FBI refuses to turn over documents about alleged plot by extremists to assassinate leaders of the 'Occupy' movement

The alleged plot was first disclosed in documents released by the FBI in response to a FOIA request by a civil rights organization

MIT graduate student Ryan Shapiro says the FBI is now refusing to turn over additional information he's requested

The FBI says the information Shapiro requested is exempt under FOIA laws

The judge hearing the case is not satisfied with the FBI's reason for withholding the information

The Federal Bureau of Investigations must offer a federal judge a better explanation as to why it is refusing to give information to a graduate student researching an alleged plot to kill 'Occupy' leaders in Texas, the judge hearing the case ruled last week.

Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in her ruling that the reason the FBI gave for denying Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student Ryan Noah Shapiro access to key pieces of information in heavily redacted documents was not sufficient, and a better explanation must be provided if the Bureau continues to refuse to share the information.

Shapiro is researching an alleged sniper plot to kill leaders of a Houston-based spin-off of the 'Occupy' movement. He sued the FBI after submitting a Freedom of Information Act request with the Bureau and getting back the heavily redacted documents.



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FOIA: Ryan Shapiro says the FBI is violating the Freedom of Information Act by withholding certain information he requested

The FBI claims the information Shapiro is asking for is exempt under FOIA. Shapiro disagrees, and feels the FBI is violating FOIA regulations.

The plot to kill 'Occupy' leaders first was discovered in documents released to a civil rights organization in Washington D.C. as part of a separate FOIA request. The documents released by the FBI referenced a 'plan to kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles.



It's unclear who was behind this alleged plot, and whether it was ever investigated by the FBI.

The FBI is granted certain leeway under FOIA - it is allowed to withhold 'information compiled for law enforcement purposes' if disclosing it would interfere with ongoing investigations or endanger lives.

Not impressed: Judge Rosemary Collyer says the FBI needs to provide more information about why it is refusing to hand over the information

According to the Washington Post, the exemption 'was repeatedly cited by FBI FOIA chief David Hardy in a filing to the court in support of an FBI motion to dismiss Mr. Shapiro’s lawsuit. Some information was redacted, according to Mr. Hardy’s filing, because it involved information shared with local law enforcement agencies related to an investigation of “potential criminal activity by protestors involved with the Occupy movement in Houston.'”

Possible crimes cited by Hardy include 'domestic terrorism' and 'advocating overthrow of the government.'

That vague explanation was not enough for Judge Collyer.

Occupy: The information is in regard to an alleged plot to assassinate leaders of an Occupy movement in Houston

'At no point does Mr. Hardy supply specific facts as to the basis for FBI’s belief that the Occupy protestors might have been engaged in terroristic or other criminal activity,' she wrote in her ruling. 'Neither the word ‘terrorism’ nor the phrase "advocating the overthrow of the government" are talismanic, especially where FBI purports to be investigating individuals who ostensibly are engaged in protected First Amendment activity.'