Slashdot Mirror
FBI Wants To Limit Document Searches
An anonymous reader writes "In what seems to be in opposition to the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI is seeking to limit document searches. It seems since now that a lot of documents are in electronic form, searching them is much easier than before, and for that reason the FBI is taking this action."
The beuraucratic culture at FBI headquarters and regional
offices are to blame for this and many other woes. I know
a retired field agent that was in counter-intel and he has
nothing good to say about agency management.
I don't think this is so much an overt effort to hide any
one particular document(s) but just a widely prevalent
'we don't give a damn what you want'. Laziness and CYA
mentality are to blame.
But kneejerk slashdot sensationalism as usual.
And, the statement "It seems since now that a lot of documents are in electronic form, searching them is much easier than before, and for that reason the FBI is taking this action," is the diametric opposite of what is actually happening.
The story is that an individual made an FOIA request to the FBI for some specific information.
The FBI claimed that no such information was available.
The claimant found out in the meantime that such information WAS available, and, as such, requested a court order the FBI to provide it.
The FBI is arguing that its search was reasonable within department regulations and guidelines, and that it cannot and should not be expected to always undercover every single possible document. It's precisely BECAUSE documents are indexed electronically that is creating the difficulty: the FBI is claiming, essentially, that it can't predict every possibly keyword it should associate with a document for search purposes, and therefore shouldn't be held accountable if it misses documents during a good-faith search.
Whether or not the FBI was intentionally hiding OKBOMB memos, etc., is another story altogether.