Freedom of Information Request Returns 4,000 Pages of Completely Mundane Documents, Theorist Insists 'That's the Point'

Amateur investigator Paula Redaction received 4,000 pages of documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed eighteen months ago and has declared the contents -- primarily cafeteria receipts, meeting room booking confirmations, and printer maintenance logs -- to be 'the most incriminating evidence she has ever obtained.' 'Look at these cafeteria receipts,' Redaction said, fanning the pages across her dining room table. 'On March 14, someone in Building 7 ordered two coffees. Two. Who was the second coffee for? That's an undisclosed meeting. That's a shadow briefing over drip coffee and it cost $3.50.' The documents, which Redaction obtained from the Department of Agriculture's regional office in Omaha, respond to her request for 'all records pertaining to undisclosed activities and covert operations' at the facility. 'They sent me 4,000 pages of nothing,' Redaction said. 'Which is exactly what you'd send if you had something to hide. The mundanity is the cover. No one would look twice at a printer maintenance log. That's why I'm looking three times.' Redaction has been analyzing the documents for six weeks, during which she has identified what she calls 'patterns of suspicious normalcy,' including the observation that the office printer was serviced on a regular quarterly schedule. 'Who services a printer on a perfect quarterly cycle?' she asked. 'That's not human behavior. That's protocol. And protocol means planning. And planning means there's a plan.' Redaction has filed fourteen follow-up FOIA requests seeking clarification on the cafeteria receipts. The Department of Agriculture's FOIA office has described her as 'persistent.'