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FOIANate

@foianate.bsky.social
6.8K followers 940 following 114 posts

FOIA Director at Washington Post. Lawyer. Fellow at @NSArchive. Author of Revealing Records column. Wrote book on 1983 Able Archer Nuclear War Scare.

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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Free link: wapo.st/4rAfWdM
wapo.st
Analysis | The government is enlisting AI to help decide what public records you get to see
The Department of Homeland Security says it will use the technology to “revolutionize” how the agency handles redactions.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Do you trust AI to redact FOIA requests? New Revealing Records column below.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
FOIA Shot. FOIA Chaser.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
HOWEVER, emails sent "outside" the DC government can't be hidden by the deliberative process privilege... So we get to see what Beverly Perry wrote to White House officials. --If we requested these under federal FOIA we would not get them, as the White House is exempt.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Got some emails to and from Mayor Bowser on the RFK stadium deal. Alas, the city cites the deliberative process privilege (😡)to withhold almost all. You can see the players involved though. DC Council should really pass legislation to roll back this exemption.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
wapo.st/4dMAs5N
wapo.st
Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them
Records show that Trump's first administration opted not to save DMs in its library archives, raising questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The Trump Presidential Library says it can't find any DMs sent by the president who tweeted more than 25,000 times. His administration opted not to enable the setting which would have preserved them. Free link below.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Trump tweeted 25,000 times during his first term. The Trump Presidential Library says it has no record of any Direct Messages he sent. Free link: wapo.st/4dMAs5N
washingtonpost.com
Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them
Records show that Trump's first administration opted not to save DMs in its library archives, raising questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Story that gave me idea to file yellowhammernews.com/britt-marsha...
yellowhammernews.com
Britt: Marshals discouraged from arresting protesters outside justices' homes
Yesterday, Senator Katie Britt questioned US Attorney General Merrick Garland about the Department of Justice's role in protecting the homes of US Supreme Court justices during protests related to the...
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Full release: drive.google.com/file/d/1JN6t...
drive.google.com
2023-USMS-000284 Final Response 5-28-26.pdf
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Actual last slide from a US Marshals Service powerpoint used to train and prepare the Marshals on how to protect the homes of Supreme Court justices. Released in response to a FOIA I filed.
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Mike Elk @mikeelk.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Payday lost a major grant worth 1/3 of our budget as a result of Trump's cut to non-profits. Can u donate today to keep Payday alive after 10 years & 1,500 articles published? paydayreport.com/payday-to-lo...
paydayreport.com
Payday to Lose Grant Worth ⅓ of Our Budget Due to Trump Cuts
Payday Report now offering media trainings to unions and community groups interested in building their own independent media.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Free link: wapo.st/41JuziL
wapo.st
D.C. police sought to arrest Rep. Cory Mills after assault call, records show
A woman called 911 to report that the Florida congressman had assaulted her, then recanted the story after appearing to talk to Mills, body-camera footage shows.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Power of DC FOIA.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Dox here: drive.google.com/file/d/1S2jr...
drive.google.com
20-F-0464 Releasable (1).pdf
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
DOD also denied my request for Expedited Processing. Would have been nice to know in near real time if something one agency claimed publicly was "non-concurred" to by another agency. Alas. Wonder what the FOIA releases in 7 years will reveal about this era's events.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
It may be that the non-concurrence was because Hook misstated the figure as 608 rather than 603. But we can't be certain because DOD did not release (or apparently even search for) the underlying report this figure came from, which I requested. I'll appeal.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
In April, 2019, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook to publicly stated that "Iran is responsible for the deaths of at least 608 American service members" to justify the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. We didn't know it at the time, but DOD "non-concurred."
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The Post won a precedent-setting, Maryland public records lawsuit and appeal that will make it easier for all to get police disciplinary records. 👍👍 Free link: wapo.st/4em0mh8
wapo.st
Public has right to officer names in police use-of-force records, Md. court rules
The Appellate Court of Maryland ruled that Anton’s Law, the state’s historic police transparency measure, requires law enforcement agencies to release the names of officers who use physical force agai...
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Bill Geerhart @conelrad6401240.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
@foianate.bsky.social featured in the Able Archer segment of S2:E1 of SECRETS DECLASSIFIED WITH DAVID DUCHOVNY.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
DOD talking points on the film The Day After. Via FOIA.
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Michael Evans @colombiadocs.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
It looks like Iran is applying lessons learned during the "rigged" Millennium Challenge war game. @foianate.bsky.social nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/2024-11...
nsarchive.gwu.edu
“Rigged” War Game Exposed U.S. Vulnerability to Low-Tech Warfare
Washington, D.C., November 1, 2024 - A recently declassified “after-action” report from a 2002 war game “triggered internal warnings that the U.S. military was vulnerable to low-tech warfare,” accordi...
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
From their Sunshine Week announcement (which also claims "This is the most transparent Department of Justice in our nation’s history" ) surejan.gif www.justice.gov/oip/blog/jus...
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
What FOIA requesters are DOJ OIP talking about here? Me?
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Took DOD more than 15 years process this FOIA, but got some more Able Archer 83 dox. 👍👍
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Speaking at DC Open Government Coalition Event today at 530 at MLK Library at Gallery Place on "Whose Information Is It Anyway?" Be there or be square!
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MuckRock @muckrock.com · 17/03/2026
Attorneys for at least 13 agencies and departments have explicitly stated in 26 FOIA lawsuits that the downsizings were the reasons for failures to meet FOIA deadlines, reports @foianate.bsky.social. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
washingtonpost.com
Did Trump’s cuts slow access to public records? We found 26 cases that say yes.
Lawyers’ pleas for extensions reveal post-DOGE staffing woes at federal agencies’ Freedom of Information Act offices.
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Rachel Santarsiero @rsanta.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
For #SunshineWeek, the National Security Archive’s Annual FOIA Audit found that federal agencies’ use of “clarification of scope” letters undermines the rights of FOIA requesters. Read our investigation here: nsarchive.gwu.edu/foia-audit/f... @nsarchive.bsky.social
nsarchive.gwu.edu
Clarify or Close: Agency “Scope” Letters Undermine Rights of FOIA Requesters
Washington, D.C., March 16, 2026 – In 2025, the Department of Energy gave the National Security Archive 3 business days to clarify a Freedom of Information Request that had generated nearly 100,000 pa...
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Free link. wapo.st/4bJf3sV
wapo.st
Did Trump cuts slow access to public records? We found 26 cases that say yes.
Lawyers’ pleas for extensions reveal post-DOGE staffing woes at federal agencies’ Freedom of Information Act offices.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Happy #sunshineweek! Here are some gems from our investigation into 339 court dockets showing that government lawyers explicitly blamed the Trump staffing cuts for FOIA delays at at least 13 agencies. Free link below.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
wapo.st/4bJf3sV
wapo.st
Did Trump cuts slow access to public records? We found 26 cases that say yes.
Lawyers’ pleas for extensions reveal post-DOGE staffing woes at federal agencies’ Freedom of Information Act offices.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Turns out government lawyers will reveal #FOIA failings to courts that agencies otherwise try not to publicly mention. Like not being able to process a FOIA for emails because they can't figure out how to use Microsoft Outlook. My latest Revealing Records column. Free link below
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Hey Nate. 👋
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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
@foianate.bsky.social gets Sunshine Week started off right with a blistering FOIA investigation!
washingtonpost.com
Did Trump cuts slow access to public records? We found 26 cases that say yes.
Lawyers’ pleas for extensions reveal post-DOGE staffing woes at federal agencies’ Freedom of Information Act offices.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Free link: wapo.st/4qWcoRO
wapo.st
How D.C. allowed ‘completely inappropriate’ spending by anti-violence group
D.C. officials say spending of public funds by Life Deeds — including trips to a New Jersey shopping mall, lavish meals and a pool party with alcohol — should not have been allowed.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Power of FOIA.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
A man wrote an email to a government official. DHS told Google to give them his records using an administrative subpoena, bypassing the courts. Free link: wapo.st/4rtfCw8
wapo.st
Homeland Security is targeting Americans with this secretive legal weapon
Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has weaponized administrative subpoenas to attack free speech, according to privacy and civil rights groups.
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David at FOIAball @foiaball.com · 03/12/2025
Is your head coach's girlfriend filing FOIA requests on your school's top comms official a good look? Asking for a friend
Requester: Jordon HudsonJordon Hudson FOIA request to UNC regarding top comms official's communications with CBS
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SHAFR @shafrhistorians.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
SHAFR Executive Director @rimmerma.bsky.social quoted in this piece about the recent disappearance of FRUS records.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Free link: wapo.st/4hUdZUA
wapo.st
Analysis | State Department erases 15 pages of nuclear history — with no warning
Key historical records about the incident during the Reagan administration, known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare, were removed without explanation.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Collectors edition looking good!
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
😂
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
wapo.st/4hUdZUA
wapo.st
Analysis | State Department erases 15 pages of nuclear history — with no warning
Key historical records about the incident during the Reagan administration, known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare, were removed without explanation.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
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.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
😂
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Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
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.
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Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
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.
wapo.st
Analysis | State Department deleted records about risk of inadvertent nuclear war
Key historical records about the incident during the Reagan administration, known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare, were removed without explanation.
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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
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.
washingtonpost.com
Analysis | State Department deleted records about risk of inadvertent nuclear war
Key historical records about the incident during the Reagan administration, known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare, were removed without explanation.
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FOIANate @foianate.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
sure thing!
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