In the realm of American journalism, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a kind of mythical weapon—a wedge reporters can use to pry open the files of government agencies. Since the law was passed in 1967, many thousands of investigations have been cracked open by way of FOIA. So it may surprise you to learn that, even today, journalists file only a small minority of FOIA requests. That's just one intriguing nugget in Mark Harris' feature story about a small California family business that became a shameless, but perhaps vital, defender of government transparency. At most US government agencies, the majority of FOIA requests are made by corporations, many of which are information resellers like Newport Aeronautical Sales, the subject of Harris' story. For decades, George Posey III, the CEO of Newport Aeronautical, earned a mighty profit for his company by filing requests for information from the government—mostly engineering drawings, technical manuals, and specs related to military aircraft—and selling that data to, well, anyone who would buy it. The information typically cost Newport Aeronautical no more than a few dollars for duplication, and the company would often mark up the resale cost by hundreds of dollars. As one former employee told Harris, "We had this stuff at our fingertips. … That's the model, and it's a brilliant model." To protect this cash machine, Posey filed a string of lawsuits against various government agencies, some of which helped rein in the government's tendency to hoard information. But Posey is far from an uncomplicated hero. Litigiousness aside, his willingness to sell military data to people the US considered threats to national security made Posey himself a target. Mark Harris—without the help of FOIA!—has threaded together the journey of how Posey the intrepid opportunist and Newport Aeronautical became "key combatants in the US government's long, concerted battle to keep information from the public." – Matthew Mcknight | Features Editor |
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