"We can neither confirm nor deny." 🕵️‍♂️🚫 We investigate the failure of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). We break down the history of the "Glomar Response," invented by the CIA during Project Azorian (the secret mission to steal a sunken Soviet submarine), and how this single phrase gave the government a legal "trap door" to hide everything from aliens to war crimes.

1. The "Glomar" Origin: We analyze the history. It started with a sunken Soviet sub and a fake mining ship owned by Howard Hughes. We explain how the CIA crafted the "neither confirm nor deny" response to avoid lying to the press while refusing to admit the sub existed, creating a legal precedent that destroyed transparency.

2. The "Compliance" Maze: It’s not a right; it’s an obstacle course. We expose the bureaucracy. Agencies use exorbitant fees, years-long delays, and "over-redaction" to exhaust journalists. We discuss how the system is designed so that only those with massive legal budgets (corporations) can actually get the files they want.

3. The Corporate Weapon: Who actually uses FOIA? It’s not you. We explore the data. The majority of FOIA requests don't come from journalists or citizens; they come from Corporate Lawyers spying on competitors or regulators. We discuss how a tool meant for democracy became a tool for industrial espionage.

The full list of sources used to create this episode can be found on our Patreon under https://www.patreon.com/c/Morgrain