## Facts

- Ralph Begleiter, a journalism professor and foreign media correspondent, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking still photographs and videos from Dover Air Force Base depicting the arrival and memorial ceremonies for deceased military personnel.
- Begleiter alleged the requested images and recordings were needed to inform the public about matters of U.S. foreign policy and to support his academic research.
- The Department of Defense (DOD) initially produced 361 photographs responsive to the request.
- Before completing production, DOD asserted that the 361 photographs had been released in error and stated that no additional responsive photographs or videos would be provided.
- DOD’s refusal to produce further records was tied, according to the complaint, to a 1991 DOD policy that prohibited news media from capturing images of coffins of deceased service members at military facilities.
- The complaint alleged that, notwithstanding the 1991 policy, DOD had made exceptions over time by allowing media coverage at certain events and at times releasing similar photographs to the media on its own.
- Begleiter brought suit against DOD and the Department of the Air Force seeking declaratory and injunctive relief under FOIA, alleging that responsive agency records were being unlawfully withheld.

## Issues

1. Whether DOD’s refusal to release additional responsive photographs and videos from Dover Air Force Base constituted an unlawful withholding of agency records under FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552.
2. Whether DOD could rely on a media-access policy (rather than a FOIA exemption) as a basis to stop processing and releasing responsive records.
3. Whether the court should grant declaratory relief that the refusal to release the requested records violated FOIA and injunctive relief compelling processing, an adequate search, and disclosure of all non-exempt responsive material.

## Decision

- This matter is presented in the cited materials as a **Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief**, not as a reported merits opinion.
- Begleiter filed the FOIA complaint against DOD and the Department of the Air Force alleging unlawful withholding of photographs and videos showing arrival and memorial ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base.
- The complaint requested a declaration that defendants’ refusal to release the requested records violated FOIA and an injunction requiring defendants to process the request and disclose all non-exempt responsive records.

## Legal Principles

- FOIA provides that agency records must be released upon request unless the agency shows that withheld material falls within a statutory exemption.
- A requester may seek declaratory relief that an agency’s refusal to disclose records violates FOIA and injunctive relief ordering an adequate search, processing, and release of non-exempt records.
- Agency policies governing media access do not, by themselves, supply a FOIA basis for withholding; any continued nondisclosure must be justified under FOIA’s exemptions and related requirements, including the duty to release reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of records.

## Conclusion

*Begleiter v. Department of Defense* (No. 1:04-cv-01697 (EGS)) is best characterized, based on the cited source, as a FOIA **complaint** alleging that DOD improperly stopped releasing Dover Air Force Base arrival and memorial-ceremony images after producing 361 photographs and then claiming that release was an error, and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to compel processing and disclosure of all non-exempt responsive records.


Begleiter v. Department of Defense [Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief], No. 1:04-cv-01697 (EGS) (2004)