Filmmaker Laura Poitras detained more than 50 times at borders; files FOIA suit over watchlist status
Between approximately 2006 and 2012, Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras was detained and subjected to secondary screening more than 50 times when entering the United States and at foreign airports. Agents seized and copied her notebooks, cameras, and storage drives, and questioned her about her journalistic sources. The detentions began after her 2006 Iraq war documentary My Country, My Country and intensified in the years leading up to her work with Edward Snowden. In July 2015 she filed a FOIA suit (Poitras v. DHS et al., D.D.C.) seeking records about the basis for her targeting.
Dates: Border detentions approximately 2006–2012; relocation to Berlin 2012; FOIA suit filed July 13, 2015. Parties: Laura Poitras; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Justice; Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Electronic Frontier Foundation (counsel). What happened: Poitras was subjected to repeated border stops, equipment seizures, and prolonged interrogations without being told why. She ultimately relocated her editing operations to Berlin in 2012 to protect source materials. In 2013 she was a primary recipient of Snowden's NSA disclosures and directed Citizenfour (2014). Government responses to her FOIA requests were inadequate, prompting EFF litigation in 2015. FOIA-produced records indicated she had been flagged in border systems in connection with her travel and journalism. Government's stated reasons: None publicly stated. FOIA-released documents referenced concerns about her travel and work. Poitras's allegations: First Amendment retaliation against protected journalistic activity; chilling effect on sources; surveillance and intelligence-gathering directed at a working journalist. Outcome: Partial document production; no merits ruling on First Amendment claims; no criminal charges ever filed against Poitras. Detentions eventually ceased.