Gary Sebastian Brown, III v. Federal Bureau of Investigation
I. Whether, after the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, an agency invoking Exemption 7(D) must, in addition to establishing that the exemption applies, separately demonstrate that disclosure of the particular information would foreseeably harm an interest protected by that exemption.
II. Whether Exemption 7(D) permits withholding consistent with FOIA's 2016 foreseeable-harm requirement when the agency's asserted risk is recognition of a witness's account by other victims, witnesses, or investigators—rather than by members of the public, co-conspirators, or other adversaries involved in an investigation.
Whether an agency invoking FOIA Exemption 7(D) must demonstrate foreseeable harm after the 2016 FOIA Improvement Act and whether recognition risk by witnesses constitutes a valid basis for withholding information