Washington Post Company v. Special Inspector General For Afghanistan Reconstruction

486 F.Supp.3d 141 (D.C. Cir. 2020)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D is an independent organization that was established by the National Defense Authorization Act in 2008. It is a law enforcement and auditing agency that has 'audit and investigatory authority over all reconstruction programs and operations in Afghanistan that are supported with U.S. dollars, regardless of the agency involved.' Its Lessons Learned Program (LLP) makes recommendations to Congress and federal agencies on ways to improve the reconstruction efforts. Whitlock, a P reporter, submitted a FOIA request to D that sought 'full, unedited transcripts and complete audio recordings of all interviews conducted for the Lessons Learned program, regardless of whether they were labeled as 'on the record,' or if the interviewee was granted anonymity, or if they were cited in a particular report or not.' On February 23, 2018, D informed Whitlock, it possessed only seventeen recorded interviews, and only nine of those were transcribed. D stated that it is prohibited by law from disclosing the identity of a source who wishes to remain anonymous. P responded that it is requesting all records of interviews conducted as part of the Lessons Learned Program. . . . including, but not limited to, transcripts, verbatim transcripts, handwritten and typed notes, records of interviews, audio recordings, video recordings, interview excerpts, and interview summaries. Eventually, P filed suit in that D had produced only: '43 of the 47 'on the record' interviews;' '187 of the 363 'on background' interviews;' and '7 of 17 audio recordings of interviews.' P sought declaratory and injunctive relief ordering D to produce the remaining materials and challenging D's withholding of certain documents. The Court established a schedule for the production of the remainder of the requested documents. On June 17, 2019, D reported that it had completed production 'of all releasable records.' Both parties moved for summary judgment.