Background Department of Defense FOIA offices are prohibited from responding to “significant” FOIA requests having “departmental level interest” without approval from the Pentagon, according to a policy document obtained by Cause of Action from the DoD’s Inspector General. A “significant” request is defined by the policy document as one where, in the judgment of a FOIA office, “the subject matter of the released documents may generate media interest and/or may be of interest or potential interest to DoD senior leadership.” This can include requests regarding “the current administration (including request for information on Senator Obama) previous administrations, and current or…
Author: John Greenewald
Background DARPA’s mission is to prevent the technological surprise of the United States, and to create technological surprise for our enemies. This document provides short abstracts of DARPA programs in FY 2008 and FY 2009, and it is a reference for those interested in DARPA’s research portfolio. To better illustrate the goals of the programs, the programs have been grouped into the nine Strategic Thrusts that form DARPA’s strategy as described in Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Strategic Plan (February 2007). Document Archive 2008 DARPA Fact File, June 2008 [91 Pages, 21MB]
Background This document was referenced in a report bibliography obtained from the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). The record was requested, and the below is what was received. According to the Department of Justice: FOIA Exemption (b)(4) protects “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or confidential.” (1) This exemption is intended to protect the interests of both the government and submitters of information. Its very existence encourages submitters to voluntarily furnish useful commercial or financial information to the government and it correspondingly provides the government with an assurance that such information will…
Background Agencies report resource data and targets for government-wide mission critical occupations and agency specific mission critical and/or high risk occupations. These are submitted annually to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Document Archive Department of Energy (DOE)’s Mission Critical Occupation (MCO) Staffing Resource Chart, FY 2018 [4 Pages, 1MB]
Background The Lunex Project was a US Air Force 1958 plan for a crewed lunar landing prior to the Apollo Program. The final lunar expedition plan in 1961 was for a 21-person underground Air Force base on the Moon by 1968 at a total cost of $7.5 billion. The primary distinction between the later Apollo missions and Lunex was the orbital rendezvous maneuver. The Lunex vehicle, composed of a landing module and a lifting body return/re-entry module, would land the entire vehicle and all astronauts on the surface, whereas the final Apollo mission involved a separate ascent module leaving the…