The FBI can shield its terrorism-investigation data from the public.

  Mamhattan, NY - The FBI can shield its terrorism-investigation data from the prying eyes of New York Times investigative journalist Charlie Savage, a federal judge ruled.

Savage repeatedly sought FBI data through the Freedom of Information Act for a series of articles exposing how federal authorities vigorously probed thousands of people without reasonable suspicion.

 The first request, placed in November 2009, demanded:
 "Statistics on the aggregate results of assessments the FBI has conducted using the new authorities provided by the AG Guidelines that were put into effect in December 2008. Breaking down the numbers into each of the six types of assessments, how many were converted into predicated investigations (preliminary or full investigations) based upon the information developed in those assessments and how many were closed? How many are still ongoing? Please provide the most up to date numbers available at the time the reply to this request is provided.

  On March 7, 2011, the FBI gave Savage the unredacted Senate letter containing the assessment statistics, which stated:
"The FBI has initiated 11,667 Type 1 and Type 2 assessments, 3,062 of which are ongoing. 427 preliminary and full investigations have been opened based upon information developed in these Type I and Type 2 assessments. 480 Type 3, 4, 5, and 6 assessments have been initiated, of which 422 remain open."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/10/NYT%20FBI%20FOIA.pdf