xxxxxxxxxxxxx; JOHN JOSEPH MACCARTHY, JR. & HIS MILITARY/CIA CAREER & HIS INVOLVEMENT W/PROJECT "CHERRY"

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0001333876
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: June 23, 2015
• Document Release Date: July 30, 2010
• Case Number: F-2010-00760
• Publication Date: June 5, 2006

Veb 14ai- - FOIA Appeal re CIA-maintained McCarthy Records and Corso Records
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Date 6/5/2006 2:30:27 am amt B itit 1 Il iM 8 .
To
Subject FOIA Appeal re CIA-maintained McCarthy Records and Corso Records
TO: Chairman
CIA Records-Release Panel
C/O Scott Koch, Information and Privacy Coordinator
U. S. Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC 20505
Your FOIA coordinator Koch's letters to me of May 31, 2006, and May
26, 2006, have made it even clearer to me why your agency has
received the George Washington University-based National Security
Archive's Rosemary Award (for your demonstrated disdain for the U. S.
Freedom of Information Act's inherent support of the public's
right-to-know).
Accordingly, in order to help counter that disdain and to advance the
public's interest/benefit in knowing the darker side of your agency's
policies/programslpractices, I hereby appeal Mr. Koch's actions taken
via the above-cited letters, while also serving notice that your
denial of my appeal will heighten my resolve to seek judicial remedy
therefor. My prevailing in that lawsuit would require your agency to
reimburse me my attorney's fees.
First of all, your final response (May 31, 2006) to my Aug. 8, 2004,
request No. 82004-01'956, re former U. S. Army captain John Joseph
McCarthy, Jr., errs in denying my status as an independent writer
entitled to full waiver of records-search fees. What's more, had
your records searcher conducted a search of all records pertaining to
the CIA-managed, clandestine, Vietnam-era operation called PROJECT
CHERRY, he would've discovered that McCarthy had been assigned to
that project. For background information on that assignment, please
peruse McCarthy's current-events-blog website
http://johnmecarthy9(X)66.tripod/idi.html. As McCarthy's blog
documents, his (Army-CIA-compelled) role in PROJECT CHERRY led to his
becoming the fall-guy for your agency's ill-conceived and illicit
application of CHERRY actionslassets against the Cambodian
government. Such official malfeasance by ANY U. S. agency during
wartime would by definition have permanent value to the public's
understanding and evaluation of that agency's conduct past, present,
and future.
My expected lawsuit, therefore, would seek your agency's production
of a Vaughn index to determine why Mr. Koch has chosen not to search
all CHERRY-related records pertaining to McCarthy's case. That
request for a Vaughn index also would seek a copy of the entire FOIA
case files on all other McCarthy-related FOIA requests processed to
date by your agency. The lawsuit also would request that the court
conduct an in-camera inspection of all CHERRY-related records
pertaining to McCarthy.
Since Mr. McCarthy's web log (a.k.a. "blog") qualifies as a news (and
information) medium widely available to military-affairs researchers,
political analysts, scholars, cultural activists, congressmen,
historians, and jurists worldwide, it enhances my ability to share my
writings and research finding on such national-security matters as
the McCarthy Saga. His story, incidentally, figures in my current
First Amendment lawsuit of Bryant v. Rumsfeld, et at., whereby I'm
challenging certain military commanders' censorship of a series of
whistleblower-solicitation advertisements I've sent -- as an
independent writer-researcher -- for publication in various postibase
newspapers. In this regard, the U. S. District Court for the
District of Columbia has acknowledged my status as an independent
writer entitled to have his First Amendment claims of
freedom-of-speech/freedom-of-press properly adjudicated.
In the second matter at issue here (my May 4, 2006, FOIA request No.
F-2006-01045, by which I seek a copy of all CIA-generated and
CIA-received records pertaining to the late Army Lt. Col. (Ret.)
Philip James Corso and his associations, activities, congressional
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 it - FOIA Appeal re CIA-maintained McCarthy Records and Corso Records
testimony, and motivations), I note that, once again, Mr. Koch, via
his May 26, 2006, letter to me, insists on questioning my status as
an independent writer representing one or more news media. How much
time do you really wish to spend here on my justifying my existence
-- and would you rather spend it in the comfort of your office than
in a courtroom?
At any rate, please note that Corso's whistleblowing account,
published in his 1997 memoirs "The Day After Roswell," implicates
your agency in the policies, programs, and operations of a
supersecret panel of UFO-related experts called Majestic-Twelve.
Corso's role as a Pentagon-based intelligence/R&D analyst in helping
exploit the advanced technological artifacts retrieved from the July
1947 crash-landing of a "flying saucer" near Roswell, N.M.,
reverberates, to this day, in the UFO press.
Indeed, in my column scheduled for the July 2006 issue of the
newsstand periodical UFO magazine, I focus my attention on the Corso
story. In UFO magazine's April 2006 issue, my column ("Bryant's UFO
View") presents a similar essay on the FBI's recent disclosure of its
dossier on UFO author-personality Philip J. Klass* (see enclosed
photo-copy of said essay). Earlier, upon the now-suspended website
of the public-interest Group Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, I had
published a an essay about Corso's FBI dossier, which mentions his
alleged CIA connections.
In a forthcoming issue of UFO magazine, my column will dwell on the
second edition of a book titled 'Exempt from Disclosure: The
Disturbing Case About the UFO Coverup," by Robert M. Collins, a
former USAF captain privy to inside knowledge about the government's
technological exploitation of Roswellian-debris artifacts. The
books revelations include MJ-12-related material allegedly "leaked"
from CIA records -- a matter of utmost concern to the public's
awareness of the CIA role in the coverup of the UFO experience.
As with the McCarthy Saga, Collins's book has been the focus of one
of my recent ad submissions -- a submission that was flatly rejected
by public affairs officials at Langley Air Force Base, Va., as being
in contradiction of the official USAF viewpoint on UFO reality.
Again, such official censorship of an independent writer's
research/writing deserves both public outcry and oversight as to
agency motivations and operations.
UFO magazine's website, http://www.ufomag.com, further extends the
news-dissemination reach of this multimedia organization, thus
affording me a wide audience for my work product
My column in UFO magazine has been preceded by my UFO-related
articles and book reviews published in the newsstand magazine FATE:
True Reports of the Strange and Unknown -- published by Galde Press,
Inc. (galdepress.com), with whom I'm under contract for my second
book. Incidentally, my first book -- "UFO Politics at the White
House: Citizens Rally 'round Jimmy Carter's Promise" -- drew its
content from citizens' UFO-related letters to Pres. Carter, as
USAF-disclosed to me via the U. S. Freedom of Information Act.
So, you see that this capsule of my track record as an independent
writer amply qualifies me to receive a full search-fee waiver for any
current/future FOIA requests submitted as part of my ongoing
research/analysis. Therefore, please grant me this appeal by
immediately rescinding Mr. Koch's denial of my documented, reiterated
requester status.
Copy furnished to: Chairman, Subcommittee on Government Management,
Finance, and Accountability - U. S. House of Representatives
* P. S.: I hereby request that Mr. Koch also process this letter as
a formal, written FOIA request that he send me a copy of all
CIA-maintained records pertaining to the activities, associations,
correspondence, and motivations of the late Philip Julian Klass.
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 No Class Act: The FBI Dossier on Philip J. Klass
by Larry W. Bryant
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss
events; small minds discuss people.
Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN
We may never know if the late, consummate character
assassin Philip Julian Klass ever knew that the U. S. Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation was keeping records of his
activities and associations. And even if he knew, would
he have wondered whether his demise would trigger the
birth of a freedom-of-information request for public ac-
cess to those records?
As soon as I'd learned of Klass's death on August 9,
2005 1 fired off an FOIA request to FBI headquarters in
Washington, D. C. Sure enough, the Bureau, known for
its having compiled dossiers on such UFO researchers as
Stanton T. Friedman, Leonard H. Stringfield, William L.
Moore, and Larry W. Bryant, had made no exception for
the notorious king of the UFO debunkers.
By its transmittal letter of January 19, 2006, the Bu-
reau sent me a package of 56 responsive documents from
Klass's dossier, a portion of which was declassified from
its original protective marking of SECRET, while several
pages were redacted in whole or in part on grounds of-
you guessed it-national security.
Let's jump right into the dossier's contents and analyze
the documents, as best we can, right here. The very first
document, dated November 9, 1964, consists of a partially
censored, two-page memorandum from FBI director John
Edgar Hoover to the director of the U. S. Central Intel-
ligence Agency, marked: Attention: Director of Security.
Subject: Philip J. Klass.
Lost Was; the Key focuses on surf acinq memories . nonhuman contact,
In responding to the CIA director's apparently SECRET
letter of October 26, 1964, Hoover's memo's last paragraph
states:
In January, 1958, a matter was referred to this Bureau
for investigation by the District Commander, 4th
District Office of Special Investigations, Department
of the AirForce; Bolling: Air Force Base; Washington,
D. C. This matter involved the unauthorized disclo-
sure of information classified "Secret" in "Aviation
Week Magazine" article entitled "Exclusive Report on
Counter Measures" by Philip J. Klass in 18 November,
1957, and 25 November, 1957, editions. No investi-
gation was conducted in this matter by this Bureau
inasmuch as this Bureau was advised by Department
of the Air Force that such classified information as.
was contained in the article could not be declassified
for purposes of posecutiom.
The memo concludes:
No additional pertinent information regarding Klass
is contained in the files of this Bureau. Any pertinent
information developed at a later date will be fur-
nished to you.
The executive branch's decision not to prosecute Klass
and/or his magazine, which today enjoys the dubious
distinction of being unofficially labeled Aviation Leak,
has much relevance to today's politics of secrecy. Will
the leaker of the National Security Agency's electronic-
surveillance net entrapping American citizens daring to
communicate internationally, along with the New York
? and spiritual Implications, 1
debunkers. ? time, ? helicopters, ? ?
:alone) that details Hal6y's search for evidence, fightinq
? ? =171112111 IIIII
? ? ?
14 April2006 UFO
.............................................................................................................................................................................:
 Times staff, avail himself of the Klassian escape route spaceship. Klass stated that Hvnek reportedly said,
from Uncle Sam's vindictive assault on such messengers "There is no doubt these men had a terrifying experi-
of bad news? ence." Mr. Klass was told that many people would
Moving along to February 21, 1975, we find an insight- draw no such inference as he had from this remark.
ful and revelatory three-page memo from FBI official "Mr. The conversation was concluded when Klass sug-
Heim" to colleague "Mr. Moore." gested that we might be interested in publishing an
Subject: PHILIP J. KLASS (SENIOR AVIONICS EDI- article by a newly formed organization called the
TOR, AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY), "Center for Unidentified Ghosts."
CRITICISM OF FBI.
INFORMATION CONCERNING KLASS:
BACKGROUND: Bullies disclose that Klass has, from time to time,
Late in the afternoon of 2/10/75, captioned indi- come to our attention by virtue of the fact that he has
vidual telephoned the Bureau and spoke with the been in (deleted] (contact with a Soviet national?] ...
Editor of the. FBI Law Enforcement .Bulletin (LEB) this Bureau (deleted) ... and not to be of assistance to
publication of the ar?iele b'W, ).,Allen Hy iek, "The Klass has been affiliated with Aviation Week & Space
"
UFO Mystery;
in the Febru ,197 5, issue of the Technology magazine for at least the past 20 years.
LEB. Klass suggested that by publishing this articles This periodical is published by McGraw-Hill, Inc.,
the FBI had given f ts'endorsement to a hoa (that with offices in New York. However, Klass is based
UFOs. are extraterrestrial in origIntl to fraud; (Dr. in Washington, D.C., and maintains an office in the
invest~g ted [IFO sightings "with the thoroughness " listed in the D.C. telephone directory at 560 M Street,
not ode shred of"evidence that any such objects as
UFOs existed', let alone that they were from beyond
the earth's atmosphere 1`Ie also contended that his
investigations have led to several. books and many
articles on the topic.
Mr Klass was politely reminded that nowhere
inn Dr.'.';Hynek's article appearing'in the Bulletin,
or in numerous other of his writings which`.wore
examined by us, does Hynek suggest that UFOs
are extra terrestrial in origin. Additionally,' it was.
pointed out to Klass that the term "LUDO (Unidenti-
fied Flying Object)" leaves room for all manner of
phenomena bath real and imagined
Furthermore, Klass as. informed that the i only
tiling the FBI: endorsed in the publication of Dr
Hynek's article wasits:clearly statedpremise that;
"Irlegardless of the source of UFOs or their legiti-
macy, these sightings represented a real problem
for law enforcement," to whom persons would
normally first report their observations.'.
s?to?the3 suggestion that the author is a fraud,
Klass was informed that Hynek is awidely re-
spected scientist, recognized by all creditable 'pro
fessionals in his field of expertise, who is affiliated
with a leading university (Northwestern). At this,
Klass replied: "He won't be for long.
Klass would not elaborate on this' statement, nor
was he requested to do so.,
Moreover, Klass contended that Hynek's bias
toward the notion that UFOs are actually objects
and creatures from outer space was; demonstrated
following his interview of the two men from Mis-
sissippi who reported they were held captive for
a time by green, other worldly beings who arrived
on earth and departed from it in a saucer-shaped
continued on page 76
...................................................................................................................
UFO April 2006 15
.......... ....................................................................................................................... ............................................
 Bryant's UFO View
continued from page 15
A book review concerning one of his published works
entitled"UFOs Identified,' published by Random-
House, credits him with a scientific approach to ex
plaining the UFO phenomena, but specifically notes
that he is in disagreement with Dr. Hynek and others:-
prominent in this field:
Klass' attempts to discredit Hynek are totally without
foundation.. Hynek could scarcely love any better
scientific credentials. All;of his writings and public
statements that were examined prior to publicationof'
his article in the Bulletin disclose a meticulously obi
jective and scientific view 0(46 UFO phenomenon.
OBSERVATIONS:
in view of IElass" intemperate criticism and often fl*-
tional statements he made to support it, we should be
most'circi mspect:in any future contacts with himt. }
Recommendation For information.
Apparently, the Bureau's telephonic rejection of Klass's
protestation left such a bitter taste in his mouth that he
couldn't resist getting in another dig at the Hynek per-
sona. It comes in the form of a June 14, 1975 letter sent to
Hoover's successor, Clarence Kelley. Would Klass, some
30 years hence, have felt at all embarrassed at indulging
in such ad hominem rhetoric? Those of us who knew him
personally have no doubt that the word contrition had no
place in his vocabulary.
Dear Mr. Kelly [sic]:
Tine enclosed photo-copy of'a headline andsfeat z'reF
story in s recent issue of the tabloid " 'he National
Tattler" is a portent of the sort of "FBi endorsem
for the ffying-saucer myth that you cart expect to seep
repeatedly, as a result, of then article on UFOs berried-
by they February issue of The Law Enforcement Bul,-
let nt.
That article was written by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the
spiritual leader of the vocal group d "believers'"`
and - "kooks" who claim that weare being visited byr
extraterrestrial spaceships. While the FBI did not
endorse Hype k',views pea se,: the decision to publish
For the past 10 years, my hobby has been investi-:-
gating, AND EXPLAINING, famous UFO cases that.
Hynek and others proclaim to be unexplainable.
Recently, I have published a book entitled "UFOs Ex-
plained," which has received very favorable reviews
from such prestigious publications as "Scientific
American:" (See enclosure;}
t would welcome thee opportunity to present the other
side of tite UFO issue In The law Enforcement Buller;
tilt, and to thereby help- emove the earlier S~U
FBI endorsement of flying saucers.
Cordially, Philip J. Klass
The National Tattler's June 16, 1975 edition happens to
present, on page 9, a straightforward account of Hynek's
five-thousand-word article "The UFO Mystery-Investi-
gating Reports of Sightings." Tattler's only lapse into po-
etic license occurs in the headline: "FBI Admits UFOs Ex-
ist (Story in Agency's Official Magazine Instructs Lawmen
on Procedure to Follow When Saucer Is Spotted)."
I'm sure that Hynek would've preferred that the head-
line had read: "FBI Admits UFO Reports Exist." After all,
as the good professor used to emphasize: We're studying
not UFOs, but reports of UFOs.
For his part, director Kelley wasted little time in replying
to our cordial Mr. Klass. Kelley's kiss-off letter of June 23,
1975, a monument to how bureaucrats can handle a peskily
officious citizen, offers these two closing paragraphs:
I Gould n t agree more with your implication that
Ia v enforcement'personnel should loo after their ,;
p responsii ty==-crime, not: UFOs. This is
Ow se~l the Treason we believe the Center- for UFEI
Studies, help to free l-aw enforcement personnel- ;.
flout investigatii g acid reporting on phenomena unas-.
While w~ are most grateful far your offer to propare a,
manuscript' for publishing consideration in the Bulle-
tin, a careful review of the magazine's commitments,
regr ettably leaves us no opportunity to acceptyour=
prpposal in the foreseeable future.
The author of Kelley's letter to Klass, presumably from
the Bureau's external affairs office, appended a back-
ground note to the Bureau's file copy. It concludes:
what to do."if'they, land," has embroiled the agency'
for ati timer
Fora quarter-century, the U. S. Air Force had this
monkey on its back and wisely, 1969, bowed out.
of the UFO business. Now, according to the-enclosed.'
article, the FBI's decision to publish the Hynekk article
represents the first time that "au agency of the federal
government admits that UFOs are worthy, ofconcern."
The Hynek article published by the FBI encourages
law enforcement officers to take the time--from much'
more pressing , duties-totake calls from people who
report seeing UFOs and to in turn relay such calls to
Hynek's own UFO group
Surely in these times law enforcement officers have
more useful things to occupy their time and attention.
Hyttek has been associated professorially with some
of rile x
finest universities in this country and is recog--
nixed in tie most prestigious scientific circles. On the ;
other hand, Klass has no such sterling reputation and
has twice been-under FBI investigation in connection
with the unauthorized publication of classified infor-
mation. Both of these cases are closed.- "The National
Tattler," a clipping from which Klass enclosed, is a
tabloid which, until recently, specialized in bawdy
sex stories but now deals in sensationalism manu-
factured by grossly distorting stories associated with
prominent persons and agencies.
Egads! Could this possibly be the same Phil Klass who,
back in the eighties, got on the phone to pressure officials
at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln to withdraw their
 offer of facilities for holding a UFO-research conference,
on the grounds that some of the anti-UFO-secrecy confer-
ees might have communistic leanings?
As one of those conferees, I'll always remember my own
close encounter with Klass in the public square during
that period. It came as we both accepted the invitation of
a Baltimore TV talk show to present a point-counterpoint
segment on the UFO issue.
In the Green Room as we were preparing to go on stage,
Klass tried his best to display his cordial side, as if he
merely were a harmless garden snake sunning himself
amidst the marigolds. His small talk focused on querying
me about where I'd attended school and who's my current
employer.
Uh-oh, I said to myself; here comes the (expected) tactic
by which he's planning to, some day, subject me to the
same harassment he'd visited upon the late UFO-oriented
scientist Dr. James E. McDonald, whose effects from being
thus Klassi-fried became tragic.
Things went downhill swiftly. During my brief slide-show
presentation of some key cases from ufological history, Klass
seethed with anger and accusatory remarks, labeling each
case a hoax without providing any evidence thereof.
During a commercial break, the show's staffers tried to
coax me into arguing Jerry Springer-style with this would-
be "expert on the UFO myth." I declined, preferring to
just laugh at him whenever he deigned to ply his role as
professional bully.
I needn't have bothered to laugh, because the audience
already had summed up the event as a case of Klass-dis-
missed. I still have a videotape of that show, and I hope
it'll fetch some big bucks when my daughter puts it up for
auction on eBay.com upon my own demise.
Some day, historians might view Klass's dossier as be-
ing more important for what it excludes than for what it
includes. In particular, where's all the Klass-related docu-
mentation fueling the controversy over the 1980s-leaked
information about the so-called Operation Majestic-12,
the alleged supersecret twelve-member panel of high-
ranking military personnel and senior scientists set up by
President Truman in 1947 to conceal and technologically
exploit various knowledge/artifacts retrieved from one or
more crash-landed flying saucers?
In this regard, see Nick Redfern's article "MJ-12 and the
Bureau" in the June-July 2003 issue (Vol. 18, No. 3) of UFO
Magazine. "According to [author Howard] Blum," writes
Redfern, "on June 4,1987 UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass wrote
to William Baker, assistant director of the [FBI's] Office of
Congressional and Public Affairs: 'I am enclosing what pur-
port to be Top Secret/Eyes Only documents, which have
not been properly declassified, now being circulated by
William L. Moore, Burbank, California 91505.' "
Most of us familiar with Klass's nasty tactics for coun-
tering his ufological opponents view his letter to Baker as
just another example of his obsessive, desperate campaign
to smear, intimidate, and assault the opposition.
information-parading around town with his flag of righ-
teous indignation over certain ufologists' receipt of alleged
documentation confirming and exposing the government
cover-up of the Deepest Secret.
If his dossier settles anything important, it's this: No
agency in its right mind would've hired him for so much
as file-clerking, much less for leading any counterintel-
ligence effort to deflect researchers' coming too close to
The Secret.
Perhaps the most charitable conclusion we can draw
from his dossier is that Klass, clueless about the value of
legitimate UFO research and classless in his interpersonal
relations, had become a caricature of scientism. As such,
he would have fared well in the Bush II administration,
making Karl Rove look like an angel.
Alas, he rightfully merited no respect from true scholars
and real gentlemen. Within that big cranium of his was
housed, along with an obviously high IQ, the smallest,
meanest of minds-one that jinxed any chance he might
have had toward achieving greatness. uxo
From his home in Alexandria, Virginia, Larry W.
Bryant directs the Washington, D.C. office of the pub-
lic-interest group Citizens Against UFO Secrecy. His
book UFO Politics at the White House: Citizens Rally
`round Jimmy Carter's Promise is available from
Galde Press, Inc. (www.galdepress.com). He welcomes
communication from the public at his email address:
overtci?cavtel.net
American Demonology
continued from page 75
walking-without a net-over a potentially consciousness-
shattering military secret-are not difficult to imagine.
In An American Demonology, Bennett raises Ruppelt
to a mythically heroic level, as he did previously with
Adamski and Fort, in part by the often extremely poetic
use of language and the skillful sketching in of relevant
historical background that fixes Ruppelt's story firmly in
those more innocent early days of Ufology. In terms of the
sheer beauty of his writing style, Bennett has few equals
in the field of UFO studies, and it's a shame that this new-
est book is only a scant 166 pages.
Did Captain Edward Ruppelt knowingly conceal the
truth about UFOs from a gullible American public in his
time as head of Project Blue Book? And did he, as the
book's dustcover claims, "try desperately to convince the
American Air Force that UFOs were real?" While Colin
Bennett cannot answer those questions completely, he can
at least entertain and inform us in a voice uniquely his
own, and offer us a fresh perspective on a sorely neglected
figure in American history, one who may who have held
the key to so many of the mysteries of the UFO phenom-
enon. As a history of our own military's bewildered re-
sponse to interlopers from another world, An American
Demonology is an instant and essential classic. uxo
An American Demonology: Flying Saucers Over
the White House, by Colin Bennett, is available from
Headpress, U.K., on the web at https://securehost2.zen.
co.uk/headpress/default.asp
,
...................................................................................................................
UFO April 2006 77
:..............................................................................................................................................................................
Savor this irony: here we have Klass-himself an un-
pants-down-caught publisher of leaked defense
abashed
 31 May 2006
This is a final response to your 8 August 2004 Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request for records pertaining to John Joseph McCarthy, Jr. We processed
your request in accordance with the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. ? 552, as amended, and the CIA
Information Act, 50 U.S.C. ? 431. Our processing included a search for records as
described in our 9 September 2004 letter and our 28 April 2006 acceptance letter.
We did not locate any records responsive to your request.
Although our searches were thorough and diligent, and it is highly unlikely
that repeating those searches would change the result, you nevertheless have the
legal right to appeal the finding of no records responsive to your request. You also
have the right to appeal the decisions made in our 9 September 2004 letter. Should
you choose to do so, you may address your appeal to the Agency Release Panel within
45 days from the date of this letter, in my care. Please explain the basis of your
appeal.
The cost for your request amounts to $110, consisting of 10 computer searches
at $10 each, and fifteen minutes professional search time at $10 per quarter hour.
You are entitled to receive two hours free search (equivalent to $80) as a requester in
the "all other" fee category. Therefore, the cost to you is $30. Please send your check
or money order to me in this amount, payable to the Treasurer of the United
States, citing Reference Number F-2004-01956 to ensure proper credit to your
account.
Sincerely,
Scott Koch
Information and Privacy Coordinator
 26 May 2006
Reference: F-2006-01045
Dear
The office of the Information and Privacy Coordinator has received your
4 May 2006 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for:
"a copy of all CIA-generated and CIA-received records
pertaining to Lt. Col. [Philip James] Corso and his
associations, activities, congressional testimony, and
motivations."
We have assigned your request the reference number above. Please use this
number when corresponding so that we can identify it easily.
For your information, the FOIA authorizes federal agencies to collect
fees for records services. You will note on the enclosed fee schedule that we
charge search fees, including computer time where indices are computerized,
and copying costs for releasable documents. In accordance with Section (a) of
the schedule, search fees are assessable even if no records are found or, if
found, we determine that they are not releasable. This means you will be
charged even if our search results are negative or if we determine that no
information is releasable under the FOIA. The search fees for each item in a
request are usually about $150.
Your letter states that you are submitting this request as an
independent writer and, therefore, request that search and review fees be
waived as a "representative of the news media." Your current request,
however, does not appear to satisfy the criteria our published regulations
require to receive preferential fee treatment as a representative of the news
media. You may find these criteria at 32 C.F.R. ? 1900.02 (h)(3). Before we
can determine the proper fee category for your request, please provide,
pursuant to 32 C.F.R. ? 1900.02 (h), additional information on why and how
the documents you seek:
 ? concern current events;
? interest the general public;
? enhance the public understanding of the operations or
activities of the U.S. Government; and
? how you plan to disseminate the information to a significant
element of the public at minimal cost.
Please specifically address each of these points. Your thorough response will
help ensure that we place your request in the most appropriate and favorable
fee category possible.
Without the data requested above, your fee categorization will be that of
"all other," which means that you will be required to pay charges which
recover the cost of searching for and reproducing responsive records (if any)
beyond the first 100 pages of reproduction and the first two hours of search
time, which will be furnished without charge. We will assess copying costs at
the rate of ten cents per page.
For your information, we have conducted a previous search for records
on Colonel Corso and no responsive documents were located in CIA holdings.
However, it is our understanding that there are Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) records on Philip J. Corso held at the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) under Job No. 57-102, Boxes 73 and 74. Also, please
be aware that the CIA is not authorized to release records originated by other
Government agencies even if we were to locate any. Therefore, we would not
be authorized to release any "CIA-received records," should any such records
be located. We can conduct a new search on your behalf, when we receive the
information requested above.
Meanwhile, we will hold your request in abeyance for 45 days from the
date of this letter, pending your clarification of the points above. If we do not
hear from you within that time, we will assume that you are no longer
interested in receiving the information you seek and we will close the case.
Sincerely,
Scott Koch
Information and Privacy Coordinator
Enclosure