Clinic Case Seeking Records on Toxic Conditions at K2 Airbase Progresses
A federal judge granted in part a cross-motion for summary judgment in a long-running case involving the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic (VLSC) on behalf of two clients seeking the disclosure of records documenting toxic conditions at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) airbase in Uzbekistan.
The clinic has represented the Stronghold Freedom Foundation (SFF) and the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center (CVLC) since 2021. It first filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Defense (DOD) in 2023 seeking the disclosure of records documenting toxic conditions at the base through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
A former Soviet airbase, K2 was heavily contaminated with toxic substances, even presenting a radiological hazard from suspected yellowcake uranium. The base was a major staging ground for the war in Afghanistan against the Taliban in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. From 2001 to 2005, more than 15,000 service members deployed there.
Many service members stationed or rotated through K2 became seriously ill and later developed debilitating conditions, including rare, aggressive cancers. The DOD has refused to make public environmental testing and other records from that period, however. As a result, physicians have struggled to diagnose and treat K2 veterans, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has refused to provide them benefits, according to the clinic. The lawsuit sought to compel the DOD to disclose its records.
The FOIA request ultimately proceeded to litigation, with the clinic’s clients contesting the adequacy of the government’s search for responsive records and whether FOIA exemptions were properly invoked to withhold certain records.
In a spring 2024 federal court filing, the clinic team opposed the government’s motion for summary judgment and cross-moved under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d) to defer adjudication to permit additional, limited discovery. This month, Judge Kari A. Dooley issued an opinion denying the DOD’s motion for summary judgment as to the adequacy of the search of all four DOD units in dispute and ordered the disclosure of the names and ranks of military personnel, notwithstanding DOD’s assertion that such information was exempt. In addition, the Court allowed limited discovery, including the depositions of three DoD personnel.
Judge Dooley also granted summary judgement to the government as to the information it had withheld under FOIA Exemptions 1 and 3 and as to phone numbers of the military personnel whose identities were withheld under Exemption 6.
Stronghold Freedom Foundation Executive Director Matthew Erpelding said that the ruling opens a path to greater transparency.
“This ruling moves the ball forward,” Erpelding said. “While some information remains withheld, the Court made clear that key questions are still unanswered — and that matters. For K2 veterans, that means we are closer to the truth they have long deserved.”
The ruling is particularly significant in ordering the release of names and ranks and to permit depositions of key DoD personnel, according to law student clinic member William Kerin ’26, who was part of the team that opposed the government’s motion for summary judgment and cross-moved for limited discovery.
“When the adequacy of the search is genuinely in question and agency declarations are deficient, the Court properly allows limited discovery. These depositions will allow plaintiffs to examine, under oath, how the searches were conducted, what systems were used, and whether relevant records were overlooked,” Kerin said.
The yearslong lawsuit is part of a larger commitment to advocate on behalf of veterans, said Connecticut Veterans Legal Center executive director Alison Weir, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
“The bare minimum we owe our service members and veterans who return from deployment is the truth. Connecticut Veterans Legal Center is extremely proud to be a part of this lawsuit, and we will continue to fight to ensure no veteran is forgotten,” Weir said.
