Conspiracy theorists, UFO hunters among first to flock to Obama’s once-secret presidential records
Once-secret presidential records soon will be public, drawing hundreds of requests
- Records from the Obama administration are now available via FOIA.
- The National Archives received 842 requests in the first few days since Jan. 20.
- While many requests are routine, more than a third ask about conspiracy theories.
Exactly five years after President Obama left office the public got its first chance to request the secret files archived by the administration in January – and hundreds took the opportunity.
While many requests focus on touchstones in the Obama presidency and White House politics, more than a third attempt to dig up dirt on debunked conspiracy theories that took root well before Obama’s 2009 inauguration as well as long-simmering suspicions about the U.S. government.
