Intelligence Agency’s ‘Scrubbed’ FOIA Records Found

Welcome back to FOIA Files! Last week, I shared a set of emails that revealed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence “scrubbed” its FOIA webpage and removed hundreds of documents from its reading room that were released over the past decade in response to FOIA requests. An ODNI official told me the purge was triggered by a document the agency improperly posted during the Biden administration that had caused a “fuss.” But the official wouldn’t identify the document. Well, as the saying goes, the internet is forever. Almost all of the documents ODNI removed are still accessible through the Internet Archive! The question remains: Which Biden-era document released by ODNI between Jan. 20, 2021 and Jan. 20, 2025 spurred the scrub? If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.

Before it was “wiped” in May 2025, ODNI’s FOIA reading room was a broad repository for intelligence related documents. I counted more than 200 separate documents ODNI released during the Biden administration. A handful were actually released to me! For example, on Nov. 15, 2024, the agency sent me a closely guarded intelligence memo related to the targeted assassinations of political foes of Russian President Vladimir Putin. I’d been fighting to pry loose that particular record for nearly eight years.