Re: Cypherpunks FOIA request

[Greg Broiles <gbroiles@netbox.com>]

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At 08:22 AM 2/5/97 -0800, Peter Hendrickson wrote:
>At 12:40 AM 2/5/1997, Greg Broiles wrote:
>> To date, I have received three responses: one from the SF office of the
FBI,
>> indicating that they have no records responsive to my request; one from
the
>> NSA, indicating that they are processing my request, and one from the
Secret
>> Service, asking for a copy of my signature. (I've got no clue why they
want
>> that; unless I screwed up, I believe my initial request was signed.)
>
>Have these organizations been known to lie?  What penalties does
>the organization or its employees face when they do so?  Have these
>penalties ever been applied?

Yes, various law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies have been
willing to lie to the American public (and the world at large) from time to
time :) Pragmatically, the only penalty that the organization(s) and
individuals face is political, e.g., cuts in funding or loss of employment
due to public humiliation/embarrassment.

>Also, which exceptions in the FOIA law would allow them to respond
>dishonestly?

They are allowed to respond that "no records exist" even if records do exist,
where:

(1)	The records relate to an active criminal investigation, the subject of
the investigation is unaware of the investigation, and the disclosure of the
existence of records would likely disrupt law enforcement activity; (5 USC
552 (c)(1))

(2)	The records relate to a confidential informant, and the disclosure of the
existence of the records would tend to reveal the identity of the informant
(e.g., I suspect Joe Blow is an informant, so I make a FOIA request for
information gained from confidential informant Joe Blow; even if I receive
only blacked-out pages, the fact that the records exist tells me something
about Joe) (5 USC 552 (c)(2))

(3)	The records are classified, held by the FBI, and pertain to intelligence,
counterintelligence, or international terrorism. (5 USC 552 (c)(3))

They may also withhold information in other circumstances, but are not
otherwise allowed to say that "no records exist".

(There's something surreal about presuming careful attention to tiny legal
details from organizations which perpetrated debacles like COINTELPRO, Waco,
Ruby Ridge, perjury/manufacturing evidence in the FBI lab, etc. But sometimes
something interesting is released, e.g.,
<http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/Scowcroft.gif>.)


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--
Greg Broiles                | US crypto export control policy in a nutshell:
gbroiles@netbox.com         | 
http://www.io.com/~gbroiles | Export jobs, not crypto.
                            |