[Infowarrior] - Court Says Government Needs Better Excuses If It Wants To Keep Hiding DEA Surveillance Docs

[Richard Forno]

Court Says Government Needs Better Excuses If It Wants To Keep Hiding DEA Surveillance Docs

from the even-these-bare-bones-are-barely-there dept

The EFF has won a small battle in a larger war against the US government for its continued withholding of documents related to its Hemisphere program. Files on this custom-built AT&T/DEA surveillance system have already made their way into the hands of the public. Contrary to the government's claims about other methods (warrants, subpoenas) taking too long to obtain phone records, previously-released documents showed AT&T employees worked directly alongside agents in DEA offices to perform instantaneous searches for records.

The EFF is seeking information not included in the Powerpoint presentation already produced by the DEA. It's looking for records on court cases where evidence derived from the program was submitted,  communications between the government and AT&T concerning the program, communications between government agencies about the Hemisphere program, and Congressional briefings related to the side-by-side surveillance effort.

The government has refused to turn over much of what's been requested for a variety of reasons, the main one being infamous FOIA exemption b(5). The government has other reasons for withholding information, but this is its favorite. The court, however, finds that most of its arguments amount to little more than "because." From the opinion [PDF]:

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https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161224/11031036344/court-says-government-needs-better-excuses-if-it-wants-to-keep-hiding-dea-surveillance-docs.shtml