In late 2011, a FOIA request was submitted to the FBI for
all its records on WikiLeaks. The FBI responded that it had no records. Not
believing the FBI’s response, a FOIA appeal was submitted to the Department of
Justice Office of Information Policy which upheld the FBI’s search and its
findings.
Still disbelieving the FBI/DOJ responses, a FOIA request was
submitted to the Department of Justice Office of Information Policy for its
records regarding the aforementioned appeal. The DOJ OIP responded and reveals
that not only does the FBI have WikiLeaks records, but the FBI/DOJ lied about
having records. WikiLeaks’ records are tucked away in other files, thus are
considered for cross-references and not responsive because the request was for “all
records” and didn’t use the magic words “cross-references.”
After receiving a ”no records” response from the FBI in reply to a FOIA request I had submitted for FBI records pertaining to WikiLeaks, I had an appeal submitted to the Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy. Below is the DOJ's reply:
The DOJ states that there are no FBI WikiLeaks files and this means that the FBI has never targeted WikiLeaks as an organization.
I suspect that the FBI has filed WikiLeaks material away in the files of individuals such as Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, and other prominent WikiLeaks figures. By doing so, it keeps the material out of the hands of the general public and media because the FBI can invoke b(6), b(7) exemptions to Glomar (i.e. neither confirm, nor deny the existence) the material unless the individual submits a Privacy Act request, dies, or is convinced to sign a waiver and allow a third party to acquire material. In short, it might be 50 years before WikiLeaks material is available to the general public through FOIA or Mandatory Declassification Review requests.
I also think that lesser amounts of WikiLeaks material might be obtainable through FOIAing for information on attacks done by Anonymous on behalf of WikiLeaks.
Below is a 12/21/1981 Rudy Giuliani memo on unemployment compensation. It should be noted that unemployment is "earned" and that "acceptance of such benefits does not make one a public charge."
Below is the finding aid for the classified files from Rudy Giuliani's reign as Associate Attorney General. They are housed at National Archives II in College Park, MD. A kind NARA staffer provided me with this copy, which I have finally scanned and published online.
Also of interest is the fact that this finding aid is still not available in the finding aids for the records of attorney generals and their staffs in the main NARA II research room on the second floor despite a FOIA request by a classmate who received this exact same finding aid. In fact, few of the finding aids for classified files are available for researcher use. This is not accidental. As I was told, if you do not know that this finding aid and the others like it for other attorney generals exist and that they are FOIAble, you will not ask for them or, more importantly, the files they list.
If you conduct research using Department of Justice Files (RG 60) at NARA II, there are five black binders which contain the finding aids for the Attorney General's Office, the Attorney Generals, and their staffs. Classified finding aids are rarely there. If you look through the binders, you'll notice that there is often a receipt noting that NARA received them, but no finding aid. If you want to see the finding aid, either ask an archivist. If they like you, ifit's uncrowded, and you've been an okay researcher, they'll either get them for you or instruct you how to FOIA for them. Otherwise, just mail in a standard FOIA request to NARA.
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