Reporters seeking information on US drone safety and crash data were told by Defense Department officials that multiple searches have turned up nothing, indicating the Pentagon is either refusing to turn over records or it has failed to collect them.
The Defense Department (DoD) provided a report to Congress in January that promised to address the challenges faced by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The department not only oversees the military drones that buzz over the tribal regions of Pakistan and Yemen, but also test by the National Guard and other agencies that fly over the continental US.
The DoD’s Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics told lawmakers it had “provided the [Federal Aviation Administration] with 6 years of UAS mishap data” in order to give federal airspace regulators “a better understanding of UAS safety considerations.”
But when researchers at MuckRock, a transparency organization that files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on behalf of the journalists, activists, and historians, sought that “mishap data” they were rebuffed. Shawn Musgrave of Vice Motherboard reported that the office of the defense secretary suggested that MuckRock’s FOIA request was “misdirected.”
Officials only agreed to conduct a search when they were shown the exact page and paragraph of the January 2013 report to Congress that mentioned the DoD shared the relevant information with the FAA.
Yet that search turned out to be a wild goose chase as well, with the Pentagon advising Musgrave to try contacting another government agency.
“A search was conducted within the Officers of the Under Secretary of Defense for acquisition, Technology, and Logistics who could locate no records responsive to your request,” the response noted. “It was suggested that you submit your request to the Army Combat readiness & Safety Center; the Naval Safety Center, and the Air Force Safety center, who may have your records responsive to you request, if they exist.”