FBI Illegally Withholding Hijacker Autopsy Reports

On June 13, 2012, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) at Dover Air Force Base asking for copies of the autopsy reports for the passengers aboard Flight 77 that reportedly crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. A response letter from AFMES dated June 20, 2012 stated that they (AFMES) do not release autopsy reports, citing the (b)(6) FOIA Law exemption for "personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy", the letter also cited privacy concerns for the decendents and surviving family members.

A few days after faxing a response back to AFMES, I spoke with Mr. Paul Stone, the AFMES FOIA officer, I naively attempted to clarify what I thought was a simple misunderstanding of the law on his part. I explained that according to case law, which I cited in my faxed reply to his office, autopsy reports are in fact public records and that according to the law the autopsy reports were supposed to be released. The law further stipulates that if protecting privacy rights of surviving family members is cited as cause for denial, then the names of the family members opposing the release of the reports must be listed in writing. Mr. Stone simply forwarded my request to the FBI.

Aside from the fact that the FBI violated the 20 day acknowledgment of receipt requirement of the FOIA Law. I learned earlier today (Thursday August 30, 2012) that the FBI closed my case/request without telling me after I responded to their July 24, 2012 denial of release citing the same case law and further asserting that privacy rights only apply to U.S. citizens and not dead foreigner terrorists also that whether American or not, the courts have long decided that when you die so too does your right to privacy.

On August 3, 2012 I sent a response to the FBI's denial letter via fax back to the FBI and as suggested in their letter, I checked their website for an update on the status of my request. It was on Wednesday night that I learned via the FBI website that my case number was no longer in their database. After a brief round of phone tag, I received a return call from David Sobonya at the FBI's Records Information Division informing me that my case was in fact closed and that the records were exempt from release.

It is very unusual for a FOIA request to be closed without me being informed in writing, and even more unusual that a case is closed before the appeal process has run it's course. Although, in the FBI's July 24, 2012 denial letter, I was given 60 days to appeal, the FBI seemingly abruptly closed my case without waiting for the outcome of an appeal. More to come soon.