Bilbrey v. United States Department of the Air Force

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________ No. 01-1789 ___________ Christopher L. Bilbrey, * * Appellant, * * Appeal from the United States v. * District Court for the * Western District of Missouri. United States Department of the Air * Force; F. Whitten Peters, Individually * [UNPUBLISHED] and as Secretary, Department of the * Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.; * David R. Stinson, Deputy Director, * Communications and Information * Systems Headquarters Air Combat * Command; Don W. Fox, Deputy * General Counsel (Fiscal, Ethics and * Civilian Personnel), * * Appellees. * ___________ Submitted: October 12, 2001 Filed: October 16. 2001 ___________ Before WOLLMAN, Chief Judge, BOWMAN, and LOKEN, Circuit Judges. ___________ PER CURIAM. Christopher L. Bilbrey filed this action seeking unredacted copies of documents he received from the United States Air Force (USAF) as a result of his request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552. The district court1 granted summary judgment to the USAF in part and to Bilbrey in part, concluding that redactions in one document were proper, but ordering the USAF to provide Bilbrey with nearly all of the redacted portions of a second document. Bilbrey appeals. After careful de novo review of the record, including unredacted copies of the documents at issue, we conclude that the redacted material is both predecisional and deliberative, and therefore, exempt from disclosure under FOIA exemption 5. See Missouri v. United States Army Corp of Eng’rs, 147 F.3d 708, 710 (8th Cir. 1998) (exemption 5 permits nondisclosure of inter- or intra-agency memorandum which is both predecisional and deliberative). Accordingly, we affirm. A true copy. Attest: CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT. 1 The HONORABLE GARY A. FENNER, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. -2-