The Sunshine Project
News Release
6 November 2003

The Bioweapons and Biodefense Freedom of Information Fund

The Bioweapons and Biodefense Freedom of Information Fund, a new initiative to increase the public accountability of biodefense research, was launched today. The Bioweapons and Biodefense Freedom of Information Fund (FOI Fund) will promote the involvement of civil society in biological weapons control issues by increasing the public availability of government information on biodefense programs and other research on biological weapons agents.

The FOI Fund will use federal and state open records laws to obtain primary documentation. The FOI Fund will support citizens groups and researchers by assisting them to obtain access to public records. It will distribute the results of its requests online, for use by grassroots groups and experts alike. The FOI Fund's website, www.cbwtransparency.org, will house an online library of released documents.

The FOI Fund ties together several needs. New security measures are threatening to erode access to biodefense information, prompting a need to assert and preserve public rights. And, as biodefense programs expand, local and national non-governmental organizations have greater research and information needs. The Fund will partner with both types of groups. On a case-by-case basis, the Fund will use outside experts in specific areas of information access law and, where possible, will pursue requests outside of the United States.

The FOI Fund is an initiative of the Sunshine Project that is advised by a Management Committee with grassroots leaders, arms control specialists, and experts in open records. The Management Committee's membership includes Steven Aftergood (Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy), Steve Erickson (Citizens Education Project, Salt Lake City), Oliver Meier (arms control researcher and staffer for the Chair of the Bundestag Subcommittee on Disarmament and Arms Control), and Mark Wheelis (University of California at Davis). (Affiliations are listed for identification purposes.)

The Fund's initial work includes a partnership with a grassroots organization to research certain biodefense activities at the US Army's Dugway Proving Ground and a collaboration with a national organization to obtain records related to research on poxviruses.

The FOI Fund's website, www.cbwtransparency.org, explains more about the Fund, its services, and contains examples of the kinds of documents that the Fund will be working to place in the public domain.