First Amendment Advocates Say Air Force Tweak to Public Records Request Process 'Very Troubling'

By Thomas Novelly, Military.com, Oct. 27, 2023

A new change to the Air Force's Freedom of Information Act submission portal, asking whether individuals seeking public information from the service would agree to accept only "clearly releasable" information, is alarming First Amendment advocates and government watchdogs.

Military.com discovered the change to the service's portal this month when submitting what's called a FOIA request for government documents that could be used for news reporting and are legally required to be made public upon request. A newly added question asks the filer to check "yes" or "no" and agree in advance to potential redactions of information before submitting their form online.

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[P.S. At least two components of the U.S. Navy also employ the same process, namely the the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Sea Systems Command.]