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Below are copies of the RIDS FOIA Buzz, a "Freedom of Information Act Newsletter for RIDS." RIDS, which stands for the Records/ Information Dissemination Section, is the FBI component that handles FOIA/Privacy Act requests. RIDS FOIA Buzz is the newsletter that it produces.

In each edition of the RIDS FOIA Buzz is a few pages of news regarding RIDS. Each of them begins with a message from the Section Chief, David M. Hardy After his announcement, RIDS typically features about a half dozen articles on topics like recently completed FOIA requests, crazy FOIA requests, "Hot Topics," which are brief blurbs about topics or individuals that have been or are expected to be subjects of multiple FOIA requests, RIDS staff changes, and mentions of news that the RIDS staff needs to know, like other agencies FOIA office staff changes. Some inspirational quotes and amusing but safe graphics along the margins typically fill out each issue of RIDS FOIA Buzz.

The RIDS FOIA Buzz has significant value.  They provide ready examples of proof of death for FOIA requests. The quotes, while quite safe, are outside the mainstream and still enlightening. Finally, they are quite catty and there are some amusing tidbits I'll be highlighting soon.

It appears that the FOIA Buzz is no longer produced as the last copy of the RIDS FOIA Buzz is from October- November 2011 and the submitted request sought them through June 2012. A follow FOIA is in the works and any results will be posted here and elsewhere.

You can read earlier RIDS FOIA Buzz  newsletters over at the Government Attic.

Seven FBI RIDS FOIA Buzz Newsletters from 2011 to November 2011

Koch-Related, FBI Final Response Letters

See the highlighted portion of page five


    James Baker Praises Soros Foundation     

We note that these demonstrations have shown in practice our respect for the universal right of the people to join together peacefully in order to voice their common concerns in exercise of their freedoms of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly, consistent with the rights guaranteed them by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

In reaffirming our respect for the freedoms of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly, we note the stark contrast between the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, which have reaffirmed the right to political expression, and the regrettable situation in Belarus, in which political prisoners have been imprisoned and mistreated because of their beliefs.”

A comparison between the "-Your search - WikiLeaks - did not match any documents-" responses given by the search engine used by the CIA's website and the multiple responsive records found Google, it appears the answer to the headline question appears to be Yes!

On a lark, I entered the term "WikiLeaks"  into the search engine used by the CIA's website. This was the response:

Curiosity piqued,  I entered WikiLeaks as a search term into the search engine of the CIA's website. This time I did more specialized search for "CSI" and "CSI Archive" results. CSI = Center for the Study of Intelligence. Here are the results.

If the existence of an investigation into the Bradley Manning Support Network was odd, the respond of INSCOM to a FOIA request on the matter is straight-up strange.

In response to a FOIA request for their records pertaining to the Bradley Manning Support Network, INSCOM sent the out a letter informing the requesters that their request had been forwarded to the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division for processing. When the requesters followed up, seeking information as to whether INSCOM was still processing the request, they met up with brief resistance before Elaine Rogic informed the requesters:

Per DOD instruction, all inquiries relating to this matter must be forwarded to the U.S. Army Crime Records Center (CRC).  I am unable to answer your inquiry and recommend that you direct your inquiry to CRC.

Further inquiry by the requesters was ignored including a request for clarification as to whether or not INSCOM was invoking FOIA. Administrative appeals have been submitted.

In short, the Bradley Manning Support Network appears to be something special if INSCOM is unable to answer whether or not it has responsive records or even invoke Glomar by itself.

Below is the relevant email exchange provided to the Historiographic Anarchy by the requester.

INSCOM- BMSN Record                                                           

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) put out an alert warning that “ Terrorists or criminals may attempt to identify critical infrastructure vulnerabilities by eliciting information pertaining to operational and security procedures from security personnel, facility employees, and their associates. Persistent, intrusive or probing questions about security, operations or other sensitive aspects of a facility by individuals with no apparent need for the information could provide early warning of a potential attack.”
Based on the information provided, it is possible to say that the Koch Brothers Flint Hill Resources refinery in McFarland Wisconsin was a target of a possible Islamist terrorist targeting in late November 2008.

Newly declassified records show that on November 21, 2008, “an Arabic gentleman” posing as an investigator for an never identified Atlanta law firm. The caller, seeking information as to "whether Flint Hills could track where the gas tankers were going" had a particular interest in BP shipments. His refusal to give a last name or state which legal firm he was working made the answering Flint Hill Resources employee suspicious causing him to refuse to give out the requested information and call in the FBI which launched a highly-classified investigation.

The six-month investigation by the FBI was ultimately closed without charging or identifying anyone after the FBI's Milwaukee field office decided that it had "exhausted sufficient investigative resources" and that "no potential criminal violations or priority threats to national security warranting further investigation were identified."

Flint Hills Resources FBI File                                                           

Few Americans-then or now- realized how much American culture was adapted, modified, hidden, destroyed, or created to serve as weapons against the Soviets during the Cold War. For example, if you've ever seen the cartoon version of Animal Farm, you'll notice significant differences from the book, including the eliminations of characters who served as critiques of capitalism and the creation of a new, positive ending. The reason for these alterations to the narrative is the CIA was funding the film. As documented in the book, Cultural Cold War, the CIA funded numerous festivals, fairs, and publications with the idea of battling Soviet influence.

Was how Slate columnist David Weigel described John Derbyshire less than a month ago. Now that John Derbyshire has exposed his full on racism, Weigel has fully joined in the stomping of  Derbyshire's reputation. However, Weigel's comments will live on forever here.

First, the CIA Glomars a Hitchens- related FOIA request. Now the FBI is trying to dodge my FOIA requests regarding Christopher Hitchens. Upon his death, a FOIA request as submitted seeking all FBI records pertaining to Hitchens. In response, the FBI released 19 pages of previously released documents without giving me even the right of appeal. Nor did they bother to give me a sheet listing which pages they withheld so I am not even sure of the file’s size.

The released material is riddled with b(1) redactions with (S) and (C) written next to them. This means the withheld information, despite being years and even decades- old “could be expected to cause damage to the national security” in the case of confidential classified material or “serious damage to the national security” in the case of the Secret information.”

However, the FBI’s redactions and handling of the request does not preclude us from gloaming some insights from the released material. The first two pages of material are the newest and are from INS. They are name check requests conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization in March 2005.

The next five pages of material are heavily redacted but reveal that Hitchens was the subject of a 105 investigation. A 105- file is a file pertaining to “foreign counterintelligence”. Why Hitchens was the subject of a counterintelligence probe is withheld, but there is a discussion of his activities as a Oxford socialist/Trotskyist” and that it had been discovered that Hitchens might be traveling about the United States on a scholarship. However, searches by INS and State found no records on him, so it appears that the investigation was dropped.

Hitchens comes to FBI’s attention again in December 1981. However, the record in question is almost entirely withheld on “national security” grounds. The rest of the record relates to Hitchens activities in 1983. In the beginning of the year, the United States Secret Service request information on Hitchens “in connection with the granting of a press pass for admittance to the White House.”  The FBI responded back with several memorandum and airtels which have been withheld in their entirety on “national security” grounds. There is a essentially redacted teletype from July 1983 revealing that Hitchens is involved in some foreign counterintelligence investigation, but nothing more.  In August 1983, the FBI attaché in London reported to the director that they had no information on Hitchens' travel plans and some wholly- redacted information, information redacted on “national security” grounds.  The rest of the file deals with an autumn 1983 request by Hitchens to become a permanent resident.  Except for a background form filled out by Hitchens, most of the information is withheld on “national security” grounds.

Christopher Hitchens' FBI File