Disclosure

How a 50-year FOIA campaign changed the public understanding of the most notorious Cold War espionage case.
In 1953, the US executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on charges of conspiring to pass atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets. Their sons, then 6 and 10 years old, have spent a half-century requesting documents the US and prosecutor Roy Cohn used to build its case against their parents. Michael and Robert Meeropol join Jason and Matt to discuss documents from the government's files that contradict the US case against Ethel Rosenberg and have led them to seek a presidential exoneration.
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Is your alma mater inviting the government to monitor its football fans on game day? How much do Big Ten schools earn renting out their mascots? You can FOIA that – or visit FOIAball.com, where journalist David Covucci adds transparency to the big business of collegiate sports. Covucci tells Jason and Matt what he learned from FOIAing Osama Bin Laden’s porn collection and how he applies it to a multibillion-dollar industry run by public institutions. Matt and Jason let David in on their FOIA Soundtrack playlist.
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When the Securities and Exchange Commission announced earlier this year that it had disciplined workers for golfing on the job, investigative reporter Jason Leopold shot off a FOIA request. Co-host Matt Topic, who is an accomplished golfer, and Jason, who isn’t, pore over records he received about the SEC’s internal investigation. They learn how a few words overheard on a golf course launched a Caddyshack-worthy investigation into allegations of government waste and abuse – or, in this instance, “known golf activity.”
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Investigative reporter Jason Leopold and attorney Matt Topic take viewers inside a yearslong effort to head off document destruction at the White House during President Trump’s first term. Drawing from government documents (and The Big Lebowski), they reveal how the US National Archives and Records Administration tried to alert the feds to potentially illegal record disposal. And they learn why FBI and Justice Department personnel clashed before searching Trump's Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. Voice acting by Mandy Hull.

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Disclosure, the podcast dedicated to revealing the government’s inner workings, is back for Season 2 in audio and video.

By law, nearly every move federal agencies make—every email, every memo, every receipt—belongs to the public. The key to gaining access is the Freedom of Information Act. In theory, FOIA obligates the government to open its files. But it also allows the government to hold back certain details, meaning that forcing transparency often requires a fight.
Join Bloomberg investigative reporter Jason Leopold and First Amendment attorney Matt Topic for a guided tour of explosive details, bureaucratic foibles and details that government officials never wanted you to know. Listen to new episodes of Disclosure, from Bloomberg & No Smiling, starting Oct. 15, wherever you get your podcasts.
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