Tag: foia

FBI refuses to release documents in probe into possible nationwide voter registration fraud

The FBI took over a 2020 probe into voter registration fraud that began in Michigan but has denied a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the investigation, citing an exemption in that law regarding ongoing investigations.

According to the dozens of pages of police reports from the Muskegon Police Department and Michigan State Police, a firm called GBI Strategies was under scrutiny as an organization central to alleged voter registration fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The matter was initially investigated by city and state authorities before the FBI took over. 

Contacts between local law enforcement and the FBI continued into 2022 but there is no evidence of what happened after that in the memos obtained by Just the News through requests made under Michigan’s own Freedom of Information Act.

Last week, the FBI denied a Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts request from Just the News regarding records from the investigation into GBI Strategies.

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46 Pages FOIAed Emails Between CDC Leaders, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Collins, and White House, NIH, HHS, Show They Knew About Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis and Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia, a Blood Clotting Disorder. Emails Over 80% Redacted.

Attorney Edward Berkovich submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stating, “I request emails sent by and received by Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, Sherri A. Berger, and Kevin Griffis (all of whom are CDC personnel) on dates beginning February 1, 2021 through May 31, 2021, containing the word myocarditis.” DailyClout reported on the initial 472-page production from that FOIA on August 29, 2023.

Mr. Berkovich recently received 46 additional pages, over 80% of which were fully redacted, involving other government entities such as the White House and Executive Office of the President, as part of this production. Of the 46 pages, only two pages were released without any redactions. Seven pages were partially redacted pages, and 37 pages were fully redacted. The redactions were “pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §552 Exemptions 5 and 6.” According to the CDC cover letter accompanying this production:

  • “Exemption 5 protects inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency. Exemption 5 therefore incorporates the privileges that protect materials from discovery in litigation, including the deliberative process, attorney work-product, and attorney-client privileges. Information withheld under this exemption was protected under the deliberative process and presidential communications privileges.The deliberative process privilege protects the decision-making process of government agencies. The deliberative process privilege protects materials that are both predecisional and deliberative. The information that have been withheld under the deliberative process privilege of Exemption 5 are both predecisional and deliberative, and do not represent formal or informal agency policies or decisions. Examples of information withheld include recommendations, comments, opinions. The presidential communications privilege protects documents solicited and received by the President or his immediate White House advisers who have broad and significant responsibility for investigating and formulating the advice to be given to the President.“
  • “Exemption 6 protects information in personnel and medical files and similar files when disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The information that has been withheld under Exemption 6 consists of personal information, such as a telephone number. We have determined that the individual(s) to whom this information pertains has a substantial privacy interest in withholding it.”

In this FOIA production, the first set of emails are dated May 24-25, 2021, with the subject “Draft WH [White House] Script and Slides.” Abbigail Tumpey, former Associate Director for Communication Science for CDC’s Public Health Infrastructure emailed Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, CDC Director and ATSDR Administrator, with Sherri Berger, Deputy Director for Policy, Communications, and Legislative Affairs/Chief Strategy Officer; Robert (“Robbie”) Goldstein, MD, Massachusetts’ Commissioner of the Department of Public Health (DPH), a former Senior Policy Advisor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School; Paul Fulton, CDC Press Officer; and Jason McDonald, a CDC spokesperson and Public Affairs Specialist CCed. These emails had a “draft press conf script and slides for [Dr. Walensky’s] review” attached. However, the 10 pages of the script and slides are fully redacted.

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UAP Documents and Videos Surface from U.S. Customs and Border Protection

In a new development concerning Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), a batch of documents and videos has emerged from the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The unexpected find came to light thanks to X user “Dr.Disclosure89 (@Docneuroeo)”, who alerted The Black Vault about this discovery.

As of now, the origins of this release remain a mystery. There are two main possibilities: either CBP took the initiative to proactively disclose these materials to the public, or they were released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Black Vault currently has multiple FOIA cases with CBP. Some of these requests were transferred to other agencies, while others remain open with CBP.

To get to the bottom of this, The Black Vault reached out to CBP for clarification. But after navigating an intricate phone menu system, no representatives were available to provide a comment or an explanation about the nature of the release.

While the actual context and background of the released documents and videos remain unclear, they offer a glimpse at some new cases, though much of the resolution seems to be on the low side. The Black Vault will also be seeking higher resolution versions of the videos, along with higher resolution scans of the documents.

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U.S. Government Monitoring Pregnant Moms’ Social Media Posts

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) premier law enforcement agency monitors expecting parents’ online posts about their pregnancy and reproductive health issues, according to internal emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the online privacy activist group, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), the DHS agency that conducts criminal investigations and enforces U.S. immigration laws, is one of a handful of government agencies that use a software tracking tool called SocialNet.

SocialNet pulls citizens’ online data from a host of websites, including BabyCenter, a reference and pregnancy tracking site where new and expecting parents can post information about their health and pregnancy experiences.

Eva Galperin — cybersecurity director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a leading nonprofit defending civil liberties in the digital world — said the revelation is “concerning.”

“When people post about their pregnancies to BabyCenter, they’re usually doing it without the expectation that ICE or the local police are checking up on the status of their pregnancy,” Galperin told The Defender.

“ICE could potentially be reading information about your reproductive health and about your pregnancy or your children,” she said, adding that this is particularly concerning due to the current political climate surrounding pregnancy and abortion.

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US F-22 Raptor ‘Shot Down’ A UFO & Not A Chinese Spy Balloon Over Northern Canada In Feb – Reports

In an unexpected twist, a new report suggests that an object initially believed to be a Chinese balloon, downed by an F-22 fighter jet in February over the Yukon territory in northern Canada, may belong to the category of ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’ or ‘UAP.’ 

The UAP is the official term used for what is more commonly referred to as “unidentified flying objects” or “UFOs.” In the last few months, the Pentagon and American lawmakers have accelerated their investigations into what they call ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’ or ‘UAP. 

On September 6, CTV News, based in Canada, reported that in February, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received a classified memo on “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).” 

Based on information obtained through a freedom of information request, the report revealed that an unidentified object was detected and shot down over northern Canada’s Yukon Territory on February 11.

The incident occurred shortly after an F-22 aircraft downed a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. 

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U.S. Navy Confirms They Have Visuals of “Near Misses” With UAP; All Remain Classified

In the 2021 UAP report published by ODNI, there were 11 “near misses” that were referenced. The Black Vault filed numerous cases to get these in 2021, as at that time, nothing was known about them.

The case files of the 11 “near misses” were eventually released and listed as the Range Fouler reports (see: Range Fouler Debrief Forms and Reports)

But one of the cases filed by The Black Vault also went after the photos/videos related to those 11 cases.

That Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) was denied, as a review by the FOIA office (also The Black Vault’s request) showed that the requested visual(s) were 100% classified across the board.

So, the MDR was denied based on that review. It is unclear if all 11 had imagery, or just 1. Regardless, these would definitely provide a close-up look at the encounters, if they are ever released.

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NASA UAP / UFO Related Internal Communications

According to NASA, “The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is responsible for unique scientific and technological achievements in human spaceflight, aeronautics, space science, and space applications that have had widespread impacts on our nation and the world. Forged in response to early Soviet space achievements, NASA was built on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other government organizations, as the locus of U.S. civil aerospace research and development.”

The following is a large archive of internal NASA related UAP / UFO communications, consisting primarily of e-mails, along with their attachments.

The cases are broken down below, along with links to the documents released.

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Tracking Orwellian Change – The Aristocratic Takeover of ‘Transparency’

“Transparency” was one of America’s great postwar reforms. In 1955, a Democratic congressman named John Moss from California — who served in the Navy in World War II, was nominated for office by both Democrats and Republicans, and was never defeated in any election for public office — introduced legislation that would become one of the great triumphs of late-stage American democracy.

The Freedom of Information Act took a tortuous path to becoming law, opposed from the start by nearly every major government agency and for years struggling to gain co-sponsors despite broad public support.

In a supreme irony, one of Moss’s first Republican allies was a young Illinois congressman named Donald Rumsfeld. After a series of final tweaks it eventually passed the House 307-0 in 1966, when it landed on the desk of Lyndon Johnson, who didn’t like the bill, either. Johnson signed it, but decided not to hold a public ceremony, electing instead to issue a public statement crafted by none other than Bill Moyers, which concluded, “I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society.”

The Freedom of Information Act gave reporters and citizens alike extraordinary power to investigate once-impenetrable executive agencies that conduct the business of government. FOIA requests gave windows into the affairs of the Hoover-led FBI, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the “Afghan logs” story made public after a bitter fight put up by the National Security Archive and the Washington Post. The irony alert here was this last FOIA lawsuit ultimately revealed behaviors unflattering to none other than Donald Rumsfeld.

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New MKULTRA Files Reveal Terrifying Experiments On Black Americans

In a groundbreaking investigation, renowned anthropologist Orisanmi Burton has blown the lid off a dark chapter in CIA history. Classified Agency files, recently obtained through Freedom of Information laws, expose shocking ties between the infamous MKULTRA program and nightmarish experiments on prisoners of color within the United States.

Burton’s findings expose MKULTRA’s sinister mission to develop psychological warfare and behavioral manipulation tactics specifically aimed at people of color under the guise of “counterinsurgency.” Unbelievably, these barbaric trials were conducted during a turbulent era when numerous U.S. government agencies relentlessly sought to crush the civil rights movement, and prisons brimmed with political radicalism.

This disturbing revelation puts the CIA’s actions into sharp focus, revealing a ruthless bid to quell Black resistance both on the streets and behind bars. But it doesn’t stop there. Burton’s disclosures raise urgent and profound questions about the far-reaching impact of these operations—both in the past and, unsettlingly, even today.

Among the most haunting questions is whether the Agency actively pursued a race-specific mind control weapon—an idea that strikes at the very core of ethical and moral boundaries.

As the nation grapples with this revelation, one thing is certain: Burton’s exposé demands answers and accountability for the harrowing atrocities committed in the name of national security. The truth must be unveiled, and justice served for those who suffered under the relentless grip of MKULTRA’s clandestine horrors.

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Investigating The Pro-Censorship UK Group Expanding Across The US

America First Legal (AFL) have announced its investigation into a UK-based group known as the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

AFL, a non-profit often described as “an alternative to ACLU,” is starting the probe into CCDH – which it refers to as a pro-censorship group that is a party to anti-free speech collusion with the government – by filing several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

We obtained an example of one of the FOIAs for you here.

They are addressed to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of State, and the goal is to obtain any communications they may have had with CCDH, headed by Imran Ahmed.

The basis for looking into the group’s activities in the US is that although based in the UK, it has expanded its “censorship encouraging,” as AFL put it, work to the US as a 501(c) non-profit.

As far as CCDH is concerned, the group is a non-profit and an NGO (non-governmental organization) with nothing but noble intentions – fighting online hate and disinformation.

Ahmed’s professional profile gives a good idea of what exactly CCDH means by that. As per the organization itself, Ahmed is an “authority on social and psychological malignancies on social media, such as identity-based hate, extremism, disinformation, and conspiracy theories.”

As is often the case with those that like to add a layer of opaqueness to their work, “the organization of the organization” here is rather complicated: there are ties with top Labour Party officials, the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been a “merger” with another online disinformation crusader called Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN).

Naturally, Covid lockdown opponents were a prominent target, but when it comes specifically to the US, CCDH put not only those critics based in that country, but also Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in its crosshairs, as deplatforming targets.

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