Post-Mortem Images of Bin-Laden Classified Top Secret, Exempt from Disclosure.
Post-Mortem Images of Bin-Laden Classified Top Secret, Exempt from Disclosure.
In May 2013, the D.C. Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by Judicial Watch seeking to compel the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to disclose post-mortem images of Osama Bin Laden.
After President Obama announced, in May 2011, that Bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda, had been killed in a military strike, Judicial Watch filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the Department of Defense and the CIA, seeking photographs or video of Bin Laden “during and/or after the U.S. Military operation in Pakistan.” The Department of Defense indicated that it had no such images. The CIA indicted that it had 52 responsive records; because they were classified Top Secret, however, the CIA would not release them.
In support of its position, the CIA submitted declarations indicating that disclosure of the pictures, described as “quite graphic” and “gruesome,” could lead to retaliatory attacks against Americans, as well as fuel anti-American propaganda. One of the declarations cited the fatal riots that had followed the publication of a Danish cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The declarations also indicated that disclosure would reveal classified methods and tactics used in United States’ special operations.
On the basis of the declarations, the district court granted summary judgment to the CIA.
On appeal, the D.C. Circuit held that while the declarations submitted by the CIA were “speculative to some extent,” it was sufficient, under FOIA, that they gave a “plausible” and “logical” account of the harm to national security that might result from the release of the images. See: Judicial Watch, Inc. v. United States Dept. of Def., 715 F.3d 937 (D.C. Cir. 2013).
Related legal case
Judicial Watch, Inc. v. United States Department of Defense
| Year | 2013 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 715 F.3d 937 (D.C. Cir. 2013) |
| Level | Court of Appeals |
| Appeals Court Edition | F.3d |