When Truthout managing editor Jason Leopold filed a request to the FBI asking for records related to law enforcement action around the Occupy movements, the agency told him they had no such records.
On October 31, 2011, Leopold asked the agency for:
all emails, memos, letter, audio/video, transcript, reports, including FBI Threat Assessments, related to the protest movement known as "Occupy Wall Street."….[A]ny correspondence…between FBI personnel, including field agents and officers, and law enforcement agencies, including but not limited to, local police personnel, CIA and Department of Homeland, related to the protest movement known as "Occupy Wall Street."….[between] August 1, 2011 and October 31, 2011.
In a letter dated November 15, 2011, the FBI replied that it did not possess any such records. (Leopold also has an outstanding request on the same issue pending with DHS.)
But in a letter dated December 6, 2011, in response to a separate request filed by UC Berkley privacy law lecturer Geoffrey King, the FBI stated that just might have some files pertaining to Occupy San Francisco. His request is currently under review.
The FBI might return some files to Leopold, as well. He appealed their denial on the grounds that public documents exist proving that the FBI has produced reports citing the Occupy movement. His appeal also referenced the Gawker article we covered last week, which describes the freelance work of a private security contractor who allegedly infiltrated Occupy Wall Street listservs and fed information to an FBI cybersecurity agent named Jordan Loyd.
The National Lawyers Guild filed a separate request seeking information about federal coordination against the Occupy movement.
UPDATE: A second Truthout reporter's request to the FBI on occupy coordination has been updated. At first, the DOJ told reporter Yana Kunichoff that the agency did not have responsive documents to her request on FBI involvement in occupy policing. But on December 6, 2011, the agency sent her a letter saying that in fact it was in possession of responsive documents, and that her request had been re-opened. She has not received any documents in response yet, but we will keep you updated when/if she does.
Check back here for updates as these requests are processed and records are released.