FOIA Update

Empower Oversight Obtains VA Red Team Report on Community Care

WASHINGTON – A VA Red Team report obtained by Empower Oversight on the community care options for veterans shows vets’ growing desire to utilize health care out of the VA system. The report, created by health care experts who were convened by the VA to study the community care program, explains why whistleblowers have come

Empower Oversight Obtains NIH Documents on EcoHealth, COVID-19

WASHINGTON – Since 2021, Empower Oversight has been seeking records related to COVID-19 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to shed light on what the NIH knew about the American taxpayer-paid research done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. NIH resisted transparency and delayed releasing document on the research, the subsequent

Empower Oversight Pushes Back on DOJ Excuses for FOIA Noncompliance

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is pushing back on the Department of Justice’s categorical denial of an Empower Freedom of Information Act request relating to the protected disclosures made by FBI whistleblower Marcus Allen. On Feb. 12, 2024, Empower Oversight placed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Justice Department for records about Allen’s request

Confirmed: VA Official’s Comments to Discourage Community Care are Part of Routine Remarks to Employees

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight has confirmed through additional video that Veterans Affairs (VA) Undersecretary for Health Dr. Shareef Elnahal has made comments at multiple town halls downplaying the opportunities available for veterans to obtain community care, expressly against the wishes of Congress. Empower previously released a two-minute clip of Elnahal’s remarks at an August 31,

Empower Appeals DOJ FOIA Denial for Calce Files

Empower Oversight has appealed (letter here) a decision by the Department of Justice that partially denied the organization’s request for an entire category of records related to the department’s hiring and employment of Christina Calce, who currently serves on the minority staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. Empower Oversight argues

Empower Oversight Presses Attorney General Garland to Address Conflicts of Interest Enabling Retaliation Against IRS Whistleblowers

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is pressing Attorney General Merrick Garland to address conflicts of interest within the Justice Department that are enabling retaliation against IRS whistleblowers Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Gary Shapley and Special Agent (SA) Joseph Ziegler. In a letter to the Attorney General, Empower Oversight expresses the concern that in the Department’s prosecution

Whistleblowers: CJIS Run like a Personal Fiefdom for Assistant Director

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is learning from multiple former employees of the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) that the agency is being used as a personal fiefdom for the Assistant Director by rewarding women with whom he appears to have engaged in inappropriate relationships, among other concerns. The Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) division of

Empower Oversight Sues SEC for More Crypto Conflict Documents

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight has filed a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its failure to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking documents related to cryptocurrency conflicts of interest at the agency. “By slow walking their response to our FOIA request, the SEC is stonewalling Empower’s oversight into

Empower Oversight Seeks Additional Documents to Shine Light on Former SEC Leadership Involvement in Crypto Decision-making

WASHINGTON – Years into a quest to uncover information about how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made decisions about its regulation of cryptocurrencies, Empower Oversight is seeking new, specific cryptocurrency-related communications of William Hinman, the Director of the Division of Corporate Finance at the SEC from 2017-2020, and Jay Clayton, the former Chairman of

Whistleblower’s Prayer Journal to Help Feed Family Delayed by FBI for Entire Year

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight has filed the third in a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding the FBI’s retaliation against whistleblower Marcus Allen by denying him any source of income while suspended without pay.  The FOIA request seeks documents related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) delaying an entire year before