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![What we talk about when we talk about █████: Secrecy, overclassification, and the CIA’s hidden history](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2019/09/30/cia_secrecy.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
What we talk about when we talk about █████: Secrecy, overclassification, and the CIA’s hidden history
In 1978, the director of the CIA warned that excessive, impulsive secrecy was a danger — not only to the public’s right to know, but to the agency’s ability to keep the important secrets. 40 years later, that lesson still needs repeating.
![A whole lot of transparency: MuckRock users file 50,000 requests](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2018/07/14/moving_docs.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
A whole lot of transparency: MuckRock users file 50,000 requests
MuckRock’s amazing community of FOIA and public records enthusiasts have crossed another milestone: A user recently filed the site’s 50,000th requests, the 9,486th request this year.
![FBI investigated a pair of Bureau impersonators at Disney World](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2018/03/14/Dinsey.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
FBI investigated a pair of Bureau impersonators at Disney World
Files originally released to Jason Smathers show that in the Summer of 1989, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Tampa office launched a brief investigation into reports that two individuals that identified themselves as FBI agents to Walt Disney World maintenance workers. How were staff able to determine that these two weren’t legitimate G-men? Well, at least one of the perpetrators was wearing shorts and a tank top.
![Washington insider wanted J. Edgar Hoover to leverage his friendship with Walt Disney so he'd produce religious cartoons](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2017/06/07/DisneyCov.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
Washington insider wanted J. Edgar Hoover to leverage his friendship with Walt Disney so he’d produce religious cartoons
As we’ve written before, Walt Disney and J. Edgar Hoover enjoyed a decades-long professional and person friendship, with fringe benefits including union busting and free admission to Disneyland for FBI Agents. There were downsides, however - such as when one unnamed DC insider tried to leverage the Director’s relationship to pressure Disney into making religious cartoons.
![The FBI feared communist infiltration of EPCOT](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/EPCOTcov.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
The FBI feared communist infiltration of EPCOT
In 1981, Walt Disney World was getting ready to unveil a new gem in its crown of amusement parks, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT. Revolving around a massive sphere called “Spaceship Earth” and a lagoon that initially called for cultural installations from nine countries, EPCOT was intended to be the ultimate harmonious international village, a shining example of global unity. Naturally the FBI had a problem with it.