The balance between knowledge and secrecy
Sunday, December 10, 2006

BY JOE MALINCONICO STAR-LEDGER STAFF

They call it the Freedom of Information Act. But that doesn't mean the information is easy to get, especially for
folks dealing with the armed forces.

The military's bureaucracy can be a challenge for people looking for documents. The various branches of the
armed forces have their own central FOIA offices, which accept FOIA applications through their Web sites or
through the mail.

But often the documents people want are not available at the central headquarters and their requests have to go
through time-consuming referrals to one of the smaller, branch FOIA offices that are affiliated with particular
military installations or commands. Once applicants navigate the bureaucracy, they have to wait to find out
whether military security puts the documents off limits.

"You assume they have to answer you," said Dorothy Halvorsen of Bennington,Vt., who filed FOIA applications to
get reports about her son's death in a helicopter crash in Iraq. "But they don't really explain to you what the
Freedom of Information Act allows you to see and not see."

The White House and Defense Department have looked upon the Freedom of Information Act with ambivalence,
from the day President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law on July 4, 1966.

"This legislation springs from one of our most essential principles," saidJohnson, in the statement issued when
he signed the bill. "A democracy worksbest when the people have all the information that the security of the
nation permits."

"At the same time," Johnson added, "the welfare of the nation or the rights of individuals may require that some
documents not be made available."

Forty years after FOIA took effect, families trying to get documents about relatives killed in Iraq have encountered
similar ambivalence the military wants to give them information, but not all the information they want.

Even in 1966, Johnson made it clear he thought the country ought to tread lightly in applying the new law to the
armed forces, lest "military secrets"be divulged.

"I think we're at a point that certainly wasn't envisioned when FOIA was enacted," said Stephen Gidiere, an
Alabama attorney who wrote a book about the act.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2005, the Defense Department says it processed 78,775 FOIA requests
from various parties. Of those, the Defense Department granted the information in 36,587 instances, issued
³partial denials" in 15,307 and full denials in 1,765.Also, the Defense Department did not disclose records for
25,116 of the applications, including thousands of cases for which officials said the records did not exist.

But Gidiere said the military is allowed to say that "classified" reports don't exist, even if they do. The thinking
behind that policy is this: Officials fear they would jeopardize national security by acknowledging the mere
existence of top-secret information.

Soldiers' families who have gone through the FOIA process give mixed responses on whether it was effective in
helping them find answers."Zero," said Nadia McCaffrey, whose son was killed in 2004. "We filed that twice. We
e-mailed them. We called the Pentagon and we were given the run-around."

Another parent, Karen Meredith, thinks the law helped her get information."I believe that FOIA was the trigger,"
Meredith said. "Absolutely."


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The balance between knowledge and secrecy