Unravelling the FBI Redactions
One of the most annoying things in the FBI Vault's D. B. Cooper files is [ ].
😉 Yes, you guessed it: today I'm discussing the redactions. Dive in for the key to some FBI secrets!
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| Good thing the FBI redacted all the sensitive information from this document that was anyway utterly illegible, otherwise we might have realized that their printer ink ran out. |
🚫 For the past few years, the FBI has been gradually releasing documents to the public, from their D. B. Cooper investigative files. We've always understood that private personal details (e.g., names and addresses) in these documents are redacted, to protect innocent people mentioned in the FBI's files from unwanted publicity & intrusions. Sometimes, however, the size & quantity of the redactions seem quite puzzling, even suspicious.
🔎 I decided to attack this minor mystery, in the hope of better understanding what type of case information was hidden, and why. Fortunately my mini quest ended in success!
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| An example of a D. B. Cooper investigative file from the FBI Vault, with several redacted passages. Two- and three-character codes citing the category of reason for each redaction are visible in the right margin. |
🕵♂️ My hypothesis was that each redaction was for a different particular reason. This could be concealing the name of a still-living person, or hiding a phone number, address, or occupational title which could identify them. On the other hand, it could also be blocking the public from reading about secret government activities back in the 1970s! I suspected that each redaction code detailed the type of information redacted, and/or the FBI's purpose behind redacting it.
👩💻 What I learnt through asking about this puzzle within the Vortex proved interesting! On a recent live Question & Answer video on the D.B. Cooper Sleuth YouTube channel, I took the opportunity to ask what the redaction codes mean, explaining that I thought that knowing the rationale behind each redaction could give a hint at what kind of info is being hidden.
👏 A lawyer in the live chat commented that they are what's known as 'FOIA exemption' codes. With this clue I started searching, and then I saw that a commenter on the D. B. Cooper subReddit, posting as Ixchilton, had apparently been searching since the live video too. This commentor kindly shared a PDF with all the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) exemptions that I was after! This lists 15 categories and subcategories of FOIA exclusions, 7 of which I've seen used with the D. B. Cooper files redactions.
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| The U.S. Department of Justice lists their exceptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that allow exemptions from releasing information to the public. |
🫡 Now we can figure out that the most common Cooper files redaction code, b6, is to protect private personal information, which makes sense. Then the next most common, b7C, is intended to avoid disclosures that "could reasonably be expected to cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy". So it makes sense that these are the most common codes, since they'd be hiding those names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Many of these details in the Cooper files are over fifty years old, but still better redacted not released, since innocent people are entitled to privacy from relentlessly zealous cold case researchers.
🤔 The code b7D, which appears beside some of the most frustrating redactions of large chunks of text, sometimes whole paragraphs and even whole pages except for a few words, indicates protection of "confidential sources". This is of course understandable in the case of tip-offs from people who spoke to the FBI on condition of confidentiality. It's still not obvious to me why some of these files have such massive wholesale redactions though, compared with other Cooper case files where tipsters asked to remain confidential but had much smaller amounts of text redacted. Interestingly, exemption b6 seems focused on protecting the privacy of living individuals, but some people that got mentioned in these D. B. Cooper files are no longer alive, which is why not all names in these documents are hidden. However, clearly the privacy of b7D confidental sources still extends to those who have already passed away long ago.
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| Another highly informative page from the FBI, reporting the evidence received from a confidential source. |
👤 One of the rarer of the codes that I've noted, b7E, is for redacting disclosures that "would reveal investigative techniques and procedures or guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if disclosure could risk circumvention of the law"... whatever that means!? Could this be for concealing criminal methods, surveillance techniques, or information about paid FBI informants?
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| The redactions in the FBI's D. B. Cooper files really turn studying this case into even more of a game of Guess Who. Why exactly are they still concealing their investigative methods after 50+ years? |
👀 Another rarer code that I see is b3, and this one is especially interesting to me. This code apparently protects info that's been "specifically exempted from disclosure by statute." Could this be something like national security or defence secrets? I would expect those to use a different code again, b1, which is meant to indicate a top secret national defence reason for redactions. The b3 "statute exemption", though, sounds remarkably like government secrets. And based on the context of where we encounter the b3 code, this seems suspiciously likely. Within the D. B. Cooper files, the b3 "statute" redactions are the most massive, much larger and more sweeping even than b7D for protecting confidential witnesses and b7F for undercover agents or witnesses at risk of violence. Large blocks of text and even whole pages get redacted under this b3 exemption code.
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| Another helpful investigative file on the D. B. Cooper case, released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. Very free, much information... thanks, b3. |
🕴 Let's look at the mysterious b3 exemption usage. These blanked-out b3 "statute" redactions occur even when the pages in question have a 'DECLASSIFICATION' stamp, or have the word 'CONFIDENTIAL' crossed out! Sometimes the surrounding unredacted text on either side of the missing b3 expunctions is relating to CIA-adjacent matters.
☢️ For example, in some recently released D. B. Cooper Vault files, the section immediately next to the b3 redaction refers to a certain hotel in Washington, D.C. This hotel is now known to have been frequented by recruits to the CIA's clandestine airline service that undertook covert activities overseas, and tested parachute drops from 727 jets! Also immediately following b3 redactions we find mention of a suspect who is not referred to by name, but is only given a codename 'THE HERO' - which all sounds ridiculously cloak and dagger! The less redacted sections of these report pages seem to reveal that an apparent Mexican national, possibly involved in the Mexican underworld scene and smuggling contraband, but yet travelling seemingly under an American identity, was staying at the same D.C. hotel, and purporting to work in the field of nuclear energy. These are the types of sensitive information that is not even redacted, right beside the suspicious b3 redactions! If the hidden b3 info is even more secret than covert CIA connections, special secret suspects, fake identities, supposed international underworld figures, and nuclear secrets, that is most intriguing! It's certainly enough to make me pay particular attention to D. B. Cooper reports that use the b3 code in their margin.
🫥 There is one more sneaky type of redaction. Some pages, usually pages adjacent to the b3-coded "statute" redactions, are not even uploaded to the FBI Vault's online portal. Not even blanked out pages! Just multiple pages skipped entirely without explanation. We can see, due to the gaps in the sequential page numbering on the documents, that some have been completely missed out of the public record. Sometimes this has been blocks of as many as 16 pages missing! This may be the final type of exemption listed by the U.S. Justice Department, and it has no code number. The FOIA Exemptions list simply describes this extra exemption as "Statutory Exclusions" which may apply in "extraordinary criminal law enforcement contexts". What this means is not explained. Are these "Statutory Exclusions" the excuse behind the missing D. B. Cooper file pages? I can't tell for sure, but strongly suspect so.
😎 So, there are still many mysteries and unknowns in this case, and much to explore. But at least the stated reasons behind the redactions are now better known than before!
🔑 Key to FOIA Exemption Codes:
(Note: FOIA Exemption codes known to occur in the D. B. Cooper files are underlined)
b1 = Executive order, national security
b2 = Internal agency practices
b3 = Exempted by statute
b4 = Trade secrets
b5 = Inter- & intra- agency letters, & attorney-client privilege
b6 = Personnel & medical information
b7A = Pending law enforcement matter
b7B = Would deprive person of right to a fair trial
b7C = Personal privacy
b7D = Confidential sources
b7E = Investigative techniques
b7F = Undercover agents & witnesses at risk of violent reprisals
b8 = Financial institutions
b9 = Information concerning wells
Statutory Exclusions = Extraordinary criminal law contexts
~ D. B. Cooper Investigator 😎🔍🐊
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