Case Detail
| Case Title | JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| District | District of Columbia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Washington, DC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case Number | 1:2018cv00300 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date Filed | 2018-02-09 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date Closed | Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judge | Judge Timothy J. Kelly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plaintiff | JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case Description | Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the Department of State for records prepared for the intelligence community by former UN Ambassador Samantha Powers pertaining to Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Judicial Watch filed suit. Complaint issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Adequacy - Search, Litigation - Vaughn index, Litigation - Attorney's fees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defendant | U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Documents | Docket Complaint Complaint attachment 1 Complaint attachment 2 Complaint attachment 3 Complaint attachment 4 Opinion/Order [18] FOIA Project Annotation: Judge Timothy Kelly has ruled that the Department of State properly issued a Glomar response neither confirming nor denying the existence of records in response to a request from Judicial Watch for records made available to former UN Ambassador Samantha Powers pertaining to the intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election, citing both Exemption 1 (national security) and Exemption 3 (other statutes). Kelly agreed that the agency had shown that disclosure of the existence or nonexistence of records on the intelligence community's assessment that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election was likely to cause harm to the national security. He pointed out that "unless State relied on a Glomar response here, multiple FOIA requests aimed at different senior government officials could end up allowing 'an adversary to map out which of these government officials had responsive records. In other words, a U.S. adversary could potentially piece together key classified information about how the United States government conducts counterintelligence efforts based on responses to FOIA requests like this one.' This is, as State argues, a version of the 'mosaic' theory, which courts have long upheld as a basis for nondisclosure in the national security context." Judicial Watch argued that Powers did not have a known intelligence function. Kelly found the claim unconvincing, noting that he had no basis "to question the reasons this Cabinet-level official at State may have had to request this intelligence." He also rejected Judicial Watch's claim that the assessment pertaining to Russia was well-known because of media reports. He pointed out that "these reports do not cast doubt on State's asserted reasons why a Glomar response is necessary to protect sensitive intelligence interest from harm to the national security. Nor do they necessitate any response from State, since doing so would reveal the type of information its Glomar claim is intended to forestall."
Issues: Determination - Glomar response, Exemption 1 - Harm to national security, Exemption 3 - Statutory prohibition of disclosure | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| User-contributed Documents | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Docket Events (Hide) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
