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Category Archives: E-Records

Memo in CREST shows Agency considered employing semantics to get around ban on destroying damaging material

Muckrock report and documents: “Declassified records recently unearthed in CREST show the CIA waffled on a promise to obey the law in destroying records of Agency’s illegal activities and wrongdoing In 1976, Congresswoman Bella Abzug wrote to CIA Director George H.W. Bush about the existing moratorium on the destruction of CIA files. As the Chairwoman… Continue Reading

Three out of Five Federal Agencies Flout New FOIA Law

National Security Archive: “Three out of five of all federal agencies are flouting the new law that improved the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and required them to update their FOIA regulations, according to the new National Security Archive FOIA Audit released today to celebrate Sunshine Week. The National Security Archive Audit found that only… Continue Reading

New Watchdog Demands DOJ Investigation of Records Law Violations

Investigators Will Use Public Records and Legal Challenges to Uncover Misconduct Across Executive Branch Agencies “… American Oversight is led by experienced litigator Austin Evers who will serve as Executive Director and ethics expert Melanie Sloan who will serve as Senior Advisor. Evers and Sloan will be supported by an in-house litigation team and outside… Continue Reading

Perspective on WikiLeaks CIA Cache

The New York Times – The Truth About the WikiLeaks C.I.A. Cache – “On Tuesday morning [March 7, 2017] WikiLeaks released an enormous cache of documents that it claimed detailed “C.I.A. hacking tools.” Immediately afterward, it posted two startling tweets asserting that “C.I.A. hacker malware” posed a threat to journalists and others who require secure… Continue Reading

Chaffetz, Cummings Urge Compliance with Federal Recordkeeping Laws

Letter to White House and agencies requests information on procedures for proper preservation – “House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) sent a letter to the White House and 55 federal agencies requesting information on how each entity is complying with the Presidential Records Act (PRA) and… Continue Reading

The Other Animal-Welfare Documents APHIS Deleted

Follow up to previous postings, Animal welfare information wiped from USDA website and Some animal welfare data removed from USDA site is restored – via AltGov2 (kudos and thanks to Russ Kick and note that AltGov 2 is another new website project by Russ) “They did it again. At the beginning of February, the USDA’s… Continue Reading

GPO and LC release digital version of bound Congressional Record from 1971-1980

“The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) partners with the Library of Congress to release the digital version of the bound Congressional Record from 1971-1980 on GPO’s govinfo. This release covers debates and proceedings of the 92nd thru the 96th Congresses. This era of Congress covers historical topics such as: The Administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon,… Continue Reading

WikiLeaks posts redacted files purported to be hacked from CIA

Washington Post – WikiLeaks posts files it says are from the CIA’s computer hacking arsenal – “The anti-secrecy organization said the trove exceeded in scale and significance the massive collection of National Security Agency documents exposed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. A statement from WikiLeaks indicated that it planned to post nearly 9,000… Continue Reading

Comey Asks Justice Dept. to Reject Trump’s Wiretapping Claim

New York Times – F.B.I. Chief Urges Justice Dept. to Reject Wiretap Claim – “The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones, senior American officials said on Sunday. Mr. Comey has argued that the… Continue Reading

Pence used personal email for state business – and was hacked

Indy Star – Pence used personal email for state business – and was hacked – “Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues. Emails released to IndyStar in response to a public records request show Pence… Continue Reading