Sometimes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) responses produce unexpected results.  Such is the case in a recent response from the secretive United States government’s National Security Agency (NSA) -- the agency that is now in the public limelight for listening to U.S. citizen’s telephone conversations without legal authorization or oversight.  In a letter dated February 2, 2006 and signed by its Director of Policy, the NSA revealed that it has contracts with at least two of the major mainstream press wire services, Reuters and Associated Press (AP), and that the information that it had received from these wire services could not be released to the public. Here in part is what the letter said:

“Information provided to NSA by Reuters and AP is protected against disclosure pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Section 552(b)(4).  The NSA contract with these companies precludes our release of this information.  Violation of these contracts could prevent the government from obtaining similar information in the future.”