This introductory briefing will cover the basic mechanics of filing a FOIA request, how journalists, activists, or just everyday citizens can use FOIA, and the current landscape for FOIA policy under the Trump administration.
Everyone who wants to learn more about FOIA is invited to join. The briefing will be held over a conference call line, so you can join from anywhere in the country! Please RSVP to receive the conference number.
Featuring:
Ken Klippenstein, Journalist--Ken is an American national security reporter. His work has been featured in The Daily Best, AlterNet, and Shadowproof. As a journalist, Ken has used FOIA to uncover everything from the gifts Donald Trump received from Saudi Arabia to the FBI’s surveillance of a renowned arms monitoring group.
Beryl Lipton, MuckRock--Beryl is Projects Manager and Senior Reporter at MuckRock, a collaborative news service that helps anybody file, track, and share public records requests. Her work focuses on the freedom of information and its use to investigate our country’s inefficiencies and injustices, including issues of criminal justice, privatization, and foreign policy.
Jesse Franzblau, Open The Government--Jesse is a long-time freedom of information advocate and specializes in use of the FOIA to document U.S. national security policies and uncover human rights abuses. He has written a number of publications on U.S. foreign policy, freedom of expression, government surveillance, and the intersection between freedom of information and human rights truth and justice efforts. His published work has appeared in The Nation, Al Jazeera, The Intercept, NACLA, Michigan Journal of Public Affairs, Columbia Human Rights Law Review, among other publications.
Chip Gibbons (Moderator), Defending Rights & Dissent–Chip is a passionate defender of the right to political expression. He is currently involved in a joint effort of DRAD and the DC-National Lawyers Guild to use local FOIA requests to uncover more information about police infiltration of inauguration protests. He has appeared as an expert on US constitutional law on Al Jazeera and has contributedto The Nation, Jacobin, and The Henry Kissinger Files, forthcoming Verso.