

FOIAing the NSA: What you can get, what you can't and where to start - morisy
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2013/jun/11/foiaing-nsa-what-you-can-get-what-you-cant-and-whe/

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danohuiginn
In the case of Snowden, PRISM, etc, you have a good case to request expedited
processing. The NSA uses DOD rules, which will fast-track requests:

"urgently needed by an individual primarily engaged in disseminating
information in order to inform the public concerning actual or alleged Federal
Government activity"

[[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/foia/submit_foia_request/](http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/foia/submit_foia_request/),
[http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/540007r.pdf](http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/540007r.pdf)]

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lambda
Also worth trying are Privacy Act requests about data that they have collected
on you personally; the Privacy Act is separate from the FOIA, and allows you
to request information that they have collected about you.

Of course, there is an exemption for information needed for law-enforcement
and counter terrorism. So they may simply deny your request (or provide
entirely redacted documents) for that reason. But it's still worth a shot.

Also remember that technically, it's the FBI which conducts domestic
operations. While the NSA may provide services to the FBI to help them collect
information, it's the FBI which is officially gathering that information. So
any requests, either Privacy Act or FOIA, should be made of both the FBI and
NSA.

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leoc
Speaking of which, here are some FAA-related documents which have been out for
a while:

[http://www.aclu.org/national-security/faa-foia-
documents](http://www.aclu.org/national-security/faa-foia-documents)

