The CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request.
A lawsuit was filed yesterday against the CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for failure to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records pertaining to Russian interference with the recent U.S. presidential election.
Jason Leopold, an investigative reporter who frequently writes for Vice, and Ryan Shapiro, a PhD candidate at MIT and research affiliate at Harvard who is known for his activism around the release of government records, filed the lawsuit after never receiving word as to whether or not their petition for expedited processing of their information request would be granted.
Specifically, the FOIA requests seek information Congress may have received to or from federal intellegence agencies that reference terms like CrowdStrike, Fancy Bear, Guccifer 2.0, related IP addresses and other terms that surfaced in relation to the hacking of campaign-related systems in the run-up to the campaign. Leopold and Shapiro are also requesting communications between FBI director James Comey and the White House about publically accusing Russia of interfering with the election.
According to the Department of Justice, agencies are required to notify the party who issued the information request within 10 days of receiving a letter asking for expedited processing. Leopold and Shapiro first sent their FOIA request to the FBI, DHS, CIA and the ODNI on Dec. 14 and a second request to the CIA on Dec. 15.