Freedom of information

FBI wanted Tesla’s ‘death ray’ invention for War Dept, documents show

The FBI has finally published its cache of files relating to Nikola Tesla, 73 years after “two truckloads” of his property were seized by the US government following the renowned inventor’s death.

The declassified documents have been released under the Freedom of Information Act and revealed the FBI and government’s serious interest in the death ray - a particle beam weapon which Tesla claimed to have invented.

The long-awaited release also contains information on Tesla’s ball lightning experiments and an FBI plot to arrest a family member who they believed was trying to get his hands on Tesla’s treasure trove of documents.

Serbian-born Tesla is most famous for designing the AC electricity supply system. He was also known for his foresight, predicting the smartphone and video calling.

Freedom of information

FOIA Commands Headlines as Law Approaches 50th Birthday

Today the National Security Archive celebrates the Freedom of Information Act’s upcoming 50^th birthday by highlighting 50 of the year’s biggest news stories made possible by FOIA. The diverse front-page news shows how FOIA can impact human rights, government accountability, and even what you eat.

Here is a sampling of this year’s top stories:

• FOIA releases to the National Security Archive provided critical evidence in the historic conviction of 14 Argentine military officers and 1 Uruguayan military officer for their participation in the Operation Condor international murder ring and were cited 150 times by the prosecution.
• Documents released through FOIA proved Pentagon officials deliberately misled Congress on the Defense Department’s handling of sexual assault cases in order to undermine reform legislation.
• A FOIA lawsuit uncovered that the Obama White House’s Justice Department aggressively lobbied to kill uncontroversial bipartisan FOIA reform in 2014...

Freedom of information

Capitol Case: Robert Freeman’s Enduring Fight Against Government Secrecy

Robert Freeman has been helping people extract public information from New York state agencies for four decades. He is the executive director of the New York Committee on Open Government, a division of the New York Department of State that advises the public on the Freedom of Information Law — the state statute authorizing access to public records.