National Security Counselors v. Central Intelligence Agency, No. 18-5047 (D.C. Cir. 2020)
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This appeal arose from NSC's three lawsuits raising 45 claims against six federal agencies arising out of numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests initiated by NSC. Through a series of decisions, the district court ruled in favor of the government on all the claims.
In this opinion, the DC Circuit individually addressed three of NSC's claims: two claims concerning distinct FOIA requests made to the CIA and a third claim concerning the DOJ's assertion of attorney-client privilege in response to a FOIA request. The court held that the CIA and the district court correctly concluded that, as drafted, the request for all CIA records pertaining to the IBM supercomputer named Watson called for an unreasonably burdensome search. In regard to the request seeking OLC opinions pertaining to various statutes including FOIA itself, the Privacy Act, and the Federal Records Act, the court held that there was no waiver of the attorney-client privilege with regard to the two OLC opinions at issue. The court did not separately discuss NSC's remaining claims, but found that they lacked merit. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's judgment in all respects.
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