JPat Brown
MuckRock
New Orleans, LA, United States
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Past articles by JPat:
The former FBI agent’s guide to living it up in New Orleans
Heading to New Orleans for #ONA2019 and not sure what to wear in Louisiana in the fall? Well, you’re in luck. The Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had their annual conference in NOLA in 1972, and their official publication, “The Grapevine,” has you covered. Literally. → Read More
Emails show internal confusion over Interior’s "Secretary’s Shotgun Showdown"
In 2017, the Department of the Interior announced a new initiative to “reemphasize hunting and fishing” at the DOI: “Secretary’s Shotgun Showdown,” a video game tournament in which employees would take on then-Secretary Ryan Zinke in a game of “Big Buck Hunter Pro” for the chance to win “bragging rights” and a “Beverage on the Balcony." Just days before the game was dropped off, key details had… → Read More
Did John Steinbeck spy for the CIA?
Did "A Russian Journal" author John Steinbeck offer to pass on information to the Central Intelligence Agency? According to a 1952 letter in the Agency archives from former Director of Central Intelligence Walter Bedell Smith, yes. → Read More
Cooking with FOIA: How do your pastries measure up to the military’s standards?
Back in May, we wrote about the military’s official brownie recipe from 2003, and requested the updated specifications. In response, we were pointed to a document on the Defense Logistics Agency’s website: PCR-C-007F, which covers the standards for all “cakes, brownies, muffin tops and filled cakes” consumed by the armed forces. While the document doesn’t contain any recipes, it does have some… → Read More
J. Edgar Hoover's lieutenant was not impressed with the FBI Director's "X-Files" cameo
Recently, in response to Emma Best's 2017 FOIA request for files on former Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Associate Director Cartha "Deke" DeLoach, the FBI released an additional 137 pages. As fellow MuckRock user Paul Galante was quick to point out, those new pages include a 1998 letter by DeLoach to one of the producers of the "X-Files," offering his thoughts on the script of the fifth… → Read More
Reminder that Congress is (increasingly) exempt from FOIA
Earlier this week, we wrote about Brett Kavanaugh's renewed Federal Bureau of Investigation background check and predicted that while the full investigation wouldn't be public for years, likely some summary would be released. In light of reporting that the results of the background check will only be available to the Sentate Judiciary Committee, we wanted to address one of the lesser-known… → Read More
Browse the CIA's photos of the 1963 Moscow Fair, including declassified cat pics
In 1963, the Central Intelligence Agency sent an undercover photographer to the Moscow Fair in the heart of the then Soviet Union. While the fact that some of the photos are still redacted 50 years later hints at the secrecy of his assignment, one detail has been made public: at some point he got bored and took photos of a stray cat. → Read More
Five surprises from Steve Jobs' FBI file
The release of Steve Jobs' FBI file was one of MuckRock's first big stories, and it even set the framework for what would become the Subjects Matter project. With the iPhone turning ten this week, here's a look back at some of the most surprising finds from the Bureau's investigation. → Read More
During the Cold War, the nuclear apocalypse came with a dress code
Earlier, we looked at Plan C, the government's Cold War contingency plan to declare martial law if war with the Soviets became inevitable. More recent releases reveal that not only did the FBI drill for its new role in an irradiated police state, but that even in the face of nuclear Armageddon there were strict guidelines on employee attire. → Read More
Why The FBI Investigated ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Players in the 1990s
An FBI memo written during the Unabomber investigation describes roleplayers as 'armed and dangerous,' 'extremely intelligent individuals' and 'overweight and not neat in appearance.' → Read More
The wit, wisdom, and pitch-black cynicism of the National War College
In 1988, then-Deputy Director of the CIA Robert Gates gave a talk at the National War College that left enough of an impression that a line or two ended up in the college's end of the year "Book of Proverbs, Jokes, and Other Comments." The Agency, never one to let a mention go unarchived, then preserved said book for posterity in CREST. Let's just say there's more than a few folks who'd probably… → Read More
Five of the best lines from Allen Ginsberg's FBI file
In a fitting birthday tribute to the man the FBI deemed "bizarre, but not dangerous," we rounded up the strangest lines from the Bureau's security report - some of them poetry unto themselves. → Read More
Watch an outtake from Lake County Sheriff's Office's infamous heroin video
Shortly after a video started making the rounds of a Sheriff Peyton Grinnel from Florida's Lake County swearing vengeance upon drug dealers while flanked by mask-clad deputies, Tony Webster filed a request for the unedited footage. That was released this week, and between a couple mic checks and the final cut, there's a pretty amazing b-roll. → Read More
J. Edgar Hoover worked to end the career of a government clerk who had suggested he was gay
An incident from the height of J. Edgar Hoover's reign as FBI Director illustrate the lengths the Bureau would go to squash rumors surrounding Hoover's sexuality - and the dire consequences for those found spreading those rumors. → Read More
The CIA fired "three or four" employees over a cafeteria food fight
We've written about the CIA's frustrations with its cafeteria before, with grievances both petty and the stuff of nightmares. But as internal records unearthed in CREST reveal, at least once that frustration exploded into a full-on mealtime melee. → Read More
Letter called on J. Edgar Hoover to investigate Groucho Marx over a joke
For Groucho Marx, sharing a surname with the author of the Communist Manifesto wasn't winning him any friends in Middle America at the height of the Red Scare, and his pathological inability to hold anything sacred wasn't helping, either. But according to files released to Emma Best, where he finally crossed the line for one couple - leading to them calling on the FBI to investigate him… → Read More
Since assassination is illegal, the CIA says it has no records on how it would do it
Last year, MuckRock user Jens Porup filed a FOIA with the CIA for a list of all poisons used in covert assassinations. Although Porup could have reasonably expected this request to be rejected under about a half-dozen exemptions, the Agency still managed to throw him a curveball: they simply responded that assassinations were illegal. → Read More
The State Department has taken over three years on a FOIA request about how long it takes to process FOIA requests
What started out as a simple attempt to learn more about how the State Department processes FOIA requests has turned into a sanity-shredding saga that threatens to stretch into infinity. → Read More
All Eyez on Me: The FBI's investigation into Tupac's death
Twenty years ago this week, rap icon Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas by unknown assailants. His FBI file reveals that a month after the murder, the Bureau launched a full inquiry, which linked Tupac's death to a larger conspiracy involving Eazy-E, the feud between Ruthless Records and Death Row, and the Jewish Defense League. → Read More
How James Baldwin trolled the FBI
James Baldwin's unflinching critique of racial unrest in America - and the government's role in perpetuating it - earned him a spot on several FBI watchlists, and Bureau surveillance of his every move. However, Baldwin's files show that on at least one occasion he was able to turn that scrutiny to his advantage. → Read More