Fighting FOIA

Following a loss in the Supreme Court earlier this year, the Navy is using new arguments to prevent the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding safety procedures for a naval weapons facility, Defense Environment Alert reports this morning.

The Navy is arguing on remand that an exemption protecting certain law enforcement records from mandatory public disclosure applies to the public withholding of safety procedures for a naval weapons facility. Further:

The Navy, in its opening brief in the remanded case Glen Milner v. U.S. Department of the Navy, relies heavily on statements made by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in a concurring opinion issued in the March 7 high court ruling in the original case.

In the 8-1 Milner ruling, the Supreme Court rejected the Navy's attempt to use a personnel rules exemption -- Exemption 2 -- to withhold the public release of safety procedures for a naval weapons facility in Washington State. The ruling signaled strong backing by the court for broad public disclosure of information with only narrow, limited exemptions, easing concerns from activists that the court would end up blocking access to environment and other data without good cause (Defense Environment Alert, March 15).

But at the same time, the high court left open the possibility for the Navy to argue on remand to a lower court that the information should be withheld under a different FOIA exemption, Exemption 7.

Specifically, the Navy is now arguing that Exemption 7(F) allows it to withhold the safety procedures from public release. It filed its opening brief Sept. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.