By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A national security researcher is suing the FBI, alleging the bureau uses an antiquated system to deliberately impede requests under the Freedom of Information Act, IDG New Service reports. 

Ryan Shapiro, a Ph.D. candidate at MIT, claims in the lawsuit that the FBI has established “countless means” of impeding FOIA requests, including a reliance on a computer system “designed” to fail.

“When it comes to FOIA, the FBI is simply not operating in good faith,” Shapiro said via email. “Since the passage of the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI has viewed efforts to force bureau compliance with FOIA as a security threat.”

Shapiro said the FBI deliberately refuses to user newer search technologies.

Hillary Clinton

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI on Friday will start sending “several thousand” deleted Hillary Clinton emails to the State Department.

Once in hand, the State Department will begin “rolling” out the e-mails to the public as part of a public-records lawsuit tied to Clinton’s use of a private email server, the Hill reports. 

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan appeared to be annoyed that the FBI was taking so long to transfer the emails.

“It seems to me they could figure out how to transfer [the emails] immediately upon request,” Sullivan said, suggesting that the FBI could just “push a button.”

The Justice Department responded that it takes time to create a format that makes  it possible to process and read the emails.

Fruit, via Wikipedia

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

It appears the Secret Service is worried about a fruit war at the Republican National Convention.

Along with weapons, fireworks and explosives, fruit is a banned item in the convention area.

Fruit, said one Secret Service officer, “can be thrown,” The New York Post reports.

Here is a list of other banned items: strollers, selfie sticks, screwdrivers, baseballs and fog horns.

Omar Mateen

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI concluded that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was not a terrorist and not likely to “go postal” after interviewing him twice in 2013.

Mateen convinced the FBI that he fabricated ties to terrorists because he was fed up with the incessant anti-Muslim criticism from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Department, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. 

The FBI discounted Mateen has a threat, saying his comments were just rhetoric, newly released records show.

Mateen told an FBI agent he was “1,000 percent pure American.”

On June 12, Mateen walked into Pulse nightclub, leading to the deaths of 49 people.