New York Times Reporters Sue Homeland Security Over Questioning
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Two New York Times reporters who were held and questioned at Kennedy Airport on their way to Syria earlier this year are suing the Department of Homeland Security.
The Freedom of Information Act lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. Writers Mac William Bishop and Christopher Chivers said in the lawsuit that employees of the department responsible for securing U.S. borders subjected them to questioning last May as they prepared to board an international flight.
A Times attorney said they were taking a flight to Turkey to report on the war in Syria. The lawsuit said Bishop was again questioned as he returned weeks later.
"We want to be sure that our journalists are not being targeted by DHS for special scrutiny or having their activities monitored by the government when they are engaged in reporting," New York Times attorney David McCraw told Politico. "DHS has failed to provide adequate responses to our FOIA requests seeking whatever information DHS employees were working from in initiating the questioning and whatever information they gathered in the questioning. That led to this lawsuit."
The government declined comment.
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