26 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
26 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Freedom of Information Act
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aliases:
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- Freedom of Information Act
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- FOIA
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created: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-05-17
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category: "Intelligence Scandal"
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tags:
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- Law
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- USGovernment
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- ContraWar
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summary: "The Freedom of Information Act was used by Gary Webb to obtain government documents that revealed the CIA and DEA's knowledge of Contra-connected drug trafficking."
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start: 1966-07-04
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location: "United States"
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---
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The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was used by [[Gary Webb]] to obtain government documents that revealed the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and [[DEA]]'s knowledge of Contra-connected drug trafficking. Webb's FOIA requests produced thousands of pages of previously classified documents that formed the evidentiary backbone of the [[Dark Alliance]] series.[^1]
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### Document Discovery
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Webb filed FOIA requests with multiple federal agencies to obtain records about [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]], [[Norwin Meneses]], and their connections to the Contra war. The documents he received confirmed that federal law enforcement agencies had been aware of the Blandón-Meneses cocaine trafficking network for years but had failed to prosecute or disrupt it. The FOIA-obtained records included DEA reports, CIA cables, FBI files, and court documents that corroborated the testimony of witnesses and filled in gaps in the narrative.[^2]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 1.
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[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 1.
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