Appeal Request

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005430976
• Release Decision: IPPUB U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-01901
• Publication Date: August 17, 2009

APPROVED FOR RELEASE[] DATE:
03-01-2011
Delores M. Nelson
Information and Privacy Coordinator
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC 20505
This letter constitutes an administrative appeal under the Freedom of Information Act, 5. U.S.C.
Sec. 552(a)(6).
I am writing to appeal the determination by the Central Intelligence Agency with regard to my
FOLk request filed on 29 June 2009, File number F-2009-01323 for records concerning
Lebanese drug trafficker Sarni al-Khoury (also known as Samil Khoury or Sarni Khoury), who
was active in the drug trade between 1940 and 1970. By letter of 15 July 2009, the Central
Intelligence Agency denied my request in accordance with FOIA exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3).
The agency has stated that it can "neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of
requested records respo sine" to -.
I premise this appeal Primarily upon two grounds. Firstly, information related to Sarni at-Khoury
and to the CIA's knowledge of his activities exists already in the public domain. His activities as
a drug trafficker is cited in several printed publications. References to Sari Khoury can be
found, for example, in Douglas Valentine's Strength of the Wolf (Verso, 2004) on pages 124,
125, 159, 170, 157, 197. A great many declassified documents related to Federal Bureau of
Narcotics' investigations into Sarni al-Khoury's criminal enterprises can also be found in the
National Archive in Silver Spring, Maryland. In one document (which I have enclosed in this
envelope as Attachment A) dated 20 May 1959, reporting FEN agent Paul Knight describes the
waning of Khoury's influence among drug traffickers in Lebanon.
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