Tag Archives: FOIA

ProPublica reports: A top official in the Department of Labor this week informed all staff members that they could face criminal charges if they speak to journalists, former employees or others about agency business. A memo sent Monday by Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s chief of staff, Jihun Han, and obtained by ProPublica, states that “individuals who disclose confidential information …

NPR reports: Teams that fulfilled requests for government documents lost their jobs on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration’s 10,000-person staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. Their work, mandated by Congress since the 1960s under the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, gives the public a view of the inner workings of federal health agencies. …

CNN reports: The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers, a move that limits outside access to government records related to the security clearances granted to Elon Musk and his associates. CNN was first notified of the firings at the Office of Personnel …

FOIA Files reports: The lack of transparency surrounding DOGE’s efforts is off the charts. The DOGE strike team itself operates in secrecy. In the case of the CFPB, after the team members appeared at the agency’s Washington headquarters, they often refused to talk to employees or disclose their names, and carried out work in a basement conference room where they …

The Hill reports: A lawsuit has been filed against the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence seeking records pertaining to Russia’s interference in the presidential election. Journalist Jason Leopold and Ryan Shapiro, a Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District …

From Slate columnist Vanessa Golembewski: At a premiere event earlier this week in Hollywood, Game of Thrones showrunner Dan Weiss revealed that President Obama is the only person outside of HBO who will see advance screenings of new episodes. That means those who traditionally view them — mainly journalists, industry folk, and the occasional fan group — have no choice …

Via the Associated Press: The Associated Press filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the State Department to force the release of email correspondence and government documents from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. The legal action comes after repeated requests filed under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act have gone unfulfilled. They include one request AP made five years …