The Lacuna Project

lacuna (n.) a gap in a record where something should be

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Agency

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction

Findings that rest on exhibits naming this entity

  • DEF-2.8: The Washington Post's complaint alleges that it first requested a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) Lessons Learned interview record in August 2016 and sued in October 2017. The court record states that the Post requested all such records on 23 March 2017 and sued again on 14 November 2018, and the Post published its "Afghanistan Papers" on 9 December 2019. In 2021 the district court rejected SIGAR's deliberative-process withholding and largely upheld its other exemptions.
  • DEF-2.9: At a Senate hearing on 11 February 2020 senators quoted SIGAR interview records in which Lute, in 2015, said "We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan--we didn't know what we were doing." Senators also quoted Boucher on seeking "the unachievable" and Crowley on the presentation of altered data. At the same hearing the Special Inspector General, Sopko, testified that "every time we find something that looks like it is going negative, it gets classified or it is no longer relevant."
  • DEF-2.11: SIGAR's August 2021 report on twenty years of U.S. reconstruction in Afghanistan states that "Enormous pressure to demonstrate progress to the Congress and the American and Afghan people distorted accountability systems into spin machines."

Exhibits naming this entity

  • Exhibit 392 14 November 2018. Washington Post Company (plaintiff): Complaint, Washington Post Co. v. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, No. 1:18-cv-02622 (D.D.C.)
  • Exhibit 393 30 September 2021. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judge Amy Berman Jackson): Memorandum Opinion, Washington Post Co. v. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, No. 18-2622 (ABJ), Dkt. 44
  • Exhibit 394 28 January 2020. Congressional Research Service (Clayton Thomas): The Washington Post's 'Afghanistan Papers' and U.S. Policy: Main Points and Possible Questions for Congress, R46197
  • Exhibit 395 11 February 2020. U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management: The Afghanistan Papers: Costs and Benefits of America's Longest War, S. Hrg. 116-203
  • Exhibit 925 August 2021. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR): What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR 21-46-LL)
  • Exhibit 1265 September 2017. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction: Reconstructing the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan (SIGAR 17-62-LL)
  • Exhibit 1266 30 October 2017. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction: Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, 30 October 2017, Status of Funds
  • Exhibit 1267 30 July 2021. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction: Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, 30 July 2021, Status of Funds
  • Exhibit 1286 30 July 2010. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction: SIGAR Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, 30 July 2010 (message from the Special Inspector General)
  • Exhibit 1287 30 January 2019. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction: SIGAR Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, 30 January 2019 (summary of 2018 Lessons Learned reports)