For
release January 21, 2005 |
For
more information contact:
Tom Blanton - 202/994-7000
Meredith Fuchs - 202/994-7000 |
PUBLIC
INTEREST IN HIDDEN CIA OPERATIONAL RECORDS IS HIGH
ARCHIVE
URGES CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY TO PERMIT FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
ACT REQUESTS FOR HISTORICAL MATERIALS
National
Security Archive Files Comments on CIA's Decennial Review of Operational
Files
Washington D.C., January 21,
2005 - The National Security Archive this week submitted
comments on the Central Intelligence Agency's decennial
review of the record categories that the CIA has designated as
exempt from search and review under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA).
In 1984 the CIA was granted limited
protection from FOIA for operational records that are considered
so sensitive that it is not productive to search them in response
to FOIA requests. The Archive's comments demonstrate that this
basis for the exemption is flawed because numerous operational
records have been released under special declassification projects
regarding the Kennedy Assassination, Nazi War Crimes, Chile, Cuba,
Guatemala, and other matters that have provided historically valuable
information to the public and have not caused any harm to national
security.
The Archive's comments addressed
a number of specific records that should be subject to FOIA requests
and reviewed for release to the public:
- The Archive requested that the
CIA open for FOIA search and review a number of CIA histories
that concern publicly acknowledged CIA activities and operations
and that concern CIA components that no longer exist.
- The Archive reminded the CIA of
the broken commitment made by three consecutive Directors of
the Central Intelligence Agency to declassify records concerning
11 acknowledged covert operations.
- The Archive urged the CIA to adopt
its own history staff's recommendation from 1994 that all operational
files older than 40 years be subject to FOIA search and review.
For more information, click to review the Archive's
full comments and the Archive's request that the CIA initiate
its decennial review.