laurenleharper.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Because the Carter is the only one of the 13 libraries without a private foundation, it's more at risk for this kind of thing. At the others, most public events are hosted by the respective foundation; it will be interesting to see if Byron interferes with those. Thread: bsky.app/profile/anth...

submitted 13 hours ago • 0 comments

I told @washingtonpost.com that this case should be a slam dunk — there’s no legal gray area when it comes to punishing the press for word choices. But this shouldn’t need to go to court. In a healthy democracy, politicians wouldn’t try this kind of stunt because the public wouldn’t stand for it.

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

What kind of internet mob justice nonsense is this?

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

📩 Read in our weekly newsletter (and subscribe): - Inexcusable censorship in Mississippi - Trump hides migrant detention away at Gitmo - Journalists: Post public records without paywalls - Hostile takeover at the National Archives - Plus, what we're reading...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

If you were upset DOGE posted NRO's headcount because it's ostensibly classified, would you also OK not knowing the exact # of CIA employees targeted by DOGE's purge? Reflexive support of claims that budget information is classified is bad for oversight.

submitted 1 day ago • 8 comments

Warning: Secrecy mission creep at USAID to intimidate public officials from releasing information. Could this extend to other agencies DOGE is embedded with? Absolutely. The public should know this isn't a valid reason to withhold information.

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

The Trump administration is moving ahead at warp speed with its grab for unfettered power. This week I identify ten legislative provisions Congress should insist upon to protect our democracy.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

If you were upset DOGE posted NRO's headcount information because it's ostensibly classified, would you also OK not knowing the exact # of CIA employees targeted by DOGE's mass purge? Reflexive support of intelligence community claims that budget information is classified is bad for oversight.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

This is unacceptable: "The “Sensitive But Unclassified” language cannot be seen by senders until after the email is sent, a source in the agency told FedScoop."

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Warning: Secrecy mission creep at USAID to intimidate public officials from releasing information. Could this extend to other agencies DOGE is embedded with? Absolutely. The public - and any fed employees left in FOIA offices - should know this isn't a valid reason to withhold information.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

I mentioned this was a possibility after the first report was issued in January. The database contained info on misconduct for 2018 through 2023 and held 4,790 records. I’d keep a close eye on DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics website.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Some of my top Qs: - What steps are being taken to ensure agencies aren’t given a free pass to destroy records? - Will the administration’s anti-DEI crusade impact NARA-supported projects like the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board?

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Here are five questions the public should be asking about the hostile takeover of the National Archives and why the answers matter:

submitted 2 days ago • 18 comments

It's good that ISCAP overturned most of the agency classification decisions for these documents from 1953 - but it's hard to imagine why any portions of these 70+ year old documents still need to be classified/warrant these extensive reviews. isoo-overview.blogs.archives.gov/2025/02/19/i...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The firing of the inspector general at the national archives means there are now 33 - yes, 33 - vacant IG positions across the government.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

"Burying secrets so deep and for so long that the public does not find them is typically the CIA’s objective when they invoke the state secrets privilege....They are now burying their Assange secrets."

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

“Burying secrets so deep and for so long that the public does not find them is typically the CIA’s objective when they invoke the state secrets privilege,” writes @kgosztola.bsky.social. thedissenter.org/burying-the-...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Wow. An order to take down an article on secrecy eroding the public trust. How's that for irony? It's been a while since I finished law school but pretty sure they're still teaching the First Amendment. Judges this clueless about basic constitutional law shouldn't be anywhere near a courtroom.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

"Burying secrets so deep and for so long that the public does not find them is typically the CIA’s objective when they invoke the state secrets privilege." Read more about the latest misuse of the state secrets privilege from @kgosztola.bsky.social

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Loper Bright www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Guess the administration isn't a fan of open source intelligence collection

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Gonna go out on a limb and guess that the Nixon Library stays open (the current senior advisor to acting Archivist Rubio is the CEO of the Nixon Foundation)

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Release the remaining JFK assassination records (maybe) but threaten to close the library feels like an inconsistent stance

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

🤦‍♀️

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

"News isn’t just any business, it’s a constitutionally protected public service. And the moment calls for the Fourth Estate to do whatever it can to preserve transparency," @seth-stern.bsky.social writes.

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

The Nixon Foundation probably isn't where I'd turn if I wanted to ensure government records ever saw the light of day.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

A big-picture concern with the purge at the National Archives (which sets records management rules across fed agencies) and firing of FOIA officials is we may reach a point where we not only can't respond to FOIA requests, but nobody in the govt know what records exist and where they are.

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

How many FOIA officials are being fired or will be imminently fired across the fed?

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

"Sending deportees to Gitmo doesn’t just signal that the Trump administration is cracking down on immigration," @caitlinvogus.bsky.social writes in @thedailybeast.bsky.social, "it’s cracking down on the public’s right to know, too."

submitted 4 days ago • 4 comments

Is the declassification task force a stunt? Read this story and much more in “The Classifieds,” FPF’s weekly newsletter highlighting all the secrecy news you need to know.

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Good news: the National Archives investigates when agencies improperly destroy records! Bad news: Trump has fired or pushed out all senior leadership including the IG and the agency was understaffed to begin with!

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

From the FOIA Files archives Putin’s Assassination Targets Revealed in Declassified Memo ODNI released the document shedding light on the targeted killings of Vladimir Putin’s political adversaries, following 8 years of persistent public records efforts by me www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

submitted 5 days ago • 4 comments

It's also an assault on our understanding of our present moment. Who will ensure Trump is preserving his records this term and turning them over to the government at the end of it? Archivist also takes control of defunct agency records if there's no successor (think maybe USAID)

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

It would be easier to assess the potential risks (and scale) of the CIA's alleged pivot to focus on narcotics if its budget weren't classified. (Luckily the CIA's never done anything wrong in Latin America before, so why worry?)

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

"The Archives then took the extraordinary step of referring the matter to the FBI" No. It was not NARA that took the extraordinary step. It was Trump - who broke the law like no other president before. It was NARA's ONLY option. And they did it for the public.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: CISA has frozen all of its election security work; the agency is also reviewing everything it’s done to help state and local officials secure their elections for the past eight years. www.wired.com/story/cisa-e...

submitted 7 days ago • 21 comments

spidey sense says the work of the civil rights cold case records review board (which can only work with NARA's help w/records) will ground to a halt. Realistically they are only authorized through 2026 anyway, but they've done some really great work so far - even with their late start

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

It’s ok to both 1) think DOGE is irresponsible and 2) be critical of the argument that individual agency’s annual budget and headcount #s being public will allow adversaries to figure out anything useful (even cia directors have said they can’t)

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

This White House doesn’t care about free speech or informing the American people. It cares about controlling the narrative by shutting out the press and punishing anyone who challenges it in even the smallest of ways. All Americans should object to this petty, unconstitutional ban on @apnews.com.

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

There are a lot of reasons why people should be concerned about the damage DOGE is wreaking behind closed doors, but sorry, the head count and budget of U.S. intelligence agencies should be public information — no reason for it to be classified.

submitted 8 days ago • 13 comments

A FOIA Files SCOOP: Elon Musk’s DOGE Targets #FOIA Requests at Agency Under its Purview DOGE also wants to be notified when there’s any attempt at oversight from Congress, inspectors general, even the Government Accountability Office. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

submitted 8 days ago • 40 comments

The year 2024 presented significant challenges to press freedom, but we are here to meet the moment. Read our full 2024 impact report here:

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Great article from @jaredbkeller.bsky.social highlighting NARA's most underappreciated roles, including its job overseeing the government's classification system (and running the national declassification center)

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

All of the CFPB uncertainty reminds me of this article about Trump's interest in dismantling the FDIC: (WSJ followed-up on this story yesterday: www.wsj.com/finance/regu...)

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

If the National Archives doesn’t have qualified leadership, the rest of the government will have an easier time keeping secrets. FPF helped lead a coalition that urged the White House to reaffirm the agency’s professional stewardship. Government transparency is at stake.

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment