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The Central Intelligence Agency can selectively disclose classified information to reporters while withholding that very same information from a requester under the Freedom of Information Act, a federal court ruled last month. The ruling came in a FOIA lawsuit brought by reporter Adam Johnson who sought a copy of emails sent to reporters Siobhan Gorman of the Wall Street Journal, David Ignatius of the Washington Post, and Scott Shane of the New York Times that the CIA said were classified and exempt from disclosure. “The Director of Central Intelligence is free to disclose classified information about CIA sources and methods selectively, if he concludes that it is necessary to do so in order to protect those intelligence sources and methods, and no court can second guess his decision,” wrote Chief Judge Colleen J. McMahon of the Southern District of New York in a decision in favor of the CIA that was released last week with minor redactions.
Secrecy News
The West Virginia Supreme Court paid $227,541 to the Internal Revenue Service as a result of an audit that lasted nearly a year. The payment was calculated based on tax withholding the Court should have made. Although spending decisions by Supreme Court Justices have been under public scrutiny for months, none of the justices were among those affected by the audit’s findings. The Supreme Court released a summary of the IRS audit to MetroNews on Friday afternoon. The court had initially declined a request to release the audit, saying it isn’t a public document. Then, after receiving a Freedom of Information Request from MetroNews, the Court released a summary and a redacted resolution document from the audit. “We believe that these documents are confidential and exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act,” the Court wrote. “First, they contain personal tax information regarding individual employees of the Court and those employees are entitled to their privacy. Moreover, under federal and state laws, the tax return documents are confidential. “However, in the interest of transparency, the Court makes this statement and discloses documents relating to the IRS audit. It should be emphasized that none of the employees listed in the Proposed Notice of Adjustment documents committed any wrongdoing and none of the employees listed are Justices.”
Metro News
It has grown steadily over many decades with little public attention. Through countless arrests and street stops, Chicago police officers have compiled a database of street gang members that now totals a staggering 128,000 names -- and that doesn't even include juveniles. But now critics in Chicago are joining a nationwide chorus questioning the value and fairness of these massive lists of gang members, saying they are often inaccurate, outdated and racially skewed. Advocates complain there's no way to know if you are in the database or how to get off the list, yet your alleged gang membership is shared with other law enforcement agencies and can hurt you if you pick up a charge -- with potentially heftier bail amounts or sentences. According to records released to the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request, Chicago police records show 128,000 people listed as gang members. But even that massive number is likely far off the mark because the Police Department, citing privacy law, declined to release information on juveniles -- a key component of gangs.
Governing
Superman can sleep soundly tonight. The FBI, which is apparently aware of his secret identity, has decided to keep things under wraps, acknowledging the Kryptonian’s right to privacy ultimately outweighs the public’s need-to-know. Seriously. Proving the old FBI proverb, “when in doubt, cross it out,” still permeates the bureau’s hallowed halls, the agency decided to redact the names of reporters from The Daily Planet—the fictional newspaper of record for the City of Metropolis in the DC universe—in records disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The records, which pertain to the Church of Scientology, contain the names of fictional DC comic book characters, which the FBI withheld citing two exemptions to the federal FOIA statute. The exemptions allow federal agencies to withhold information from the public if they believe disclosing it would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” (For some reason, ace Planet photojournalist Jimmy Olsen’s name was not redacted.)
Gizmodo
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