Documentary filmmaker sues for answers to government harassment

Laura  Poitras

In the absence of a satisfactory response to her Freedom of Information Act requests, Laura Poitras, a prize-winner documentary filmmaker, is suing the government to find out why they searched, questioned and detained her over 50 times in airports in the U.S. and abroad. The scrutiny began in 2006 while she was working on a documentary on the Iraq war. (The Intercept, July 13, 2015, by Jenna McLaughlin)

Poitras won an Academy Award this year for CitizenFour about whistleblower Edward Snowden. Although no charges have ever been filed against her, airport security agents said she had a criminal record, that she was on a national security threat database and once on the No Fly List. Poitras filed a request last year for case files, surveillance records and counterterrorism documents and was stonewalled by pertinent government agencies. (Electronic Frontier Foundation, July 13, 2015, press release)