Navy’s attempt to narrow public’s right to know

Editor’s Note: This guest column by Ground Zero Center’s Glen Milner originally appeared in the Kitsap Sun newspaper on Sunday, July 19, 2021. The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is to ensure the public’s right to know what their government is doing and how its actions affect them.  The law is based upon the principle that an informed citizenry is essential for a democratic society. However, for the seventh year in a row, the Department of Defense (DOD) is attempting to insert regulations in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would create unnecessary and overbroad secrecy […]

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Judge dismisses Navy bid to control Kitsap County records

Judge dismisses Navy bid to control Kitsap County records: But Navy may still seek order for County to return certain training records Contact: Glen Milner (206) 365-7865 Katherine George, attorney (425) 802-1052 April 4, 2016 – Citizens may still request public records from Kitsap County without the federal government taking control. In a recent ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Leighton dismissed claims by federal agencies that the Department of Defense should control Kitsap County’s handling of records requests whenever they might involve sensitive military information. Judge Leighton also dismissed claims that Kitsap County should be permanently blocked from releasing certain […]

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No End to the Government’s Quest for Secrecy

Editor’s Note: The United States Government continues to erect huge walls of secrecy (in the name National Security and its endless war on terror), preventing the public from (among other things) exercising our right to know about issues that affect our health and safety. Glen Milner has been a constant advocate for our right to know, and won a significant victory in the US Supreme Court in 2011 – Milner v. Department of the Navy. Milner had requested (through FOIA) explosives data and maps to determine the risk to neighbors of a Navy munitions storage depot in case of an accident involving explosives […]

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When Public Safety and “National Security” Clash

Editor’s Note: The following article published in the Kitsap Sun on October 24th highlights the continuing struggle to guarantee the public’s right to know of potential hazards to our communities, our homes and our families. The government (and in this case the Navy) regularly overreaches in invoking “national security” in withholding records that affect the safety and health of citizens living around government facilities – in this case the naval base with the largest operational concentration of nuclear weapons in the US arsenal, Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. Glen Milner, who is at the forefront of Ground Zero’s lawsuit challenging the Navy’s grossly deficient […]

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