Objective The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs requested that the DoD Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) determine whether noncareer officials (political appointees or persons nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate) were adversely affecting the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process at the DoD between January 2007 and July 2015. In response, we determined whether DoD noncareer officials unduly influenced the FOIA response process through unnecessary delays or withholding of information that would have otherwise been released absent the noncareer official’s involvement. Finding Our evaluation did not disclose any instances of…
Author: John Greenewald
Background According to Wikipedia: The abductions of Japanese citizens from Japan by agents of the North Korean government happened during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983. Although only 17 Japanese (eight men and nine women) are officially recognized by the Japanese government as having been abducted, there may have been hundreds of victims. The North Korean government has officially admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens. There are testimonies that many non-Japanese citizens, including nine European citizens, have been abducted by North Korea. Some districts in Japan fund North Korean-run schools, which teach children that the abduction issue…
Background DOD Instruction 4715.5 establishes policy and assigned responsibilities for managing environmental compliance to protect human health and safety outside the United States on installations under DoD control. The following reports were released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). DOD Instruction 4715.5 – Environmental Compliance at Installations Outside the United States DOD Instruction 4715.5 – Environmental Compliance at Installations Outside the United States, 1 November 2013 [24 Pages, 0.6MB] Final Governing Standard Report Archive FINAL GOVERNING STANDARDS for Environmental Protection by United States Forces for the United Kingdom, 13 March 2013 [273 Pages, 5.9MB] FINAL GOVERNING STANDARDS for Environmental Protection by United States Forces for…
Background According to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC): The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC®) has served the information needs of the Defense community for more than 70 years. DTIC reports to the Assistant Secretary of Defense For Research and Engineering ASD(RE). Our mission is to provide essential, technical research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) information rapidly, accurately and reliably to support our DoD customers’ needs. More than 50 percent of the research records in the collection are available through the access controlled R&E Gateway, which is accessible to DoD personnel, defense contractors, federal government personnel and contractors, and selected…
Background Operation Dew took place from 1951-1952 off the southeast coast of the United States, including near Georgia, and North and South Carolina. Operation Dew consisted of two sets of trials, Dew I and Dew II. The tests involved the release of 250 pounds (110 kg) of fluorescent particles from a minesweeper off the coast. Operation Dew I was described in a U.S. Army report known as “Dugway Special Report 162”, dated August 1, 1952. The purpose of Operation Dew was to study the behavior of aerosol-released biological agents. More FOIA requests are open to give more background on this…