WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge rejected the CIA’s request to reconsider a court order that it respond to a Freedom of Information Act request on the dollar amount of U.S. intelligence support for Israel.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in March ordered the CIA to process a March 2015 FOIA request from Grant Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy.
Smith, who is handling the litigation himself, wants intelligence budget line items from 1990 to 2015 as part of his public interest research on how U.S. nuclear knowhow, material and technology have been diverted to support Israeli entities engaged in clandestine nuclear weapons research and development…
…Smith said he will challenge the CIA if it admits it has the information but refuses to release it under a FOIA exemption.
“It’s kind of sad, really, that they won’t play ball,” he said. “We’re all spending time and money on this very basic question to the top recipient of all foreign aid, and we’re acting as though these things are sacred. And they’re not.” More