In response to The Tennessee Star’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the agency’s policy regarding “legacy tokens” left behind by mass killers, the FBI offered a vague response to an original comment request by The Star.
“While our standard practice is not to comment on specific products, which includes addressing their veracity, the FBI regularly shares information with our law enforcement partners to assist in protecting the communities they serve,” the FBI said by email. “The FBI always encourages members of the public to be vigilant and report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”
The following is The Star’s FOIA request:
After The Covenant School shooting in March of 2023, the FBI sent a memo to Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake instructing him not to release the “legacy tokens” (manifestos, journals, diaries) of Audrey Elizabeth Hale: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kiwP8-BKlAXVCm0gCf3hbGpf__pPAEFx/view
Since The Star’s press inquiries about the FBI’s “legacy token” policy have gone unreturned, please let this email serve as a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the following information:
– Any internal FBI document containing the terms “legacy token” or “legacy tokens.”
– Any document produced by the FBI and circulated externally to any other organization containing the terms “legacy token” or “legacy tokens.”
Thank you in advance.
Along with the vague comment on “specific products,” the agency directed The Star to submit the FOIA request through the FBI’s own FOIA portal, despite the fact that Department of Justice (DOJ) requirements for FOIA requests explicitly states that direct emails to agencies can serve as official FOIA requests.
“There is not a specific form that must be used to make a request. The request simply must be in writing, must reasonably describe the records you seek, and must also provide any other specific information that the component requires,” according to the DOJ’s website. “We now accept FOIA requests submitted electronically, either by email and/or facsimile. In making your request you should be as specific as possible when describing the records you are seeking. It is not necessary for you to provide the name or title of a requested record, but the more specific you are about the records or types of records that you seek, the more likely it will be that EOUSA or the USAOs will be able to locate those records.”
As The Star has reported, the FBI sent a memo to Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake in the wake of the Covenant School shooting, noting that the agency strongly discourages the release of “legacy tokens.”
In June, The Star obtained and published materials left behind by Audrey Elizabeth Hale after authorities kept the documents private for more than a year.
Star News Digital Media, Inc., The Star’s parent company, sued in Tennessee state court to obtain the documents.
After publishing the documents while the court case was still in progress, Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles hauled The Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy into court for a “show cause” hearing, during which Leahy could have been charged with contempt of court.
For now, Leahy remains free, though Myles left the door open to potential future criminal charges.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X/Twitter.
Photo “FBI Agent” by FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation.
