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White House Withholds All 30 Records on Its AI Pre-Release Review Framework in FOIA Suit

Bot Mutiny |

Summary

In Protect Democracy Project v. ONCD, the government said all 60 pages it found are exempt from FOIA, including a seven-page voluntary AI framework dated July 31, 2026.

On October 30, 2026, the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) told Protect Democracy Project that every record it found about the White House's voluntary AI pre-release review framework is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The letter and index, posted by Protect Democracy, were written for four defendants in Protect Democracy Project v. Office of the National Cyber Director et al., Civil Action No. 26-3064: ONCD, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, and the Treasury Department. They say 30 records totaling 60 pages are withheld in full and that no reasonably segregable information can be released.

What was requested. Protect Democracy filed its FOIA request on August 7, 2026. In a joint status report filed September 15, it narrowed the request to four categories: the text of the voluntary frontier AI disclosure and pre-release review framework that an administration official reportedly said was completed by August 1; records given to AI companies that disclose terms of participation in the GOLD EAGLE clearinghouse; the documents identifying the "trusted partners" under the framework; and records identifying the legal authority for the framework and GOLD EAGLE.

What the index lists. The Vaughn index describes each withheld record without revealing it. It shows:

  • A seven-page Word document titled "Voluntary AI Framework for Covered Models," dated July 31, 2026, withheld under Exemptions 1, 3 and 5.
  • A seven-page draft of an executive order on AI security dated May 24, 2026, described as including discussion of authorities between ONCD and the Office of Legal Counsel, withheld under Exemption 5. The government cites this record as the one covering the legal authority for the framework and GOLD EAGLE.
  • 28 records totaling 46 pages, dated June 25 to September 17, 2026, described as emails (and one Commerce letter) to AI labs identifying trusted partners cleared for pre-release access to a covered model, withheld under Exemptions 1, 3 and 4. The stated justification is that the trusted partners are derived from confidential customer lists submitted to ONCD for national security purposes.

The index lists no record described as GOLD EAGLE participation terms.

The government's stated grounds. Exemption 1 covers national security: the letter says unauthorized disclosure "reasonably could be expected to cause grave damage to national security." Exemption 3 relies on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. Exemption 4 covers confidential commercial information. Exemption 5 covers presidential communications, deliberative process and attorney-client privilege.

What this does not show. The letter does not say what the framework requires, which companies take part, or which models it covers. These are the government's stated grounds for withholding, and Bot Mutiny found no court ruling on them in the documents reviewed. The index also assigns Bates page 022 to two entries; counting each page once gives the 60 pages the letter reports.

Sources: Protect Democracy Project, October 30, 2026 production letter and Vaughn index (PDF).