Five Michigan counties have been forced to file requests under the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in order to obtain documents which the State Police are keeping secret. The efforts, led by Oakland County, aim to obtain state antiterrorism plans in order to strengthen their own emergency readiness plans. A number of requests for the information have been filed over the past year but have gone unfulfilled, prompting the counties to file under FOIA. While FOIA requests are usually filed by the public to gain access to government information, government can also utilize the laws. The FOIA request, delivered March 3, 2003, has not been filled, although the State Police emergency management division has stated its department “is compiling the information.” The requested documents include a Statewide Domestic Preparedness Strategy Plan and a Michigan State Police Administration Plan, among other items. Several of the documents detail the distribution of federal money entering Michigan in order to prevent terrorist attacks. By operating under the now too common shroud of Homeland Security Secrecy, the State police are inhibiting counties from accessing critical information necessary to form effective emergency response plans. Secrecy in the name of security is stifling the critical flow of information even between state authorities and sabotaging their own goals of security and safety.