New York Times Reporters Suing Homeland Security Over Airport Interrogations

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Two New York Times reporters are taking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to court for records of their interrogations earlier this year at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

According to Courthouse News Service, DHS has claimed the records do not exist. But one of the reporters claims his answers during an interview were recorded on a computer. 

Mac William Bishop and Christopher Chivers (known as C.J. Chivers in his byline) filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Both reporters have filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for information about their questioning. 

According to Courthouse News Service, the lawsuit claims both reporters were “subject to segregated questioning by DHS employees at JFK on May 24, 2013, as they prepared to board an international flight for a work assignment as journalists. Subsequently, on June 6, 2013, Mr. Bishop was subjected to further segregated questioning by DHS employees at JFK as he returned to the United States.” 

The reporters are being represented by Times staff attorneys David McCraw and D. Victoria Baranetsky.

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