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Getting Your Government Files Via the FOIA
An anonymous reader writes "The Bad Guys blog is marking America's third annual Sunshine Week: 'a national effort to cast light onto the growing recesses of government secrecy'. US News is offering up the latest information on the Freedom of Information Act, with links to filing FOI requests to US states, the federal government, and 67 other countries. 'Often the records can be obtained by simply asking for them, but since 9/11, federal agencies have grown increasingly stubborn about what they release. A just-released survey by the National Security Archive found that only 1 in 5 federal agencies meets congressionally mandated requirements for online information access. There's hope, though: A new bill is making its way through the House of Representatives, with bipartisan backing, that would strengthen the FOIA, one of a host of open government measures being looked at by the new Congress.'"
Call it blatant link-whoring if you'd like, but I figured I'd provide a pointer to some resources on Sunshine Week my newspaper, a small Rhode Island Daily, put together - located here. Our stories this year weren't really in-depth analyses, just overviews and features of the current FOI climate in our area, but we hope they were interesting nonetheless.
Prison!? That is too harsh, just make it a stiff fine, but payable to the person wrongly reported or surveiled.
There have been a few supreme court cases stating that an officer working for the executive branch cannot be charged with crimes relating to their job under most circumstances. Remember how hard it was to bust those cops in the Rondey King beating? Oh wait, they got away free.
Invasion of privacy and searching and seizing without warrants is usually punishable by suspension. A cop will never worry about going to jail unless they inflict physical harm upon somebody else.
Something that should warm your heart even more: According to the Supreme Court, cops are NOT required to protect you. Ever.
They can watch you be shot, stabbed, raped, or anything else while doing nothing. They cannot be charged or even disciplined for inaction. Moreover, even if ordered to "serve and protect" directly, the worst that can happen if they refuse is.. you guessed it, suspension. It's not the military, it's just one step up from an armed security guard.
That's one of the many reasons I own a gun.
Latewire
I would suggest that using FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) to get "your government files" from the Federal government is not the way to go. FOIA only applies to information that is public--e.g., how many civilian employees does the Energy Department have or what is the budget for paper clips in the division of widget design. FOIA does not apply to most personal information. You are much more likely to get information about yourself which is maintained by the Federal government by filing a request under the Privacy Act. There are many exceptions to what has to be disclosed under the Privacy Act; but, as a former Federal FOIA & Privacy Act officer, let me tell you that there are many more exceptions under FOIA--one of them being information whose disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. If you really want to file under FOIA, then include mention of the Privacy Act too or you may be surprised how little information get.
Posting AC because of accont problems.
I was a former Public Affairs rep. for the USG. Left when I saw what a total crapfest it was, but learnded the following - the Dept. of Defense (I assume others, but DoD for sure) is paranoically afraid of few things, but one of them is the Congressional Inquiry, or 'CONGREN'. A FOIA request has to be very specific and can take a long time to process even if you ask for exactly what you want (which you may not even know - they want document numbers in some cases, which would be tough to get, as there is no public 'catalog'). A CONGREN is an inquiry from your friendly neighborhood Congressperson, who sends a nice form letter to whomever (base commander is the one we used to see a lot) requesting information or documentation on a particular matter.
For example, if poor Johnny is being picked on by his drill instuctor in boot camp, mommy can have Congressman Smith send a CONGREN requesting information about why Johnny has been to sick bay 4 times in two weeks. The CONGREN goes to the base commander, who gives it to the battalion commander, who gives it to the company commander, who gives it to the platoon commander who goes to the drill instructor for information and then forwards it back up the chain to the base commander, who sends it off to the Congressman, cc-ing the mommy (usually). Total time: 8 days from receipt to response (see below - time is a legal matter).
Congresspeople, say what you like, LOVE to do 'constituent service' by sending these for people in their districts. They don't HAVE TO, but they do - ask nicely, remind them you vote, be very specific about what you want.
Here's the kicker - a CONGREN has to (by Federal law!) spend no more than 24 hours at a given level of command. So, if you send one to the Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he has one day for each level of command to get you an answer - so, it might take a week or two, but if you narrow it down enough, you should get an answer dated no later than a week after it is received.
I have no idea if this works for the FBI. CIA, etc., but it can't hurt...
This post will self-destruct in ten seconds. Good luck.