Why is Immigration and Customs Enforcement reviewing (and even redacting!) documents that are already publically available? In response to recent National Security Archive Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on Project Gunrunner—a counter-arms trafficking operation—ICE provided 111 pages of documents that are already available in the public domain. This unsubstantial material included news clippings, media alerts, press releases, text of a congressional bill, and a copy of a congressional hearing testimony. Furthermore, these 111 pages were again arbitrarily reviewed by several agencies for potentially sensitive information.
The redacted information included the name of the Staff Superintendent of the Toronto Police, the office phone number and email of a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, and the name of a border agent who sang the national anthem at a Border Enforcement Special Taskforce (BEST) conference. (more…)
