Open the Government - Open Th eGovernment and a coalition of organizations committed to government openness and accountability are calling for Congress to oppose the Department of Defense’s proposal to alter the Freedom of Information Act. The exemption proposed by the DoD would severely undermine the FOIA by creating an unnecessary secrecy provision at odds with FOIA’s goals of transparency and accountability.
The DoD’s proposal to exempt from disclosure “information on military tactics, techniques, and procedures, and of military rules of engagement,” would create a carve-out to the FOIA for much of the information and documents created by the Pentagon, the largest executive branch agency with the largest discretionary budget. The DoD’s proposed language could be used to conceal information about the military’s interrogation and treatment of prisoners, its handling of sexual assault complaints, oversight of contractors, and other matters of compelling public interest.
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I represented a black female Army officer in a freedom of information case where the Army withheld many witness statements in a discrimination case she filed on the grounds she might retaliate against these individuals. All the statements the released did not support her claim of discrimination. When we won the right to see the withheld statements we found that all of them supported her claim. I was disappointed the judge did not sanction the Army for this travesty.
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