The public interest group made the discovery when it obtained
a copy of a redacted declassified "Secret"
FBI
report
that it had requested using the Freedom of Information Act.
Judicial Watch analysed newspaper references detailed on the
file, and discovered that the document, dated 24th September 2003,
actually related to Osama bin Laden.
Under the
US
Freedom of Information Act, the
FBI
is entitled to withhold all information about
US
persons in "personnel and medical files and similar
files" when the disclosure of such information "would constitute a
clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
Before the information is withheld, says Judicial Watch, the
FBI
is supposed to carry out a balancing test of the
public's right to disclosure against the individual's right to
privacy – and in this case upheld the right to privacy.
"It is dumbfounding that the United States government has
placed a higher priority on the supposed privacy rights of Osama
bin Laden than the public's right to know what happened in the days
following the September 11 terrorist attacks," said Judicial Watch
President Tom Fitton. "It is difficult for me to imagine a greater
insult to the American people, especially those whose loved ones
were murdered by bin Laden on that day."
