Has anyone ever requested their FBI records?

[kweerwolf]

OK, time for my little tin foil hat, but I started wondering about this yesterday when I signed a document giving a potential employer the right to do a "background check" on my as part of a job interview process. (The company does do some contract work for the government.)

To make a long story short, during a visit by Hillary Clinton just down the street from where I lived at one time I got a visit from the Secret Service (or some such government agents). I didn't think about it at the time other than to assume that since my balcony overlooked where Hillary would be they were probably checking to make sure I wasn't a crazed sniper. A neighbor in the apartment building told me later that the agents had been at their place and asked about me ... and apparently had a photo of me taken during the '93 march on Washington.

At the time I thought, "cool! I've got an FBI record!" and dismissed it. But now I'm wondering what exactly it might say.

Has anyone ever requested their FBI records? I know it can be done through the Freedom of Information Act, but I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions?

[ret5hd]

1. well, whatever WAS in it, it just got thicker NOW.

[evlbstrd]

2. Here ya go.

http://www.carreonandassociates.com/articles/FBI.htm

Google is your friend.

[Waya]

4. Hell, no....

...not going to either....LOL....

[kweerwolf]

6. Hey thanks! That was quick!

[mod mom]

11. Have you done this? Does it draw attention to you?

[evlbstrd]

13. No, I haven't.

But I know I have one, going back to 1975, when I was given a security clearance in the Navy.

[goclark]

3. How does one go about that being done?

[Ravenseye]

5. Does requesting your file, get added to your file?

I mean...if I request the file, will they suddenly get more interested in me?

[mainegreen]

7. No doubt

But in reality most of us here are way to boring to interest them. Most of us. Sorta.

Right?

[Ravenseye]

10. I just worry cause i'm Arab

I'm certain they have a file on me, and i'm curious to see what it says, yet at the same time i dont' want to draw attention and risk getting put on the no-fly list or anything.

[mainegreen]

12. Were you born here?

If so, I wouldn't worry to much. If you weren't born here I don't think I'd do it.

[Ravenseye]

14. Sure I was born here but

I also get the full pat down every time I go to the airport, and since my family is from Iraq we were watched to a certain degree since before the first gulf war. I won't go into specifics, but I am all but certain that I have a file.

I have no reason to really care, i'm just curious what it says, to what degree we were monitored simply because we were arabs, and because my father came from Iraq and we still have family there.

[mainegreen]

15. Well, I say go ahead then.

Dont worry about the pat down. I always get patted down, pulled over by customs etc. I drink to much coffee and authority makes me nervous so I shake like a bastard. Plus my family is dutch, so here's me flying back from Amsterdam, shaking like a drug mule, and they're like "Step over here sir". Then they start in. So predictable really. "You might as give us the drugs now" "This will all go easier if you give in" "You know we'll find it". I just go with the flow. The thing with these people: they get bored quickly if you just do "no sir" "yes sir".

Except for the one time I lined my carry on bag with jam- so they'd get all sticking searching it! It worked and made my day. Not recommended though. It was tough trying to come up with a good reason why my backpack was full of jam. "picnic accident" I said. :P

Anyways, I say go for it. More than likely your file will be like "blah blah blah Iraqi descent blah blah low risk".

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. If you don't have one, they'll open one for you! All part of the service!

[kweerwolf]

9. Yeah, that worries me, too.

But then if I'm going to be applying for jobs that are government related, I want to know what my potential employers are finding out about me.

[lpbk2713]

16. Somebody must have put the finger on you.

It doesn't seem like they could have identified you on their own from a 93 photo.

[EVDebs]

17. Some guy wrote a book on the JFK assassination and FOIAed his FBI file

and later his home was broken into and the files stolen. Maybe that should read 'repossessed'. I think he lived in Marin County, CA.

Big Brother is watching.

[EVDebs]

18. The FBI et al have outsourced TIA to the Bahamas...

Bahamas Firm Screens Personal Data To Assess Risk
Operation Avoids U.S. Privacy Rules

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36853-2004Oct15.html

[bearfan454]

19. I sent off a couple of years ago.

It took about 5 months but I got it.

[noonwitch]

20. I'm pretty certain that I have a file

1. I work for the state. I had to be printed on my first day of work. Those prints went into the FBI computer, to make sure I wasn't wanted for a crime anywhere.

2. I'm reasonably sure I had a file prior to that. I signed the nuclear freeze petition in the 80s, and other petitions regarding US intervention in Central America and about divesting in South Africa during apartheid.

3. If my individual activities over the years aren't enough to get me a file, my family hid a Phillipino minister in our basement for a few weeks while he was hiding from the Reagan Administration's INS. They would deport Marcos' enemies back to the Phillipines so Marcos could have them killed. The families in our church took turns hiding him out. The INS was not going to invade a bunch of church people's homes in Grand Rapids, MI in order to return this guy to Marcos-it would have been bad press in a GOP city.

I really don't care what's in my file. I'll admit to everything I just listed.