ruling that the government performed an adequate search in response to employee's request for records relating to his Civil Rights Act complaints and that disputed redactions were protected under the deliberative process privilege.  

Dec. 22, 2015

Abtew v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court's decision that an asylum officer's recommendation to a supervisor was exempt under the deliberative process privilege; rejecting appellant's arguments that DHS had adopted the recommendation as a final decision or that DHS was estopped from invoking privilege given  prior disclosures of the same document in other cases.   

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Q&A: scope of FOIA and unsealing court records

Q.   Does the FOIA apply to only government documents? What if I am trying to get court records of a settlement unsealed -- what are the criteria for unsealing those records? Can I force a private entity to produce documents if those documents pertain to public safety? For example, if there has been testing by a private entity pertaining to water and soil safety of an area, must those records be produced under the FOIA if a request is made to that entity to produce those documents?

A.  The federal Freedom of Information Act applies to executive branch agencies, not courts, Congress, or private entities or individuals.  The scope of State public records laws vary, but most also do not apply to court records or to private entities.  You might be able to access sealed court records by making an informal request to the judge, as discussed in this article by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.  More extensive guidance on sealed court records is available from the Federal Judicial Center.  

FOIA News: Defense Secretary's emails targeted by FOIA request

Non-profit files FOIA for Carter emails

Carten Cordell, Federal Times, December 22, 2015

Defense Secretary Ash Carter admitted last week that he used a private email account to conduct official business, and now a government accountability nonprofit wants to see the emails.

Cause for Action, an organization focused on regulatory and fiscal transparency, has filed a Freedom of Information Act-request for all of Carter’s correspondence from the account, in addition to other messages.

The D.C.-based nonprofit claims that by using a private account, Carter may have violated provisions of the Federal Records Act, which governs the preservation of official government documents.

Amendments made to the FRA in 2014 forbid government workers to use private email addresses for official business unless the emails are copied to an authorized federal email account.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Dec. 18, 2015

Snyder v. Dep't of Def. (N.D. Cal.) -- ruling that the Defense Logistics Agency had released certain responsive computer code information to plaintiff and therefore his claim for relief was moot; further ruling that DLA properly withheld other computer code information as critical infrastructure security information pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with 10 U.S.C. §130e. 

Carlson v. U.S. Postal Serv. (N.D. Cal.) -- finding that spreadsheets indicating the number of transactions at given Postal Service locations in half-hour increments were properly withheld under Exemption 3, in conjunction with 39 U.S.C. § 410(c)(2), which exempts from disclosure Postal Service records that are of a commercial nature and would not be disclosed under good business practice.

Bartko v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- determining that the FBI properly withheld all but six pages of requested records concerning plaintiff's conviction pursuant to Exemptions 3 (grand jury), 6, and 7(C); rejecting agency's relince upon Exemption 7(E) altogether.    

Bagwell v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- denying government's motion for summary judgment in case involving records of DOJ's investigation of Pennsylvania State University sex abuse scandal.   The court held that the government's declarations and Vaughn Index were insufficient to assess whether the search was adequate or whether the withheld records were protected under Exemption 3 (grand jury).

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.