D.C. District Judge Sides with CIA in Drone FOIA Case

A D.C. District judge ruled yesterday that the CIA can keep nearly all information related to its drone activities and the legal basis for them secret, reports Josh Gerstein of Politico. U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer also upheld the Obama Administration's claim of executive priviledge to withhold documents related to exchanges between the President's advisers and executive branch agencies.

In her opinion, Judge Collyer wrote

"The Court concludes that ACLU has not cleared the 'high hurdle' of demonstrating that any of government statements to which it points is as specific as the details on the charts and compilations it seeks, or that such statements match the withheld information. See Pub. Citizen v. Dep't of State, 11 F.3d 198, 203 (D.C. Cir. 1993). A FOIA plaintiff such as ACLU is held to a stringent standard because 'the Government’s vital interest in information relating to national security and foreign affairs dictates that it must be.'"

The ACLU plans to appeal the decision.

You can read the full opinion below.