Are Media Using the FOIA Enough to Get Military Info?

By: E&P Staff The Associated Press leads news organizations in using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents from the Pentagon, according to a log of such requests from 2000 to early 2005 obtained by a San Francisco-based activist.

The AP filed 73 such requests, followed by the Los Angeles Times with 42 and Washington Post with 34. Trailing far behind among major newspapers was the New York Times with 21, USA Today with nine and the Wall Street Journal with six.

The results, which came in response to a FOIA request by blogger Michael Petrelis, are summarized by John Byrne at the Raw Story web site. Byrne finds that this shows relatively little aggressiveness to obtain such information. He calls this a ?lack of curiosity,? especially since 10,000 requests were made in all.

Petrelis? request was sparked by interest in whether former New York Times reporter Judith Miller had ever made such a FOIA request. He found out she had not.

On the TV side, CBS News led with 32 queries; Fox News followed with 22; and NBC with 21. CNN made just 11 inquiries.

Here is part of Raw Story?s breakdown of requests on the print:

?The New York Times requested ?epidemiology and ecology reports? from Utah, information on Secretary Donald Rumsfeld?s holdings, and information for plans on biological attacks on Cuba and mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq.

?The Washington Post went after an ?ethics agreement? made between Rumsfeld and the Defense Department?s ethics group, Rumsfeld?s travel records, Clinton?s meetings with Indonesian president Suharto, and conversations of erstwhile Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

?The Los Angeles Times sought information regarding defense contractors, alleged Iraq ties to Al-Qaeda, President George W. Bush?s National Guard service, payroll information for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and Defense Department contracts with public relations firms.?

It noted that the largest individual requestor was the National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute and library based at George Washington University. The Archive filed 895 requests.