Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

Nearly a decade ago, while investigating the possibility that the United States had used biological weapons in the Korean War, one of America’s most inventive and challenging novelists Nicholson Baker requested a series of Air Force documents under the provisions of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Thus began the odyssey of non-discovery and a frustrating paper trail in search of the truth which he documents in his new book Baseless.

Nicholson talks to CIJ Director James Harkin about the limits of FOIA and what can be done about them.

------------------------------------------------
This interview was recorded and broadcast as part of the 'CIJ Logan Symposium: Collective Intelligence', which took place online on 16-19 Nov 2020.
tcij.org/logan-symposium/collective-intelligence/programme

The CIJ Logan Symposium is a biennial event organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and made possible thanks to the support of the Reva & David Logan Foundation.
tcij.org/logan-symposium
------------------------------------------------
The Centre for Investigative Journalism
Website: tcij.org
Twitter: @cijournalism
------------------------------------------------
The Reva & David Logan Foundation
Website: loganfdn.org