FOIA Foibles and Brazilian Bribes
Here’s What You Need to Know
According to recent analysis of government data conducted by the Associated Press: “The Obama administration set a record for the number of times its federal employees have disappointed citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldn’t find a single page requested under the Freedom of Information Act.” The study found that in more than one in six cases where a FOIA request is made, government officials claimed no files were available and 77 percent of requests either received censored files or nothing at all.
So does this mean the federal government truly finds nothing at all in every instance? Hardly.
- A Matter of Diligence: As the Associated Press notes, it’s “impossible to know whether more requests last year involved non-existent files or whether federal workers were searching less than diligently before giving up to consider a case closed.” Vice News investigative reporter Jason Leopold said, “It seems like [the government is] doing the minimal amount of work they need to do.”
- FOIA Now, Lawsuit Later: When fulfilling FOIA requests, federal employees are required to make a “reasonable search” which leaves much of the process open to interpretation. There are instances where after claiming to find no public records, the federal government will end up finding thousands of pages of documents only after expensive federal lawsuits are filed.
- Research Skills Lacking: The federal government rarely provides an explanation of how they searched for records when they claim can’t find them. Kel McLanahan, a transparency and national security lawyer in Washington, has said, “They do really crappy searches.”
- The $$$ Excuse: FOIA requests can be effectively denied when agencies respond by saying that it would be too expensive. In a recent (albeit extreme) example, the Department of Defense told an Oregon software developer their request would require government employees to devote 15 million labor hours and cost at least $660 million.
Why does this matter? Open records requests are how the American public stays informed about the internal workings of their government. Candidates for higher office who have spent the bulk of their careers in government service, likeHillary Clinton and Ted Cruz, can be kept honest by using open records requests to check that their previous statements and actions match their campaign claims. So foranyone interested in government transparency, FOIA request responsiveness is one of the most important metrics to consider.
Subscribe to Receive Insights
"*" indicates required fields
News You Can Use
WHAT POLITICAL PRISONERS?
The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen asks, “Why did President Obama go to Cuba? … Obama’s visit to Havana does nothing to help the Cuban people…It is a rotten dictatorship, an abuser of human rights, and there was no need for Obama to go there.” Cohen’s concerns were on fully display when, at a press conference with President Obama, Cuban Dictator Raul Castro “bristled” when asked about political prisoners by CNN’s Jim Acosta, insisting there were none. Sadly, just before Obama’s arrival, video emerged of the Women in White, a group of non-violent political dissidents, being beaten and round up by Castro’s thugs.
YOU SAID WHAT?
University researchers have developed a new Face2Face system that maps a person’s facial expressions and movements onto an individual in an existing video in real time. As Greg Kumparak of Tech Crunch writes: “Technology like this will serve to make video less inherently believable. The video’s use of politicians as the editing target is pretty self-aware. In that regard, political hoaxes will hit a lot harder when it’s a video instead of a [photo]shopped picture being forwarded around.”
WHO ARE THE TRUMP SUPPORTERS?
“Do people gravitate to candidates who share their political views, or do they adopt the political views of the candidates they already back for other reasons?” asks Dan Hopkins, writing for FiveThirtyEight. Using a panel survey in place since 2007, Hopkins looks at what Trump supporters doing before Trump came on the scene. In 2012, Trump supporters looked a lot like Rubio and Cruz supporters on economic issues. But, on social issues, Trump supporters were more like Clinton supporters. Still, Trump’s signature issues of trade and immigration, his supporters “were far less sanguine about NAFTA in late 2007 than Cruz or Rubio backers” and “are markedly less likely to have favored a pathway to citizenship in 2012.”
Related Posts:
THE BRITISH POP TAX
The Wall Street Journal reports, “U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne unveiled a major shake-up of Britain’s corporate-tax regime, announcing plans to cut the main rate companies pay to the lowest in the Group of 20 major economies and adding a new levy on makers of sugary drinks.” Osborne believes these measures will allow him to close the nation’s deficit by 2020, a goal that may influence the June 23 referendum on whether the U.K. should stay in the European Union. While Brexit supporters claim that EU membership stifles British industry, “Mr. Osborne and his close political ally Prime Minister David Cameron want Britain to continue its membership, saying that the trade, investment and jobs that flow from being part of the EU are critical to the U.K. economy.”
“YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!”
After last year’s Chinese stock market crash, China’s central bank sent off a request to the U.S. Federal Reserve with the subject line: “Your urgent assistance is greatly appreciated!” asking for the Fed to share its playbook for dealing with Wall Street’s 1987 crash. Within hours, a senior Fed official had responded with a 259-word summary of the Fed’s strategy to calm the markets after the S&P 500 dropped 20 percent on October 19, 1987, along with relevant transcripts and statements. It is unclear what role the counsel played in Beijing’s response to their market troubles, but the exchange clearly shows that past economic disruptions can offer lessons for present and future economic stability.
BRAZILIAN BRIBES
Protests erupted in Brazil last Wednesday after a recorded phone call revealed that President Dilma Rousseff would nominate her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be her chief of staff to spare Lula from prosecution in criminal court on corruption charges (cabinet ministers can only be tried before the Supreme Court). Detailing the corruption scandal, the Daily Mail reports, “Lula vigorously denies involvement in the scandal, in which investigators say construction companies conspired with Petrobras executives to overbill the oil giant to the tune of $2 billion, paying huge bribes to politicians and parties along the way.” The release of the recordings caused an uproar in Brazil’s Congress as well as protests in the streets with calls for President Rousseff’s resignation.
THIS MESSAGE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT
Lawmakers in San Francisco are reportedly using the self-destructing messaging app, Telegram, to evade public records laws. The app, which allows users to set messages to self-destruct after a certain period of time, became famous after it was allegedly used by members of ISIS to promote propaganda messages. A government staffer reported that they are encouraged to use the app as a way of bypassing laws that consider texts and emails to be part of the public record, and several members of San Francisco’s City Council are reportedly using the app. Maybe San Francisco elected officials want government communications so transparent, you can’t even see them.
LABOR AND LACE
Calais, northern France was once home to over 300 lace factories, but now serves as home to just two as competition from cheaper Asian rivals has crippled the industry. One of the two remaining factories, Desseilles Laces, laid off staff in 2013 to save money and stay in business, but may now have to shutter its factory permanently after French courts ruled they must rehire five workers laid off in 2013, and pay two-and-a-half years of salary in arrears. French lawmakers have pressed for labor reforms to avoid situations like Desseilles Laces, but socialist politicians and labor unions have thus far blocked meaningful reform measures.
Mark Your Calendars
Saturday, March 26: Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington Democratic Caucuses
Tuesday, April 5: Wisconsin Primary
Saturday, April 9: Wyoming Caucus (D)
Subscribe here to get TL;DR in you inbox each week.