SHAFR Executive Director @rimmerma.bsky.social quoted in this piece about the recent disappearance of FRUS records.

Collectors edition looking good!

Getting to the bottom of why the State Department quietly deleted 15 pages of history on the risk of inadvertent nuclear war. Free link below.

😂

According to author @foianate.bsky.social, the State Department told him in July it had deleted the documents after he used the Freedom of Information Act (and then sued the CIA) to obtain a copy of a one key record that had been transcribed but not reproduced in the 2021 FRUS volume.

Nothing to see here (literally!). Just the US State Department secretly deleting 15 pages of declassified official documents published in 2021 in the Foreign Relations of the United States series about a 1983 NATO nuclear weapons exercise that unexpectedly increased the risk of a nuclear war.

My friend @foianate.bsky.social with a must-read story about how the State Dept scrubbed an online historical study (FRUS) of key records about the 1983 Able Archer nuclear scare after he sued the CIA for its records on the near-disaster.

State Department Deletes Key Historic Records on risk of inadvertent nuclear war, Blames FOIA Requester (me😬). Free link below:

🚨 New DC FOIA exemption snuck into draft DC budget!🚨

FOIA delays aren’t always about funding — agencies often spend resources reviewing exemptions they’re not even required to. Watch @washingtonpost.com’s @foianate.bsky.social explain how to get around these hurdles and effectively access public records

I'm selfishly really looking forward to today's FOIA panel! I have tons of questions lined-up for @foianate.bsky.social, @mirandaspivack.bsky.social, and @morisy.bsky.social, and know I'll learn a lot from our conversation. If you haven't already RSVP'd, please join @freedom.press at 1 eastern!

🔔 Join us tomorrow for a conversation about using public records to push back on government secrecy, featuring @foianate.bsky.social, @morisy.bsky.social, @mirandaspivack.bsky.social, and FPF's Lauren Harper. 🕒 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT RSVP: freedom.press/fight-gov-se...

🔔 Join us tomorrow for a conversation about using public records to push back on government secrecy, featuring @foianate.bsky.social, @morisy.bsky.social, @mirandaspivack.bsky.social, and FPF's Lauren Harper. 🕒 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT RSVP: freedom.press/fight-gov-se...

On Tuesday, June 24, at 1 PM ET, @morisy.bsky.social will be joining @freedom.press’ Lauren Harper as well as @foianate.bsky.social and @mirandaspivack.bsky.social to talk about using public records to fight government secrecy. zoom.us/webinar/regi...

🔔 Join us for a conversation about using public records to push back on government secrecy, featuring @foianate.bsky.social, @morisy.bsky.social, @mirandaspivack.bsky.social, and FPF's Lauren Harper. 🗓️ June 24, 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT RSVP: freedom.press/fight-gov-se...

sometimes a headline is all you need to know that @foianate.bsky.social got some docs

Fine, harrowing work by Jessica Contrera, Jenn Abelson, @jdharden.bsky.social, Carolyn Van Houten, @byhayden.bsky.social, @foianate.bsky.social and Lynda Robinson ethicsandjournalism.org/2025/04/11/a...

If only Jeffrey Goldberg read my Revealing Records column!! If he had, maybe he would have provided the classified information to the Information Security Oversight Office, rather than publish it! wapo.st/3FK3jJq

Through FOIA (cc @foianate.bsky.social), I obtained the IRS memo to the Trump transition team that warned the administration this exact thing would happen if it tore up the IRS. And now it is happening. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Happy Sunshine Week!!

"Always request records, not 'information.' Describe the record as specifically as possible including date created, title, and custodian of the records." @foianate.bsky.social shares important #FOIA tips in honor of #SunshineWeek. www.pressclubinstitute.org/2025/03/20/f...

The Department of Justice Office of Information Policy which is supposed to ensure that all federal agencies comply with FOIA *itself* takes an average of 650 days to process "complex" FOIa requests, the third longest of any agency. Not great!

🚨🚨I just beat Elden Ring🚨🚨

Radically improved transparency could me realizing that DOJ OIP is the failing FOIA watchdog/beat cop and forcing them to crack the whip so other agencies greatly improve the speed and amount of info released. Not happening. www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...

Not sure AI is quite ready for prime time.

Interesting FOIA stat from the Department of State...

FOIA's Exemption 5 means that the public doesn't have the right to see State's summary what the Trump-Ukraine meeting was about.😃 I'll appeal.

Prediction: 100 percent of the records identified by the JFK Assassination Records Review Board will not be released unredacted within 4 years.

"ISOO" and "Information Security Oversight Office" spotted on A2 of The Post today.

👎👎

FOIA release to Wash Post shows classified dox were in the public papers of SecStates Acheson Kissinger, and Albright. Senators Muskie, Stevens, Specter, Lautenberg, Lugar, Dole, and Leahy. Reps, ambassadors, and others too. Should they be sent back to the vault? Probably not.

Excellent @foianate.bsky.social piece on what those of us in the field have known for years. But it's really cool to see it quantified like this. This will be a reading assignment in my class next year.

NEW Revealing Records column: A document released under FOIA catalogs 100 instances of classified information "in the wild." Most were harmless. Classifiers joke "you could easily classify the ham sandwich.” Free link: wapo.st/3BUCFvS

In response to my FOIA request, Obama Library released a few records about the 2009 "Beer Summit" between Henry Luis Gates, Sgt. James Crowley, Obama and Biden in 2009.

Quite the feeling to be watching @Jeopardy and see a document I got released featured on its "FOIA and Find Out" category!!!

One of the CIA’s towering Cold War espionage officers, Burton Gerber, has died at 91. [gift link] wapo.st/4fFXE33

Merry Christmas! Always appeal!

Wow. Looks like an incredible FOIA win and resource from @reclaimtherecords.org . Wow. mailchi.mp/reclaimthere... Full BIRLS vet database now online with easy click-to-FOIA feature. Wow.

CIA Behavior Control Experiments Focus of New Scholarly Collection nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

Spotted in Politico...

FOIA reveals U.S. taxpayers are paying for $1,216.24 specialty toilet brushes on a seized Russian yacht. (And $30 million in other expenses.) The government did not provide these records until Washington Post sued for them.

Saw this headline and immediately knew @foianate.bsky.social and public records helped with the investigation

Has been sad watching these important orgs die.

Saw Boundary Stone NW 8 today. It's in a private driveway roundabout with no protective iron casing, for some reason. Hit up Parkway Deli after.

Great FOIA work by @jacobbogage.bsky.social .

Going to try and post over here most of the time as the owner of this site didn't say FOIA shouldn't exist. 🤙