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our fifty-fifth how to argue with the government newsletter
Appealing to a Higher Power
We have four new suggestions you can use right now to write a FOIA Appeal to the VA, to get copies of the unique veterans' files they're suddenly refusing to turn over to the public
Hello again from the little government gadfly group Reclaim The Records. Last time we were in your inbox, it was to tell you the good news that we released 1.5 million brand new records online for free, but also to relay the very annoying news that the US Department of Veterans' Affairs (the VA) had suddenly started withholding the full versions of these records from our (and your) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
This is very annoying.
We've been helping genealogists and researchers make FOIA requests for these incredible never-before-online VA files through our new BIRLS.org website for almost a year now. Hundreds of lucky, early requesters got DVDs sent to their homes with newly-scanned images of these benefits claims files (C-Files or XC-Files), sometimes containing hundreds of pages of material which have been amazing resources for genealogists, journalists, and researchers. And then suddenly the federal government decided that they just didn't want to do that anymore, and started sending out these weird "genealogy letters" instead of DVDs with PDFs on them.
(This suddenly did not have any warning or public comment period about the VA's change in public records policies, but it coincidentally happened at the same time as thousands of federal workers at the VA getting the axe a few months ago. Funny how that worked.)
Luckily, FOIA has a built-in appeal process. An appeal is your request to the agency, generally to an attorney on staff there, to review its initial determination. It could result in more records being released to you, or the agency affirming its initial response. And appealing a FOIA denial is easy, free, and best of all it preserves your right to (potentially) sue the government for up to six years after the date of your appeal...if suing stubborn government agencies under FOIA is something you might be interested in doing someday -- and for us it often is!
So, with the help of our trusty attorneys, we at Reclaim The Records have put together four new lawyer-vetted FOIA Appeal Texts you can choose and reuse today, so you can fight for the release of your relative's (or research interest's) C-File from the VA!
This language is now available on our website at BIRLS.org/appeals . There are four different situations covered:
- Situation 1: You're seeking a Claims File for your deceased parent or grandparent or spouse; or You are otherwise the next-of-kin of the deceased veteran; or You are a legal representative (select this option even if some of the other situations listed below also apply)
- Situation 2: You're seeking a Claims File of a Civil War era or Spanish-American War era veteran (e.g. their file should have been transferred to NARA years ago, but probably was not)
- Situation 3: You're seeking a Claims File of a World War I, World War II, or Korean War era veteran, someone who was discharged from service more than 62 years ago (e.g. their file may contain a copy of their OMPF)
- Situation 4: All other Claims File requests
Check out the text of the four suggested FOIA Appeal letters, and send them out to the VA today! You have ninety days from receiving a FOIA denial to write an Appeal of the denial, but once you do that, you have six years from your Appeal to decide whether or not you want to try suing the VA under FOIA.
And given how many thousands of us have been denied our FOIA requests for these identical types of C-Files in the past few months, it's possible we could even pull together our first ever class action FOIA case against the VA at some point in the future...stay tuned. But to even maybe consider doing that, you will need to have made a FOIA Appeal in a timely manner. So send those Appeal e-mails!
Help Us Keep Fighting – Donate Today!
The VA is trying to close the door on public copies of millions of cubic feet of unique historical material; we’re going to pry it back open. If you can, please help us pay for the crowbar. Turning this around will, at best, take a lot of work from our lawyers. None of this is going to be cheap. If you can, please make a tax deductible gift today to underwrite our efforts. Otherwise, these records may languish in warehouses for decades, and the stories they hold will remain unknown.
Reclaim The Records is a small but mighty organization that fights for public access to historical records. We don’t take government funding — we rely on grassroots support from people like you.
- If you believe in open records, transparency, and genealogical rights, please make a donation today.
- Every dollar goes directly toward legal efforts, public awareness campaigns, and the fight against record closures — and the fight for awesome new records acquisitions, like this one!
Here’s how you can support us, and our work. Thank you!
Because history should never be padlocked,
your annoyed but determined friends at Reclaim The Records
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