Background In December of 2016, I requested all granted FOIA fee waivers for requests sent in to the FBI, for FY’s 2015 and 2016. I was sent a response in early 2017, which only offered a list of FOIA case numbers, but not the requested FOIA request letters (showing the topic of the request) and the final response letters for the case. An appeal was sent, and granted, and after another 3 1/2 years, I began receiving the requested documents. The case is still open, and once more are received, this page will be updated. Below, you will find what…
Author: John Greenewald
According to the Department of Justice: A superseding indictment was unsealed today against 15 defendants, including alleged members and associates of the South Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey-based criminal organization La Cosa Nostra (LCN), popularly known as the ‘mafia’ or ‘mob.’ The superseding indictment charges various crimes including racketeering conspiracy, illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, and drug trafficking. Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Special Agent in Charge Michael Driscoll of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office made the announcement. The defendants charged…
Background The following document was requested through a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) request by The Black Vault in February 2019. The records was released at an unknown previous date, but had some of the report redacted. The MDR was a success, and some of those redactions were lifted on the June 2019 released by the NSA to The Black Vault. I put a “highlighted” version below so you can see the newly released information. Document Archive National Security Agency / Central Security Service Transition 2001, December 2000 [45 Pages, 13MB] National Security Agency / Central Security Service Transition 2001, December…
Background This is the “Terrorism Review” for January 1999, as created by the CIA and released to The Black Vault in June of 2019. The result was from a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) request. The record had been released in July of 2011, but had many more redactions. The 2019 release was successful in getting many of them lifted. I put a ‘clean’ version below, along with a highlighted version showing the new information released (information that was previously redacted.) Document Archive Terrorism Review for January 1999, CIA – June 2019 Release – [39 Pages, 10MB] Terrorism Review for January 1999,…
Background PRISM is a code name for a program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various U.S. internet companies. The program is also known by the SIGAD US-984XN. PRISM collects stored internet communications based on demands made to internet companies such as Google LLC under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to turn over any data that match court-approved search terms. Among other things, the NSA can use these PRISM requests to target communications that were encrypted when they traveled across the internet backbone, to focus on stored data that…