RPL Client Wins in FOIA Case Against FBI and DOJ

RPL Client Watched Film, LLC has been gearing up for the 2018 release of its feature-length documentary, The Feeling of Being Watched, directed by Algerian-American journalist and filmmaker Assia Boundaoui. The film tells the story of Ms. Boundaoui’s investigation into the rumors of government surveillance in her childhood neighborhood outside of Chicago– a largely Arab-American neighborhood at the time. She soon learned the truth of the rumors, uncovering one of the largest counter-terrorism surveillance operations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation predating 9/11, during the 1990s and 2000s, under the name “Operation Vulgar Betrayal.”

In September 2016, Ms. Boundaoui requested that the Department of Justice release documents from the operation to her, citing the Freedom of Information Act. Following repeated denials and delays, in June of this year, Ms. Boundaoui filed a lawsuit to compel the FBI and DOJ to provide the documents “on an expedited basis at no cost.” On Wednesday, September 26, 2017, she won the lawsuit and will receive 33,120 records on the investigation. Congratulations to Ms. Boundaoui from everyone at RPL!