Republic of New Afrika v. FBI, Civ. A. No. 78-1721.

• Decision Date: 15 December 1986
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 78-1721.
• Citation: 656 F. Supp. 7
• Parties: REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

656 F. Supp. 7

REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 78-1721.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

July 29, 1985.

As Amended December 15, 1986.

Jeffrey Haas, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs.

Robert Eaton, Asst. U.S. Atty., Washington, D.C., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

GASCH, District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

This is an action arising under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552, for disclosure of certain materials by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"). Plaintiff Republic of New Afrika ("RNA") characterizes itself as a "nation of Black people within the territorial boundaries of the United States of America" and has claimed sovereignty over portions of the United States. See Complaint ¶ 3. Plaintiff Imari Abubakari Obadele is president of the RNA. Id. at ¶ 4.¹ Plaintiff Kenneth Lawrence Burg characterizes himself as a "long time journalist, writer and political activist" who is interested in matters pertaining to the RNA. Id. at ¶ 5.

Plaintiffs' quest to obtain the documents that are the subject of this litigation began a decade ago on April 30, 1975 when Mr. Burg sent a letter to the FBI requesting the release of information pursuant to FOIA pertaining to, inter alia, the RNA. Loome Aff. (Feb. 7, 1980) ¶ 54. The FBI began releasing documents on October 1, 1975, when Mr. Burg received 113 pages of material from FBI Headquarters files. Id. at ¶ 58. On this and subsequent occasions, plaintiffs were informed that the FBI was withholding selected materials pursuant to certain FOIA exemptions. See, e.g., id.

Plaintiffs filed this action on September 14, 1978² alleging that the FBI had improperly claimed the FOIA exemptions and had failed to acknowledge the existence of certain documents. Complaint, ¶ 49. The complaint sought information concerning a list of dozens of individuals, organizations, and topics. Id. The FBI ultimately identified 52,728 pages of documents as being responsive to plaintiffs' FOIA requests. Approximately 12,596 pages have been withheld from plaintiffs to date as of the most recent count available to the Court.³

The matter has been the subject of extensive proceedings since 1978. The government has submitted numerous Vaughn-type affidavits/declarations⁴ covering 16,783 documents in six subject areas identified by the parties.⁵

On August 2, 1983, defendants moved for summary judgment, contending that defendants had provided all materials to which plaintiffs had a right pursuant to FOIA and lawfully withheld or excised portions of other materials pursuant to three of the statutory exemptions to FOIA: Exemptions 1, 3 and 7.⁶ On September 30, 1983, counsel for plaintiffs filed an opposition to defendants' motion and asked the Court to conduct an in camera inspection of certain materials to determine whether defendants had properly asserted the various FOIA exemptions. The brief submitted by plaintiffs made clear that plaintiffs were not seeking the Court's review of all materials not provided to plaintiffs.⁷ Instead, plaintiffs informed the Court that they sought "a sample in camera inspection using 200 documents selected by Plaintiffs." Plaintiffs added:

These documents would be chosen based on the likelihood of their demonstrating the F.B.I. conspiracy to neutralize Plaintiffs by use of the pre-arranged raid as well as the likelihood that the deletions in the documents are unjustified. If disclosure of the originals of the two hundred documents selected by Plaintiffs in camera satisfied the Court that the Defendants were witholding sic properly, then Plaintiffs would assume that they were using the same methods throughout.⁸

On November 5, 1984, the Court heard argument concerning the government's motion for summary judgment and plaintiffs' motion for in camera review. Counsel for plaintiffs again urged the Court to review a sample of materials containing redactions to be selected by plaintiffs in order to resolve whether plaintiffs' contention that defendants were applying the claimed exemptions in an overbroad fashion had merit. Although the Court expressed some reservations about utilizing documents chosen by plaintiffs instead of documents chosen at random, counsel for plaintiffs stressed that allowing plaintiffs to choose the documents would be more instructive by allowing the parties to focus on those items that were most in dispute as a genuine test of the remaining materials. As Mr. Haas told the Court, plaintiffs were "willing to accept that if the Court doesn't find any improper claim there, it won't be anywhere."⁹

Without in any way suggesting that in camera review was required,¹⁰ the Court concluded, in its discretion, that plaintiffs' motion for in camera review afforded the most expeditious means of resolving the question of the propriety of the claimed exemptions. Accordingly, the Court agreed to conduct the review urged by plaintiffs and reserved ruling on the motion for summary judgment pending that review.

On January 16, 1985, plaintiffs submitted the redacted documents they wished the Court to consider.¹¹ On May 1, 1985, defendants filed true and exact copies of the unredacted originals with the Court. The Court has now completed its review of these materials and, for the reasons set forth below, finds that the redactions were proper.

II. DISCUSSION

The Freedom of Information Act was conceived "in an effort to permit access by the citizenry to most forms of government records." Vaughn, 484 F.2d at 823; see also McGeehee v. CIA, 697 F.2d 1095, 1108 (D.C.Cir.1983); Docal v. Bennsinger, 543 F.Supp. 38 (M.D.Pa.1981). "Congress recognized, however, that public disclosure is not always in the public interest and thus provided that agency records may be withheld from disclosure under any of the exemptions defined in 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)." CIA v. Sims, 471 U.S. 159, 105 S.Ct. 1881, 85 L.Ed.2d 173 (1985). It is well settled that these limited exemptions are to be construed narrowly so as to provide maximum access consonant with the overall purpose of FOIA. E.g., Yeager v. Drug Enforcement Administration, 678 F.2d 315 (D.C.Cir.1982). By statute, the burden of establishing that a particular record, or a portion thereof, falls within one of the enumerated exemptions lies with the agency. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B). See Exxon Corp. v. FTC, 663 F.2d 120, 127 (D.C.Cir. 1980).

With these principles in mind, the Court made a thorough review of the materials designated by plaintiffs for in camera review as well as all the Vaughn statements submitted by defendants. The Court summarizes its conclusions both with regard to the documents submitted for in camera review and the record as a whole by reviewing the principal exemptions claimed in connection with the case at bar.

A. Exemption 7(C)

The government has withheld certain materials from plaintiffs pursuant to Exemption 7(C) which applies to "investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such records would ... constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C). The threshold determination in considering this exemption is whether the materials in question are investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes.¹² If the materials meet these prerequisites, the availability of the exemption then turns on a balancing of the privacy interest asserted and the public's interest in disclosure. See, e.g., Stern v. FBI, 737 F.2d 84, 88, 91 (D.C.Cir.1984).

1. Threshold Requirements

The principal mission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agency that developed the documents that are the focus of this action, is criminal law enforcement. Pratt v. Webster, 673 F.2d 408, 418 n. 25 (D.C.Cir.1982); see 28 U.S.C. § 533 (FBI responsible for detecting and aiding in the prosecution of federal crimes). Thus the Court of Appeals for this Circuit has held that a court can accept "less exacting proof" and apply "a more deferential attitude" toward claims of law enforcement purpose made by the FBI. Pratt, 673 F.2d at 418.

The record in this case leaves no doubt that the investigatory activities that gave rise to the documents plaintiffs seek were related to law enforcement. Affidavits furnished by the FBI demonstrate that the FBI had identified particular individuals and incidents in connection with possible violations of law, thereby demonstrating that the FBI was acting within its principal function of law enforcement and not merely engaging in a general monitoring of private individuals' activities. Pratt, 673 F.2d at 420. For example, the February 7, 1980 affidavit of Special Agent Loome reports that the FBI investigated plaintiff Obadele to determine if his activities were in violation of a number of federal statutes noted at the margin.¹³ In addition, the nexus between the investigation and the FBI's law enforcement duties is more than sufficient to support a colorable claim of its rationality. Pratt, 673 F.2d at 421.¹⁴

2. Balancing of Interests

Exemption 7(C) permits nondisclosure to the extent that production would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Application of this exemption requires a balancing of the privacy interest asserted against the public's interest in disclosure. See Department of the Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 370-73, 96 S.Ct. 1592, 1603-04, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976); Fund for Constitutional Government v. National Archives, 656 F.2d 856, 862 (D.C.Cir.1981).

As the relevant Vaughn affidavits make clear, the government has relied on Exemption 7(C) to protect inter alia persons named in investigatory files who may or may not have been considered criminal suspects and names of FBI agents and employees. The Court of Appeals for this Circuit has held that information in an investigatory file tending to indicate individuals who have been at one time of investigatory interest to the FBI is an...