FOIA News: Monkey business at the FBI?

The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz Would Like a Word With the FBI

The group's last surviving member is suing the FBI after they failed to hand over band's J. Edgar Hoover-era FBI file

By Andy Green, Rolling Stone, Aug. 30, 2022

WHEN THE MONKEES launched their inaugural tour in 1967, they played to throngs of screaming teenagers – and at least one FBI informant. “During the concert, subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which, in the opinion of [informant’s name redacted], constituted ‘left wing intervention of a political nature,'” reads a document in the Monkees FBI file. “These messages and pictures were flashed of riots, in Berkley, anti-U.S. messages on the war in Vietnam, racial riots in Selma, Alabama, and similar messages which had unfavorable response[s] from the audience.”

This tiny portion of the band’s FBI file was released to the public a little over a decade ago, and now Micky Dolenz, the group’s sole surviving member, has filed a lawsuit against the FBI (See the full suit below). The 77-year-old musician is hoping to see the rest of the file after failing to get his hands on it via a Freedom of Information Act request. “This lawsuit is designed to obtain any records the FBI created and/or possesses on the Monkees as well as its individual members,” reads the suit. “Mr. Dolenz has exhausted all necessary required administrative remedies with respect to his [Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act] request.”

Read more here.

ICYMI, OGIS still interested in "still interested" letters

OGIS Is Yet Again Interested in “Still Interested” Letters

By Office of Gov’t Info. Serv., The FOIA Ombudsman, Aug. 22, 2022

As federal agencies approach the end of fiscal year 2022 in September, we know many are aiming to close old FOIA requests and reduce their FOIA backlogs. Some have begun to send requesters “still interested” letters to ensure that the information in a FOIA request is still being sought by the requester from the agency.

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) guidance on the issue advises agencies about “being mindful” in regard to the timelines for requesters to respond and indicate their level of interest. OIP updated this guidance in 2015 and included a series of procedures that agencies should use when sending “still interested” letters.

Read more here.

FOIA News: E-discovery tools for FOIA

How Tech-Assisted Review is Transforming FOIA

Government is beginning to adopt AI tools to expedite its obligation of records transparency.

By Katherine MacPhail, Gov’t CIO Mag., Aug. 24, 2022

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process has frequently been plagued with delays, but the massive surge in data production over the past decade means that this problem is only growing. Tackling all of the outstanding FOIA requests manually is not simply burdensome — it is nigh impossible.  

“None of us have time to read a petabyte of data in our lifetime,” said John Facciola, retired U.S. magistrate judge and Georgetown adjunct professor of law, during a Digital Government Institute 930gov panel Tuesday.

That’s where AI comes in. Agencies are turning to technology assisted review tools that were originally developed for the eDiscovery process.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Second Circuit limits scope of Exemption 4

Court Sides with Clinics on Freedom of Information Act Exemptions

By Yale Law Sch., YLS Today, Aug. 24, 2022

In a precedent-setting case, a court agreed with three First Amendment clinics that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption for confidential commercial information is not meant to protect confidentiality for the sake of confidentiality.

The Media Freedom & Information Access Clinic (MFIA) at Yale Law School, working with clinics at Cornell Law School and the SMU Dedman School of Law, brought the case.

Seife v. FDA concerns a journalist who requested clinical trial data from the Food and Drug Administration related to its approval of a drug. The FDA held that it could withhold the documents, which the drug maker deemed confidential, under an exemption for privileged business information. Now, an appeals court — the first to consider a standard imposed in 2016 — has ruled that agencies cannot withhold such information under this exemption simply because the information is confidential.  

Read more here.

FOIA News: Using FOIA to Compel Federal Agencies to Prove Claims

Using FOIA to Compel Federal Agencies to Prove Claims

Siri & Glimstad LLP, Bloomberg Law, Aug. 23, 2022

A group of scientists and medical researchers successfully sued the FDA under FOIA to force the release of documents related to licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine earlier this year. Siri & Glimstad attorneys, who represent the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, discuss how FOIA can be used to compel government authorities to release data the public can then use to evaluate the veracity of government claims.

Read more here.

FOIA News: OIP updates Exemption 6 of FOIA Guide

On August 19, 2022, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy posted an updated version of Exemption 6 of its Guide to the Freedom of Information Act.

FOIA News: Appointments made to 2022-2024 FOIA Advisory Committee

The National Archives and Records Administration has announced the names of the government and non-government members who will serve on the 2022-2024 term of the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee. See the 20-person roster here.

FOIA News: Legal status of the Smithsonian

WHY SENATOR GRASSLEY’S SMITHSONIAN FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) REFORM BILLS FAILED

By Julian Raven, EIN News, Aug. 18, 2022

On the floor of the Senate in 2007, Senator Grassley proclaimed that ‘Many people would naturally think that the Smithsonian is subject to FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) and must comply with requests. I know that I believed it was, especially given that taxpayer funds make up 70 percent of its budget.” Grassley’s confession is the first step in admitting that there is a glaring problem with the Smithsonian Institution. That problem is a crisis of identity, a confusion as to what the Smithsonian Institution’s entity status is. As a result, a legal dilemma has been left untamed, bewitching even the esteemed Senator Grassley and others.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Contractors notified about FOIA request for EEO-1 data

FOIA request prompts feds to ask: Should contractors’ EEO-1 data be made public?

Affected contractors have until Sept. 19 to object to the release of Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 reports between 2016 and 2020, OFCCP said.

By Ryan Golden, HRDive, Aug. 18, 2022

Federal contractors that would object to the public release of Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 reports filed between 2016 and 2020 will have 30 days to submit comments to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the agency said in a notice released Thursday.

The agency said the notice, scheduled to be published in The Federal Register on Friday, is in response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking a spreadsheet of all consolidated Type 2 EEO-1 reports for all federal contractors, including “first-tier subcontractors,” from 2016 to 2020.

Read more here.

FOIA News: State Dep't withholds names of Kerry's staff

John Kerry’s office redacted every staffer name in FOIAed correspondence

Kerry's office has been secretive in its operation

The office of Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry redacted each of the names and emails of their staffers in emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Fox News Digital obtained the documents from government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), which revealed the correspondence between Kerry’s office and several recipients, including nearly 20 climate change groups.

PPT was only able to obtain the documents after suing Kerry’s office over unfulfilled FOIA requests. However, the emails have every staffer’s name and email redacted.

Read more here.