Historical Background of FOIA
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 5 U.S.C. § 552 is a federal freedom of information law that sanctions the full or restricted disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act outlines agency records subject to disclosure defines mandatory disclosure procedures and grants nine exemptions to the statute. It was originally signed into law on July 4 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson (despite his doubts that certain sensitive government documents if released to the public might jeopardize national security) and went into effect the following year.
With the continuing tension on both constitutional and social grounds against American citizens and the slippery slope of government encroachment against fundamental individual rights since the mid-1960s an increasing number of American citizens thought it was necessary for government information to be made available to the public in the name of keeping government accountable to We the People thus FOIA was enacted by Congress.
Nevertheless due to the sensitive nature of many government documents and private interests others notably President Lyndon B. Johnson believed that certain types of government information should remain secret. Therefore Congress attempted to enact a Freedom of Information Act in 1966 that would efficiently manage requests for government records consistent with the idea that the people have the right to know" about them.
However FOIA has had a bumpy road for not all subsequent amendments to FOIA have moved toward We the People like Nixons Privacy Act of 1974 which additionally covered government documents chronicling or surveilling individuals. For every amendment to FOIA that strengthened the right of the people over the government the reverse has occurred threefold against the people and openness as in George W. Bushs 2001 Executive Order limiting the FOIA of presidential record access to five years (12 for some records) to Obamas Executive Order No. 13526 giving government the unilateral retroactive power to classify certain specific types of information relevant to national security after it has been requested; to Obamas 2010 repeal of FOIA amendments in the Wall Street Reform Act (a.k.a. the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) which shielded the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from requests under FOIA. Didnt this type of government/business collusion lead to the 2007 Wall Street financial collapse and recession in the first place?
Conversely it is in the exemptions to solicitation of information under these acts that complications and problems often occur.
DODs War against the Framers Conservatives and Conservative Ideas
In Aug. 2013 Judicial Watch a non-partisan judicial and government watchdog organization announced in a press release that it has obtained educational materials from the Department of Defense (DOD) document asserting that American Colonists fighting British tyranny during the American Revolution (1775-83) i.e. Washington Franklin Jefferson Adams Madison Mason etc. were members of an extremist movement" representing conservative organizations as hate groups" and advising students to be aware that many extremists will talk of individual liberties states rights and how to make the world a better place." The documents repeatedly refers to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) a partisan leftist organization as a primary authority for classifying hate groups."
Judicial Watch obtained the documents in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) filed on April 8 2013. The FOIA requested Any and all records concerning regarding or related to the preparation and presentation of training materials on hate groups or hate crimes distributed or used by the Air Force." Incorporated in the 133 pages of documents including PowerPoint slides and lesson plans provided by the Air Force is a January 2013 Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute student guide" entitled Extremism." The document includes the bold heading for training purposes only" and do not use on the job." Highlights include:
- The document defines extremists as a person who advocates the use of force or violence; advocates supremacist causes based on race ethnicity religion gender or national origin; or otherwise engages to illegally deprive individuals or groups of their civil rights."
- A statement that Nowadays instead of dressing in sheets or publically espousing hate messages many extremists will talk of individual liberties states rights and how to make the world a better place."
- While not all extremist groups are hate groups all hate groups are extremist groups."
- Under a section labeled Extremist Ideologies" the document states In U.S. history there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples."
- In this same section the document lists the 9/11 attack under a category of Historical events."
- Active participation…with regard to extremist organizations is incompatible with military service and is therefore prohibited." Emphasis in original
- The document details the seven stages of hate" and sixteen extremists traits."
- The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is listed as a resource for information on hate groups and referenced several times throughout the guide.
- Of the five organizations besides the SPLC listed as resources one is an SPLC project (Teaching Tolerance) and one considers any politically or socially conservative movement to be a potential hate group (Political Research Associates).
- Other than a mention of 9/11 and the Sudan there is no discussion of Islamic extremism. Its like DOD purposely slandered all of the conservative and patriotic groups it could think of and conflate them with Muslim fanaticism while exempting Islam from even a minor critique.