F. 7(F)

“…could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.”

Exemption 7(F) often been applied to withhold records in order to “protect government agents, witnesses, informants, and others who have participated in law enforcement investigations or proceedings.”¹⁴⁸ The exemption has also been successfully used, for example, to protect against the potential physical harm to “military personnel, [a company’s] employees, and civilians in Iraq” that could occur upon the release of the names of private security contractors in Iraq.¹⁴⁹ In that case, the court deferred to the agency’s explanation that releasing the names of the contractors could allow insurgents to make assessments of damage and vulnerability after attacking a particular company.¹⁵⁰

In another case, a court held that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation could withhold maps depicting potential impact areas below two dams under this exemption where the agency demonstrated that terrorists could use them to attack the dams, endangering the safety of individuals living downstream from them.¹⁵¹

In challenging an Exemption 7(F) withholding, you may argue that the agency has failed to identify “the subject of the danger . . . with at least reasonable specificity” making “the threat to any one person . . . far too speculative.”¹⁵²

For example, a court rejected the government’s attempt to use this exemption to withhold photographs depicting U.S. solders’ abusive treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan on the basis that their release would endanger U.S. troops and coalition forces, as well as civilians living in the two countries.¹⁵³ The court explained that the agency had failed to “identify at least one individual with reasonable specificity and establish that disclosure of the documents could reasonably be expected to endanger that individual,” and had instead discussed the possible harm to “some unspecified member of a group so vast as to encompass all United States troops, coalition forces, and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.”¹⁵⁴

It is incumbent upon an agency to provide specific bases as to how releasing a record could endanger the life of a “small and specific group,” such as the “family members or coworkers of a named individual.”¹⁵⁵ Therefore, where the agency has failed to describe the harm with such specificity, you should argue that Exemption 7(F) cannot apply to the records.