Lane von Herzen: FOIA Request #1496758-000 Stands in Full Force and Effect

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

FOIA Request #1496758-000 Stands in Full Force and Effect

To the Office of the Inspector General Hotline, U.S. DOJ:

I am currently receiving extensive threats from FBI affiliates intended to coerce me into accepting redacted materials in response to my Freedom of Information Act Request #1496758-000.

I am informed that the FBI has recently been directed by both President Biden and the OIG Hotline to provide me with materials responsive to my FOIA request in their entirety, without redaction.

I have attempted to make clear to everyone involved that the directives of President Biden and the OIG Hotline should be respected and upheld.

I emphatically refuse all demands by the FBI and its affiliates that I accept redacted materials. My Freedom of Information Act Request #1496758-000 stands in full force and effect.

My first action, upon receiving a fulfillment of my FOIA request, will be to verify with the OIG Hotline that the contents of this material are complete, without omission or redaction. The repeated threats I have received from FBI affiliates have made it clear to me that such verification is judicious, and, indeed, necessary.

Thank you very much for allowing me to document these concerns.

Most sincerely,

Lane MacWilliams

Please note: This letter was forwarded via email to the OIG Hotline in care of the OIP at 1:34 pm Pacific time from lmacwilliams7417@gmail.com. It was accompanied by a confidential document of two pages in length. This email in its entirety was copied to lanemacwilliams@gmail.com and lmacwilliams77419@gmail.com.