A nonprofit news organization filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission this week in an attempt to obtain an internal report detailing how Chinese hackers gained access to its computer systems.
The Center for Public Integrity filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the study in July. The FEC rejected its request and a subsequent appeal.
CPI called the decision "outrageous," and is now suing the FEC for a copy of the report.
The 44-page document — known within the FEC as the "NIST study" — also provides recommendations on how to fix the FEC’s problems and bring its computer systems in line with specific National Institute of Standards and Technology computer security protocols. […]
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will now consider the question of whether the FEC should release the study, either in part or in full.
"The fact that the FEC denied us access to the entire report, and declined even to release a redacted version, is outrageous," said John Dunbar, deputy executive editor and overseer of political coverage with the Center for Public Integrity. "Again, we are chagrined to have to go to court to access information that should be publicly available."