CIA must respond to request about secret drone program

Published time: March 15, 2013 14:54

A federal appeals court says that the Central Intelligence Agency was wrong to refuse a Freedom of Information Act request for details on the CIA’s drone program.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a FOIA request with the United States’ top spy agency in January 2010, and in September of the following year a district court said the agency could stay silent. The court agreed at the time that the CIA was not required to describe the existence of any official drone records within the agency and was given the go ahead to issue a “Glomar” response, a reaction which permits an agency to “refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records” in limited circumstances. Now, however, an appeals court says that ruling was wrong.

The ACLU filed an appeal to the Glomar response, and on Friday the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a response in which it overturns the earlier ruling that favored the CIA.

“The question on appeal is whether the Agency’s Glomar response was justified under the circumstances of this case. We conclude that it was not justified and therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings,”finds the court [.pdf].

The appellate panel goes on to say that a Glomar response would be acceptable if even admitting to the existence of any drone information would cause significant harm to national security.

FULL STORY: http://rt.com/usa/cia-aclue-drone-foia-325/