ATTACHMENT 1 Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585 August 29, 1994 Via Facsimile Mr. Daniel Guttman Executive Director Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments 1726 M Street, NW - Suite 600 Washington, DC 20036 Dear Dan, In response to your letter of August 15, 1994 regarding the files of the AEC Division of Intelligence, I am enclosing a report prepared by my staff on the search conducted to date which includes copies contemporaneous regulations governing document destruction. As you will note, the evidence indicates that many, if not all, of these files were destroyed. While we intend to pursue further inquiry, including efforts to determine whether any pertinent records might have been preserved at the national laboratories, the chance of locating more than fragments of the files of the Intelligence Division do not appear promising. We are, of course, available to discuss the search in more detail with you or your staff. Very truly yours, Ellyn H. Weiss Special Counsel and Director Office of Human Radiation Experiments DESTRUCTION OF THE U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION DIVISION OF INTELLIGENCE FILES Report by the Office of Human Radiation Experiments August 26, 1994 Summary The Office of Human Radiation Experiments has attempted to locate the files of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) division of intelligence. It has interviewed people thought to be knowledgeable about the files and has followed the interviews with physical inspections of records stored in various locations. The following appears to be the case: 1. The AEC division of intelligence files were largely destroyed in the 1977-1981 period, although some files were destroyed in the 1972-1974 period. Some file fragments surviving the 1977-1981 file purge may have been destroyed in the 1988-1989 period. 2. Some fragments of the office files may have survived the three purges, but attempts to locate them have been successful. 3. Departmental records-keeping regulations permitted the disposal of records which would have described part of what was destroyed. Thus, there is now no written record of the destruction of the AEC division of intelligence files. THE AEC Division of Intelligence In 1947 the AEC organized a division of intelligence to keep the agency abreast of developments in foreign atomic energy programs. Its most important early mission was to help to build a system to detect foreign nuclear weapons tests. The unit's mission expanded into accumulating data about other aspects of foreign atomic energy programs. The unit was small, probably consisting of four professionals and four administrative personnel in 1971. The division created office files which included copies of memoranda, letters, official AEC decision and information papers. National Intelligence Estimates, and agency intelligence reports. The division also amassed subject files pertaining to agency intelligence activities and country files containing documentation pertaining to foreign atomic energy activities. 1 Much of the documentation in the files was created by other agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Most documents placed in the files were created between 1947 and ILLEGIBLE. The office files contained documents classified at all levels, from Top Secret to Confidential, as well as unclassified documents. As late as 1977 the office files consisted of approximately 50 to 100 linear feet of materials stored in a vault in the Department of Energy's Germantown building. The AEC abolished the division of intelligence in 1971 and transferred its functions to the division of international security affairs. Along with intelligence functions, the division of international security affairs assumed program responsibility for agency mutual defense activities, export and import control matters, and disarmament functions. The division of international security affairs also assumed control of the AEC division of intelligence office files. Destruction of the AEC Division of Intelligence Files Shortly, after the division of intelligence was abolished, the destruction of older materials in its files began. This first file "purge" continued until at least May 1974. Destruction was probably confined to documents dated prior to 1964. Documents at all classification levels, however, were destroyed. It is not clear how many document were destroyed, but reportedly they filled at least two trash carts. The AEC division of intelligence files, however, survived this first "purge" as a body of records. In 1977 Congress established the Department of Energy. The division of international security ILLEGIBLE and surviving AEC division of intelligence files became a part of the new agency. In 1978 the division of international security affairs was transferred to the Department's James Forrestal headquarters building in downtown Washington. The AEC division of intelligence files, meanwhile, had remained in storage in a vault in the Department's Germantown, Maryland building. The division of international security affairs was not given extensive vault storage space in the Forrestal building. The division, therefore, began a second "purge" of the AEC division of intelligence files, destroying most surviving files between 1978 and 1981. A few fragments of the office files may have been moved to the Forrestal building and a few others may have been scattered among division of International security affairs records which were placed in storage in the records holding area in the Germantown building. DOE Order 1324.2, Records Disposition, the Departmental regulations which governed the disposition of records such as those in the AEC division of intelligence files, gave program offices considerable latitude in records retention. Program offices might determine that files containing documentation such as that in the AEC division of intelligence files were eligible for permanent retention. Conversely, they might determine that such files were only eligible for retention for a finite period. [See attachment 1, check items.] It is not clear, however, whether these regulations were followed when the AEC division of intelligence files were destroyed. 2 The Office of International security affairs did ask the Department History Division whether the AEC Division of intelligence files were of historical value. The History Division examines them, stated that most were, and asked that those files of historical value be transferred to the History Division. The office of International security affairs, however, did not transfer any of them to the History Division. In 1988 the Department implemented regulations which required offices to inventory documents classified at the Secret level which reposed in office files. Many offices, however, destroyed Secret documents rather than assuming the burden of inventorying them. Surviving fragments of the AEC division of intelligence files may also have been destroyed during this third "purge." The Office of Human Radiation Experiments Investigation On December 23, 1993, Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary asked all Departmental offices, including the office of nonproliferation and national security, the unit which manages agency intelligence functions, to perform a file search for documentation pertinent to human radiation experiments. Although the office searched its files in response to the Secretary's directive, it did not specifically search for the AEC division of intelligence files as a body of records. The AEC division of intelligence files, therefore, did not become the subject of a specific records search until May 1994, when the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments expressed a special interest in locating them. The Office of Human Radiation Experiments began its investigation in response to this advisory committee interest. The Office of Human Radiation Experiments then made its first inquiries about the AEC division of intelligence files to the office of nonproliferation and national security. The office of nonproliferation and national security replied that it could not locate the AEC division of intelligence files. The Office of Human Radiation Experiments then provided the office of nonproliferation and national security with a general description of AEC division of intelligence files which were extant in 1978 and requested another search. The office of nonproliferation and national security staff performed a physical inspection of the office of intelligence office space, interviewed people likely to have knowledge about the AEC division of intelligence files, and ordered searches of records held in storage in the Germantown building records holding area and in the federal records center in Suitland, Maryland. As a result of these efforts, the office on nonproliferation and national security thought that the AEC division of intelligence files might have been placed in storage in the Germantown records holding area. Simultaneously, the Office of Human Radiation Experiments had conducted a search of all of the 17,818 cubic feet of Departmental records stored in the records holding area in the Germantown building, in the records holding area in the H Street building, and in the Washington National Records Center at Suitland, Maryland. The search was made to locate records pertinent to human radiation experiments as well as to locate the AEC division of intelligence files. The search however, located no AEC division of intelligence files. On June 30, 1994, two members of the Office of Human Radiation Experiments staff conducted a walk through inspection of the Department's office of energy intelligence, office of ILLEGIBLE assessment, and office of counterintelligence suites in the basement of the Forrestal building. During the inspection, they examined the holdings of the office of energy intelligence reference library, the largest document holding area in the suites. The inspection failed to locate the AEC division of intelligence files. 3 During the walk-through inspection, the staff members interviewed employees of the offices of energy intelligence, threat assessment, and counterintelligence. The employees included Ms. Barbara A. Moyers, who had been the administrative officer for the Division of International Security Affairs in the 1978-1981 period; Mr. John Hart, who was Director of the Intelligence Security Division of the Office of Energy Intelligence; Mr. Lee Martin, a staff member of the Office of Energy Intelligence who had served in the AEC division of intelligence; and Mr. Robert O'Brien, who was director of the office of threat assessment. Because of her duties, which included oversight over file retention and destruction, Ms. Moyers had the greatest knowledge about the disposition of the AEC division of intelligence files. Ms. Moyers stated that most of the AEC division of intelligence files were destroyed in Germantown in the 1978- 1981 period. Ms. Moyers stated that, in accordance with Departmental regulations for destruction of classified documents, destruction certificates were completed for Secret and Top Secret documentations which were destroyed.1 {1. Attempt to locate any AEC division of intelligence files which may have been transferred to Departmental laboratories.} In accordance with DOE Order 1324.2, however, these certificates of destruction were later destroyed. [Office had to keep such certificates only two years. Afterward, Departmental regulations permitted their routine destruction. See Attachment 2, checked items.] Therefore, the office of nonproliferation and national security could not produce partial written proof that AEC division of intelligence files were destroyed in 1978-1981. Ms. Moyers did not think, however, that all AEC division of intelligence files were destroyed in the 1978-1981 period. She maintained that some portions were placed in storage in the Department's records holding area in its Germantown building. She thought that a few files may have been transferred to Department of Energy laboratories. Such files probably contained materials pertaining to work done for other agencies. Ms. Moyers identified Randy Huffer, Anna Bondarenke, Steve Slaughter, and Colonel W.K. Benson as people who should be interviewed about the disposition of the AEC division of intelligence files. Mr. Huffer had charge of the division of international security affairs mail room from circa 1979 to circa 1982. Along with Ms. Bondarenke, he carried out the physical destruction of AEC division od intelligence files. Mr. Slaughter worked as a mail clerk in the AEC decisions about what documentation should be destroyed. Mr. Martin, Mr. O'Brien, and Mr. Hart were not directly involved in the destruction of the AEC division of intelligence files. Neither Mr. Martin nor Mr. O'Brien knew where to look for them. Mr. hart added that the intelligence functions of the office of international security affairs had nearly been abolished in the 1978-1981 period. He thought that near abolition combined with the move out of Germantown space encouraged the destruction of records. 4 On July 21, 1994, the Office of Human Radiation Experiments located Colonel Benson, who has retired, in Gaithersburg, Maryland and interviewed him by telephone. Colonel Benson did not know what had happened to the AEC division of intelligence files. He said that he played no role in their destruction. On July 22, 1994, the Office of Human Radiation Experiments interviewed Ms. Anna Bondarenke. She recalled destroying "tons of files," an estimated 85 to 90 percent of the AEC division of intelligence files which had survived until the 1978-1981 period. She thought that some AEC division of intelligence files were sent to the Forrestal building. She did not think that any classified document receipts were prepared to document this transfer. She stated that Randy Huffer works at Fort Detrick, Maryland and provide the post personnel telephone number for locating him. She thought Colonel Benson and W. Gerald Gibson, who works for the Department of Energy, made decisions about what should be destroyed. On August 23, 1994, the Office of Human Radiation Experiments interviewed Mr. Steve Slaughter and Mr. Gerald Gibson. Mr. Slaughter provided information about destruction of AEC division of intelligence files in the 1972-1974 period. In 1974, however, he moved out of the mail room to another position in the office international security affairs. Mr. Gibson suggested places to look for the AEC division of intelligence files and maintained that he did not make decisions about what to destroy. Like Ms. Bondarenke and Mr. Slaughter, he suggested others who might be interviewed about the destruction of the AEC division of intelligence files. On August 23 and 24, 1994 a staff member of the Office of Human Radiation Experiments physically inspected records stored in the records holding area of the Department's Germantown building to search for fragments of the AEC division of intelligence files. He examined six collections of records and portions of a seventh. All had been placed in storage by the office of international security affairs and are currently in the custody of the office of nonproliferation and national security. He found no fragments of the AEC division of intelligence files. On August 25, 1994, the Office of Human Radiation Experiments learned that the office of security affairs does not retain documentation which would show those AEC division of intelligence Top Secret documents which were destroyed in the 1978-1981 period. Future Actions The Office of Human Radiation Experiments will do the following to complete its investigation: 1. Attempt to locate any AEC division of intelligence files which may have been transferred to Departmental laboratories. 5 2. Interview any other personnel directly involved in the destruction of the AEC division of intelligence files. Mr. Randy Huffer is one, but further investigation might indicate others. 3. Compile a list of directors and deputy directors of the division of international security affairs and interview those who managed the division when the AEC division of intelligence files were destroyed. 4. Complete the physical review of the seventh collection of division of international security affairs records (approximately 90 cubic feet) stored in the Germantown records holding area. 6