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The FOI Advocate
Back to The FOI Advocate Index
Dec. 6, 2004
The E-Newsletter of the National Freedom of Information Coalition
"A government by secrecy benefits no one. It injures the people it seeks to serve; it damages its own integrity
and operation. It breeds distrust, dampens the fervor of its citizens and mocks their loyalty."
-- 110 Congressional Record 17, 087 (1964) (Statement of Senator Long)
A Publication of The Freedom of Information Center
A Unit of the Missouri School of Journalism
"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men
born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to
liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding."
-- Justice Louis Brandeis, 1928
TOP OF THE NEWS
"If the documents are more of an embarrassment than a secret, the public
should know of our government's treatment of individuals captured and held
abroad. "
-- Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in Federal District Court in Manhattan,
chastising the administration for its "glacial pace" and ordering the
Pentagon and other agencies to produce a list of all their documents on
the detentions at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by Oct. 15.
FOI AT WORK: ...This is the story of patriots deceived -- not once but three times:
first as young recruits, conned into entering chambers of lethal gas
during World War II; then as war-hardened soldiers, shipped home with no
warning of the time bombs lurking in their bodies; and finally as aging
veterans, misled by a government that promised to find them, wherever they
lived, and compensate those who were harmed.
By the end of World War II, the military had exposed more than 70,000 Army
and Navy recruits to poison gases in various forms -- from swabs of
mustard agent on their arms, to the more than 4,000 servicemen who marched
into chambers or through fields soaked with chemicals. The mission was
noble: to develop protective gear and ointments that would insulate troops
from enemy chemical attack. The means were not: Officers deceived the men
about the health risks and intimidated those who balked...
Story Link
STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE: Families of three civilian engineers killed in a 1948 crash of a B-29
bomber have lost an attempt to reopen a 50-year-old lawsuit, but they have
filed an appeal.
The engineers, all of whom lived in the Philadelphia area, were testing an
electronic navigational system when the B-29 crashed near Waycross, Ga.,
on Oct. 6, 1948.
Their widows filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Air Force. But Air
Force officials refused to make public the cause of the crash, claiming
that disclosure might endanger the nation's security. The U.S. Supreme
Court, in a landmark 1953 decision, allowed the report to remain secret.
But the report, now declassified, does not appear to contain state
secrets. Rather, it attributes the B-29 crash to an engine fire that might
have been avoided had a mandated heat shield been installed. The report
concluded that the bomber was not "safe for flight."
Story Link
ACLU FOIAS FBI: Citing evidence that the FBI and local police are illegally spying on
political, environmental and faith-based groups, the American Civil
Liberties Union and its affiliates in Iowa and other states today filed
multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests around the country to
uncover who is being investigated and why.
The requests were filed by the national ACLU as well as its affiliates in
Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Oregon. The national ACLU FOIA
names the central FBI agency as well as bureaus in New York, Washington,
D.C., California, Michigan, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Additional ACLU
affiliates are expected to file another round of FOIA requests in early
2005.
Story Link
Coverage at:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-aclu02.html
ANTITERROR, IRAQ, ETC.
"The danger to political dissent is acute where the government attempts to
act under so vague a concept as the power to protect 'domestic security.'
Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the
danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent."
-- The ACLU quoting a 1972 United States Supreme Court opinion in United
States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Michigan, 407 U.S. 297 (1972), which re-emerged in the news recently after
Justice Department lawyers blacked it out in filings in a Patriot Act
case.
For the evidence, see:
www.thememoryhole.org/feds/justice_redaction.htm
BLANKET GAG ORDER AT DHS: The Department of Homeland Security is requiring thousands of employees
and contractors to sign nondisclosure agreements that prohibit them from
sharing sensitive but unclassified information with the public.
The department was rebuffed, however, when it also tried to require
congressional aides to sign the secrecy pledges as a condition for gaining
access to certain materials, majority and minority spokesmen for the House
Select Committee on Homeland Security said.
Story Link
ACLU SEEKS PTE RECORDS: The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today filed a lawsuit
challenging the New Jersey Attorney General's refusal to disclose
information about individuals and organizations designated as "potential
threat elements" (PTEs), including the criteria used by the state to make
such determinations.
"We all want the police to protect us from real criminals and
terrorists," said Deborah Jacobs, ACLU of New Jersey Executive Director.
"But the public should be able to find out whether resources and funds
established to fight terrorism are being misused to target innocent
Americans who have done nothing more than criticize the government or
practice their religion."
The designation of individuals or organizations as PTEs was required in
connection with the application for Department of Homeland Security grant
money. In order to obtain certain Homeland Security grants, municipalities
that applied were required to identify at least 15 individuals or
organizations as PTEs.
Earlier this year, the ACLU of New Jersey sent open public records
requests to the 50 largest New Jersey municipalities to obtain documents
disclosing the identification of, or criteria for designating, PTEs. While
most municipalities had no such documents, eight municipalities responded
with refusals to disclose their records, claiming they were exempt from
disclosure under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act (OPRA). On Oct 4,
2004, Jacobs filed an OPRA request directly with the Office of the
Attorney General. On October 19, 2004, the Office of the Attorney General
responded, claiming that such records were exempt as "security measures or
surveillance techniques" and that their disclosure would interfere with
the ability to protect the state against acts of sabotage or terrorism.
Story Link
SECRECY = SAFETY? When Teton County Commissioner Bill Paddleford heard a researcher discuss
the possibility that part of Jackson Lake Dam could liquefy in a large
earthquake, he was both worried and miffed.
For two years, Paddleford said, he had been after the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation to give county officials information on the safety of the dam
and any potential threats to the structure. Local officials wanted it as
part of their emergency planning.
Agency officials maintained that the dam, a short distance upstream from
the resort community of Jackson, was safe, but Paddleford said they
refused to release specifics.
After hearing a speech mentioning the risk to the dam, given by a
professor of seismology at UC Santa Barbara, Paddleford was convinced that
county officials weren't getting the whole story and that the Bureau of
Reclamation was being unreasonable.
The dispute highlights a problem faced by some local governments and
groups since the terrorist attacks of 2001: It isn't just the general
public that is finding it more difficult to get information from state and
federal governments about dams, electric utilities or other structures in
their areas - whether for safety, environmental or political concerns.
Story Link
GENERAL FOI NEWS
COURT SECRECY AT HEART OF APPEAL: In a case that's being closely watched by civil libertarians,
journalists and the criminal defense bar, lawyers for convicted Colombian
narcotics boss Fabio Ochoa have attacked his 2003 conviction partly on the
grounds of federal court secrecy practices.
A key issue in last week's oral arguments before the 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Atlanta was the constitutionality of secret court
dockets that federal judges in South Florida and Atlanta have used to hide
the existence of some civil and criminal court cases.
Judge Rosemary Barkett expressed strong concerns about the use of secret
dockets. She wanted to know how one of the potential witnesses for Ochoa,
Nicholas Bergonzoli, came to be convicted, sentenced and imprisoned in
total secrecy in U.S. District Court in Miami in 2002.
Story Link
NOISE GROUP SUES FOR FAA DATA: A group seeking quieter airline routes claims the Federal Aviation
Administration is improperly withholding from the public data being used
to design new routes in the tri-state region.
The New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise also charged in a federal
lawsuit that the FAA has shared the information with airlines.
The lawsuit is in response to a five-year effort to redesign air routes
for airports in New Jersey, as well as in Philadelphia and New York City.
NJCAAN suggests that aircraft noise can be reduced by putting routes over
industrial areas and the ocean, and by having airliners fly at higher
altitudes before descent.
Story Link
PROCUREMENT NEEDS SOME SUNSHINE: A Pentagon inspector general's report made headlines this summer by
slamming the Air Force's purchase of 50 transport planes that jumped in
price and remained unfit for combat duty five years after delivery of the
first aircraft.
But the findings were old news to the Defense Department's own contract
auditors. Internal Pentagon memos show that the auditors raised many of
the same concerns about the plane, Lockheed Martin Corp.'s C-130J, in the
late 1990s.
Officials say the procurement business requires confidentiality, but
watchdog groups, whistle-blowers and some congressional critics don't buy
it. They say the lack of disclosure at the little-known Defense Contract
Audit Agency can allow millions in cost overruns, waste and fraud to
fester for years before any corrective action is taken.
Story Link
IN THE STATES
"Attached is a request for a FOI (freedom of information). The mayor said
to delay it as long as we can. My question is how much, if any,
information should we give them. Thank you."
-- a fax mistakenly sent to Peoria, Illinois City Hall by East Peoria's
city clerk.
SCHOOL BOARD MUST OPEN EVALS: A judge told Peoria School District 150 on Friday that it must make public
three documents that address why the School Board voted this summer to
oust Superintendent Kay Royster and buy out her contract.
Chief Circuit Judge John Barra found after reviewing the two evaluations
and one letter that there was "nothing personal nor private about those
documents, nor should a superintendent expect that her evaluations and the
explanation for her removal were personal or private."
Earlier this year, the Journal Star sued the district, saying it violated
the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act when it refused to release the
evaluations and the letter after Royster was placed on administrative
leave July 30. The newspaper maintains the documents are covered by the
state's FOI Act and should be released to the public.
Story Link
TOTAL SECRECY SURROUNDS DOCS IN SC: State medical regulators' efforts to suspend a West Columbia alternative
medicine physician were kept secret in a South Carolina court.
Dr. James M. Shortt's practice has been restricted, it was learned during
the Administrative Law Court hearing.
Because of the secrecy involved, it is unclear whether the judge took any
action Monday. The medical board continued to list Shortt as a physician
in good standing with no disciplinary violations.
The hearing was set because the medical board asked the court on Sept. 30
to suspend Shortt, even though the board has the authority to do so.
Judge Carolyn Matthews rejected The State newspaper's request to open the
hearing.
The confidentiality provisions are so strict that the court does not name
the doctor, removing the physician's name and those of the complaining
parties from court documents. The court requires a written Freedom of
Information Act request before it will release copies of a complaint,
court clerk Jana Shealy has said.
Story Link
FOI AT WORK: MAMMOGRAMS OFTEN WRONG: Of the almost 200 facilities inspectors checked in Massachusetts, only six
have no violations. What's more, the records we found reveal failures at
facilities across the country. FDA officials refused an on camera
interview, but told us, "violations cited in inspection reports do not
necessarily rise to the level of seriousness that would put women at
risk." And what happens when inspectors find violations? Though letters like
these - sent to Massachusetts facilities warn of "serious underlying
problems that could compromise the quality of mammography" - penalties are
rare. Facilities promise to make corrections and are often not
re-inspected until the next year.
But patients generally are not notified, and though inspection reports are
public documents, they're difficult to get.
The FDA suggested making a Freedom of Information request. But when we
tested how long that would take, we were told:
"Significant backlog."
"Quite a backlog."
"It depends."
And:
"I have no idea."
Story Link
FOI AT WORK, MILE AFTER MILE: Only eight Oswego County legislators have requested mileage
reimbursement so far this year. In past years, as many as 11 legislators
have filed mileage reimbursement requests.
Among those who still take the entitlement, Legislators Kim Seager and
Carl Anson received the highest reimbursement checks so far this year.
Anson, who represents the area near Williamstown in northern Oswego
County, received $787 in reimbursements to date, county records show.
Ms. Seager, who represents the Phoenix area, has requested and received
$783 in mileage reimbursement for this year. She was also the highest paid
at $1,627 among 11 legislators who took the reimbursement in 2001.
The records, provided under the Freedom of Information Law, show Ms
.Seager requested reimbursement for attending meetings, a press
conference, a ribbon cutting, and an ATV club rescue demonstration.
Story Link
POLITICO SUES POLITICO OVER RECORDS: An Anderson County Council member is suing the county administrator over
access to the county's legal records.
Cindy Wilson, a council member since 2001, says she has been trying to
figure out why Anderson County is spending more than other counties on
legal fees. It's part of an ongoing fight with County Administrator Joey
Preston to open records, she said.
On November 3, Wilson asked a court to force Preston to give her access to
the county's financial records. She's particularly interested in how much
was paid to the McNair Law Firm in Columbia.
Tom Martin, a McNair lawyer who acts as the county's attorney, said the
lawsuit had not been served and would not comment on it.
Martin said the county was billed $182,201 for 1,058 hours of his time
last year.
Wilson's lawsuit is one of many she's filed in efforts to stop a sewer
line project from running through her family's land, Preston said. So far,
it is "over $400,000 we've had to spend defending lawsuits just on the
sewer lines," he said.
Wilson lost those challenges, but the lawsuits sparked delays that cost
the county big development projects, he said.
Preston sued Wilson and others in federal court in September, saying they
invaded his privacy by illegally obtaining information on a car he owns.
The lawsuit says Wilson and others prompted a State Law Enforcement
Division investigation that targeted him.
Story Link
GROUPS FILE GIS BRIEFS: Journalists have used geographic information systems to illustrate the
effects of poverty in Hartford, the inefficient locations of fire stations
in Cleveland, and the racial segregation of schools in Dallas.
Citing those stories and many others, three reporters' groups filed a
friend-of-the-court brief yesterday in state Supreme Court in Hartford,
arguing that Greenwich officials have no right to restrict public access
to the town's GIS database.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Society of
Environmental Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc.,
filed the brief in support of Greenwich resident Stephen Whitaker and the
state's Freedom of Information Commission.
Whitaker and the FOIC are suing Greenwich over the town's refusal to
provide Whitaker, a computer technician and entrepreneur, with electronic
copies of the GIS database.
Town officials have said that releasing the GIS database -- an elaborate
set of high-resolution aerial photographs, statistics, charts and maps
that was created in 1997 at a cost to taxpayers of $3 million -- could
undermine the town's security. Individual photographs, statistics, charts
and maps from the database are available to the public, but the town has
resisted releasing the entire database in electronic format.
Story Link
PAPER WIN FEES IN FOI CASE: A newspaper has been awarded $16,000 in legal fees in its effort to force
the sheriff to release records of disciplinary actions taken against
deputies.
The (Rock Hill, SC) Herald sued the York County Sheriff's Office in 2000
after the sheriff denied two requests under the state's Freedom of
Information Act. The newspaper sought records showing why three deputies
were suspended following allegations of misconduct.
Sheriff Bruce Bryant claimed the records were exempt from public scrutiny.
The records were released after a trial judge and the state Court of
Appeals ruled the sheriff's department violated the FOI law.
"It is unfortunate that the citizens of York County had to foot the bill
for the Sheriff's Office ill-advised decision to withhold information
about misbehaving deputies," said Herald Editor Terry Plumb. "This case
took years to resolve, and it could have been handled in minutes."
Story Link
NO SUNSHINE ON CLEMENCY: Strong public records laws make Florida's government among the most open
in the nation, yet state statutes keep secret even the most basic
information about a system that bans hundreds of thousands of potential
voters from the polls.
Florida's Clemency Board has ruled on more than a half-million civil
rights applications since 1987 but won't allow the public to examine its
voting pattern or track record.
Now, with the state's clemency system drawing national attention, growing
numbers of civil rights advocates and legislators are questioning how the
board can continue to keep nearly all clemency records secret.
Story Link
ARNOLD TAKES CREDIT FOR BOLD MOVE, OPENS SCHEDULE! Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in an interview today that he will make
public his daily schedule, a move that open government advocates say will
provide an unprecedented look at how his administration determines public
policy.
The governor said he will release a complete calendar of his first year
in office, including whom he met with. His comments came just days after
voters approved Proposition 59, which seeks to strengthen open records
laws and follows a formal request by a media law group to make his
calendar public.
Story Link
BUT NOT THAT OPEN....Despite promises to open up government and even his own calendar for
public review, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape California
benefit from millions of dollars in spending by non-profit groups that are
not required to disclose where they get or how they spend their money.
These groups have supported some of Schwarzenegger's most memorable
events, including trade missions to Tokyo and Tel Aviv, bus tours up and
down the state and even the wild July appearance at a shopping mall in
Ontario where he called Democrats ``girlie-men.''
But quirks in state and federal laws governing non-profit groups and
campaign spending, along with the governor's apparent failure to file
required disclosure forms, have made it almost impossible to determine
which of Schwarzenegger's backers paid for those events.
Story Link
PENSION BOARDS DEEMED PUBLIC: The state Freedom of Information Commission has ruled unanimously that
Stamford's police and fire department pension boards are public agencies
and therefore required to open their meetings and records to the public.
The Advocate filed a complaint with the commission in December 2003, after
the boards, which manage the departments' pension contributions, refused
to allow former Advocate reporter Kevin McCallum to attend meetings held
in November and December 2003.
Murphy and Macleod argued, as Leonhardt did, that the city had no
significant control over the boards and that the boards were established
by contract with the city and not through legislation. Furthermore, the
lawyers argued, the city's contributions to the funds become the property
of the police officers and firefighters and is no longer "public" money.
They also said that pension fund management should not be considered a
function traditionally performed by government.
The board, unpersuaded, supplanted Leonhardt's proposal with part of
Pearlman's and voted to approve it. The lawyers for the pension board had
no comment after the hearing.
Story Link
FIRST PROP 59 TEST IN CALIFORNIA: The California Department of Corrections was recently served a lawsuit
alleging violations of the California Pubic Records Act. The action will
be one of the first tests of Proposition 59, approved by voters by an
overwhelming 83.2 percent margin. The state constitutional amendment took
immediate effect on November 3.
Initiated by Sacramento-based investigative journalist Stephen James, the
dispute alleges that the CDC violated the CPRA when it denied his request
for parolee data. The lawsuit (mandamus petition) was filed October 22 in
Alameda County Superior Court by attorney James Chadwick of the Palo Alto
office of Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich. Chadwick helped draft Proposition
59.
In February, James submitted a CPRA request for parolee data to be used in
an article about CDC parolee reintegration programs, recidivism, and
related issues. The CDC denied the request claiming the information was
private under the California Information Practices Act.
Story Link
NON-EXISTENCE AS AN EXEMPTION: The Illinois Department of Public Aid did what it could to block public
light from shining on its records relating to the state's proposed
hospital tax plan.
The Rockford Register Star ultimately obtained the documents from another
source after the department fought the newspaper's attempts to obtain
them. At one point, officials even asserted that the documents did not
exist.
It began in October when the Register Star asked for a copy of the state's
response to questions from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services regarding the state's hospital tax plan. Department spokesman
Mike Claffey indicated that he was familiar with the documents but
instructed the newspaper to file a formal request using the Illinois
Freedom of Information Act.
Eight days later, the department informed the Register Star that it had
invoked its right under the FOIA to take seven additional business days to
process the request. Yet on Nov. 15, 11 business days later, the
department had not disclosed the documents or formally denied the request.
Later that day, staff attorney John Larsen informed the Register Star in
writing that the department did not possess the records.
"In response to your request," he wrote, "the department has no records
regarding any response by the department to questions from the federal
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concerning the state's hospital
waiver application."
This puzzled lawmakers and other officials who were watching the approval
process.
Story Link
FOI AT WORK: For years the taxpayers of Oswego County have been paying tuition bills
for county employees to further their education at various schools, from
prestigious universities to online "virtual" colleges.
Last year taxpayers paid tuition costs for 29 county employees to attend a
variety of colleges, technical schools, and "online universities" ? a
budget line that some legislators were not even aware of.
The preliminary budget for 2005 includes a $65,000 line titled "tuition
payments" with the subheading "tuition reimbursement," an employee benefit
legislature Chairman Russ Johnson said is a part of the collective
bargaining agreements made between department heads and the unions
representing the county's 1,100 workers.
Under the Freedom of Information Law, The Valley News requested the
information from the tuition-payment budget line. Clerk of the Legislature
Ted Jerrett provided the 2003 tuition payments; not all the 2004 bills had
been paid as of this month.
For 2003, county taxpayers provided a total of $60,222.50 in employee
tuition expenses, according to the county documents.
Story Link
FOI AT WORK: SCHOOL OFFICIALS 'LESS THAN HONEST': The breach of security at Eastern High School on Sept. 17, which
resulted in the life-threatening beating of a student by a non-student,
was worse than school officials disclosed.
A Sept. 21 letter to students and parents by Eastern Principal Pamela
Diggs referred to only one person being involved in the assault, whom she
called an "outside intruder."
But school documents show that the intruder did not enter the school
alone. The documents say he was accompanied by another non-student as well
as an Eastern student. The student was suspended the day before the
principal's letter was dated. He was ultimately expelled because he "aided
and abetted two non-students in entering Eastern for the purpose of
assaulting an Eastern student."
City Pulse obtained the documents under the state Freedom of Information
Act.
The Lansing police detective investigating the case, James Gill, said that
Diggs' letter to parents and students was "not accurate to the facts we
had at the time.
"The district has been less than honest on this incident all along," Gill
said.
The beating was one of two incidents at Eastern this fall that have called
security at the school into question. An Eastern student has been arrested
and charged with raping another student in the hallway while most students
were outside waiting for buses.
Story Link
IS COP'S FILE A SECRET? Does the public have the right to know if a police officer has been
disciplined for alcohol-related offenses?
A judge will wrestle with that question -- as well as whether fellow
officers are obligated to report an officer's suspected drinking problem
-- in a Macomb County circuit courtroom next month.
On Dec. 13, Judge Deborah Servitto will hear a request from a police
union to deny the release of Sterling Heights police investigation
documents of one officer's alleged alcohol abuse.
In its lawsuit filed last week, the Michigan Association of Police, the
union that represents the Sterling Heights officers, argues that federal
privacy rules prevent disclosure of the documents. Also, "the specific
officer for whom records are sought has been in treatment for a condition
covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act," the union adds in its
suit.
Story Link
TENNESSEE'S FIRST AUDIT: If you need an incident report from the Crockett County Sheriff's
Department in West Tennessee, it's best if you have a familiar face,
especially if the sheriff's not around.
At the Greene County Sheriff's Department in East Tennessee, getting the
document will take a court order. Meanwhile, you might hear ''homeland
security'' as a reason to deny your records request at the Cannon County
Sheriff's Department in Middle Tennessee.
Story Link
AN AUDIT IN NEW YORK: One out of every five New York state agencies is ignoring the law that
requires them to disclose public information in a timely fashion,
according to a state watchdog group's report released Wednesday.
The New York Public Interest Research Group sent Freedom of Information
Law requests to 142 state agencies and authorities, and found 20 percent
did not respond within two weeks -- well past the five days required for
response under state law. The ones that did respond charged up to $6,000
to provide information that they are required to make available under
state law.
Story Link
THE 'DELETE' KEY IS GETTING A WORKOUT: Arkansas has a Freedom of Information law that gives citizens the right
to inspect public records. The law's effectiveness is severely limited by
the lack of a law requiring government agencies to retain records so they
can be inspected.
David Ivers of Little Rock, a lawyer and member of a group trying to draft
a records-retention law, has gone so far as to say, in a letter to state
Rep. Jodie Mahony of El Dorado, that "the absence of a records retention
requirement in the law has made the Freedom of Information Act virtually
useless now that everything is in electronic format and state agency
officials, including top officials at the Department of Human Services,
routinely and quickly delete their electronic mail and keep no paper
copies. That makes it virtually impossible for the many persons and
entities regulated by DHS and various other agencies to find out how
decisions that affect them are being made."
Story Link
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
THE VELVET GLOVE, UNCOVERED: Celebrating the 15th anniversary of 1989's Velvet Revolution, former
Czech dissident-turned-President Václav Havel has chosen a set of U.S.
State Department cables -- obtained under the Freedom of Information Act
by the Washington, D.C.-based National Security Archive -- for the first
volume in the Václav Havel Library. The volume, entitled
Prague-Washington-Prague: Reports from the United States Embassy in
Czechoslovakia, November-December 1989, is edited by Vilém Precan, a
distinguished Czech historian, and includes the documents in both English
and Czech transcription. Several originals are posted today on the
National Security Archive website.
The documents constitute the daily and at times virtually minute-by-minute
reporting from the Embassy of what it termed the "quiet revolution"
unfolding in the country. Today in Prague, students are reenacting the
march that brought police repression, public revulsion and the beginning
of the end for the Czechoslovak communist regime.
For more information, and to read selected documents from the new volume,
please follow the link below:
Story Link
ON THE OP-ED PAGES: WHAT SOME ARE SAYING ABOUT OPEN GOVERNMENT
Nick Schwellenbach, a fellow at the Project on Government Oversight, on
intelligence reform: Like Oedipus, Congress is gouging out its own eyes rendering itself
blind. The intelligence reorganization being contemplated by Congress has
aspects that could eviscerate public and legislative access to
information. This would frustrate oversight - maiming the ability of
Congress and the public to improve intelligence when needed - and open the
door to abuse.
Story Link
WANT TO SUBSCRIBE?
News tips? Hot FOI links for us to use? Send them to the FOI Center at foi@missouri.edu
Additional information on the FOI Center can be found at the Center's website.
The FOI Center is a part of the Missouri School of Journalism.
Send comments or inquiries to: foi@missouri.edu Or call: (573) 882-4856
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