## Facts

- Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi national detained at Guantánamo Bay since 2002, drew significant public attention because the government suspected he was connected to the September 11 attacks and because details of his interrogation became publicly known through leaks and later official disclosures.
- In 2010, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) submitted FOIA requests to multiple federal entities seeking photographs and videos depicting al-Qahtani.
- After CCR received no responsive production, it filed suit in the Southern District of New York in 2012 against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other agencies, including the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
- During the litigation, DoD and the FBI identified 62 responsive image records depicting al-Qahtani.
- The government withheld all 62 images in full under FOIA Exemption 1, asserting the images were properly classified under the governing Executive Order on classification because disclosure could damage national security.
- The government’s declarations stated that images of a high-profile Guantánamo detainee were especially likely to be exploited by anti-American extremist groups as propaganda, potentially inciting violence and putting U.S. personnel and interests at risk abroad.
- The CIA issued a Glomar response (refusing to confirm or deny whether it possessed responsive records); that dispute was not pursued on appeal.
- The district court (Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald) granted summary judgment to the government, and CCR appealed as to the DoD/FBI-withheld images.

## Issues

1. Whether the government met its burden under FOIA Exemption 1 to withhold in full 62 photographs and videos of Mohammed al-Qahtani on the ground that the images were properly classified and their release could reasonably be expected to harm national security.
2. Whether the government’s “propaganda and incitement” rationale, supported by agency declarations, was sufficiently specific and nonconclusory to justify summary judgment in a national-security FOIA case.
3. Whether prior public and official disclosures about al-Qahtani’s detention and interrogation required release of the requested images under FOIA’s official-acknowledgment principles.
4. Whether FOIA’s segregability requirement required partial disclosure of any portion of the images (for example, by cropping, redaction, or blurring).

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the government.
- The court held the government satisfied FOIA Exemption 1 because its declarations showed, with adequate specificity, that the images were properly classified and that disclosure could logically and plausibly harm national security.
- The court accepted the government’s assessment that images of al-Qahtani, given his notoriety and the Guantánamo context, were uniquely susceptible to use as propaganda to incite violence against U.S. interests.
- The court rejected CCR’s argument that the propaganda theory was too broad or speculative, finding the asserted harm tied to the nature of the records (visual depictions) and the detainee’s high profile.
- The court concluded that earlier disclosures describing al-Qahtani’s treatment did not amount to official disclosure of the images themselves and therefore did not defeat the Exemption 1 claim.
- The court upheld the government’s position that no reasonably segregable portion of the images could be released without creating the same asserted national-security risk.

## Legal Principles

- FOIA Exemption 1 permits withholding of records that are (i) authorized to be kept secret under criteria established by an Executive Order, and (ii) in fact properly classified under that Order. 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(1).
- In FOIA cases involving national security, courts give substantial weight to agency declarations that are made in good faith and provide reasonably specific, nonconclusory explanations for nondisclosure.
- The government need not show certain harm; it must show a logical and plausible connection between disclosure and the asserted damage to national security.
- Prior public discussion of related events does not require disclosure of classified materials unless the government has officially acknowledged the specific information sought in an essentially identical form; descriptive disclosures about detention or interrogation do not equate to release of detainee images.
- FOIA requires release of reasonably segregable non-exempt material, but an agency may withhold an entire record where partial release would not meaningfully remove the exempt content or would still create the same risk that justified classification.

## Conclusion

In *Center for Constitutional Rights v. Central Intelligence Agency*, the Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the government, holding that DoD and the FBI properly withheld 62 photographs and videos of Guantánamo detainee Mohammed al-Qahtani under FOIA Exemption 1 because the images were properly classified and their release could logically and plausibly harm national security, and further holding that prior disclosures about al-Qahtani’s treatment did not compel release of the images and that no reasonably segregable portion could be disclosed.


Center for Constitutional Rights v. Central Intelligence Agency, 765 F.3d 161 (2014)