Secret Navy Report Details Undersea Surveillance Struggles

Hello FOIA Files readers! I’m repeating my mantra: Always. Appeal. Your FOIA denials. In March 2022, I submitted a request for a copy of an inspector general report from the Department of Defense about an undersea surveillance system that dates back to the beginning of the Cold War. The IG’s FOIA office denied my request, stating that the entire report was classified. I immediately appealed, instructing the agency that it had to segregate material that could be publicly released and account for the foreseeable harm that would result if the report was disclosed. It took about four years, but I won and recently received a heavily redacted copy of the report. If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.

The IG’s March 28, 2022 report, Evaluation of the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System Capabilities, assessed whether the program was capable of responding to anti-submarine warfare. The review was conducted between May 2019 and August 2021. The 55-page report is filled with black boxes that the watchdog’s office said protects classified national security information, such as military plans, weapons systems, foreign relations or foreign activities of the US, confidential sources and vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations, infrastructures, projects and plans. That’s a lot of information being kept under wraps!