INFORMATION REVIEW & RELEASE (IRR) NEWS FOR 21 - 25 APRIL 2003 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05578144
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: April 2, 2019
• Case Number: F-2010-01471
• Publication Date: April 25, 2003

Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144
UNCLASSIFIED
Information Review & Release (IRR) News for 21 -25 April 2003
Executive Summary
Immediate Calendar:
(U/h41441) 14 May 2003: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP): Next Liaisons meeting
at Crystal City.
Future Planninz Calendar:
(U//*H344) 20 May 2003: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP): Next Principals'
meeting at EEOB in Washington, DC.
(UHA1(7715) 4-5 June 2003: Historical Review Panel: Next meeting at State Department and CIA Headquarters.
(UHME.0) 31 December 2006: The Automatic Declassification Date per Executive Order 12958, as amended, for
unreviewed intelligence-related or multi-agency records.
Overview of IRR Activities Last Week:
(UHAER40) Litigation
(IMAirb") CIA Wins FOIA Lawsuit
(Ullirfin7) Last week, the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted CIA's motion for summary
judgment in a FOIA lawsuit brought against the Agency by Robert Wilbur. Mr. Wilbur had filed the lawsuit alleging
the CIA had not performed an adequate search for records in response to his FOIA request. Mr. Wilbur believes the
CIA has records that can explain why he had difficulty gaining admission to Lafayette College in 1947. He alleges
Lafayette College -- although ultimately accepting him as a student -- initially resisted his admittance because of a
derogatory remark placed in his file by the OSS. Mr. Wilbur claimed the OSS had put the derogatory remark in his
file as retaliation for Mr. Wilbur having rejected an offer of employment. He believes the CIA has information that
will identify the person who made the derogatory remark. He also believes the CIA has kept records on his mail
pursuant to the HTLINGUAL program. Mr. Wilbur began his quest for information on these subjects in the 1970s.
In response, the CIA performed more than one search over the years regarding Mr. Wilbur's requests and appeals.
Unsatisified, Mr. Wilbur took the matter to federal court in 2001. On 8 April 2003, the judge concluded "that the
CIA has conducted a thorough, reasonable, good-faith search of the CIA components that were reasonably likely to
maintain records of the type sought by Mr. Wilbur. The mere fact that no records were located is not the measure of
an adequate search. Accordingly, the Court will grant the CIA's Motion for Summary Judgment."
� CIA explained the HTLINGUAL program to the court in a declaration: "HTLINGUAL was a project
conducted by the Directorate of Operations to examine mail between the United States and Communist
countries for the purpose of gathering intelligence. On 8 April 1994, all HTLINGUAL files and indexes ...
were destroyed in accordance with guidelines set forth in National Archives and Records
Administration-approved records control schedules." From other declassified records, we learn the
HTLINGUAL mail intercept project was a controversial program that lasted 20 years, ending in 1973,
during which time the CIA photographed the exterior of 2.7 million pieces of mail and opened about
215,000 letters.
(b)(3)
(U//2t1i44). FOIA Requests
(U//70;1440) Requester Receives Seven Documents about Project OFTEN
(UHABJU) A requester from Pennsylvania asked under the FOIA for "files regarding Project OFTEN."
UNCLASSIFIED
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144
UNCLASSIFIED
� The requester will receive seven documents on Project OFTEN. According to releasable information on
the subject, Project OFTEN was a CIA project that "was initiated in 1966 with intelligence objectives of
compiling information on pharmacological and chemical products affecting behavior so as to enhance the
Agency's capability to detect and nullifi) manipulation of US personnel by means of these materials."
Three primary objectives were listed: I) development of new compounds, "for example a compound that
could simulate a heart attack.." 2) development of defensive "blockers" and "immunizations" for known
drugs, 3) development of "profiles of volunteers who had received known drugs for comparative analysis,
... for example, if one of our people suddenly started acting peculiarly, a profile of his actions could be
run through the database to see if his particular combination of actions matched any known drug
profiles." Much of the work on Project OFTEN was conducted with the Edgewood Arsenal in Edgewood,
Maryland, and some volunteers were obtained from a prison in Pennsylvania. CIA's involvement in
Project OFTEN "was closely held at all times." The project terminated in the early 1970s.
(UHA1I113) Journalist Not at a Loss for Words When Asking for Fee Waiver
(U//14143A) A journalist from Texas submitted a seven-page request for information under the FOIA. On page one,
he outlined the topics on which he wanted information, including "two oceangoing barges, named Hercules and
Win-Brown 7, which were used by the US military in the Persian Gulf." He used pages two through seven to make
his case for a fee waiver. The requester indicates he will use the material in a book that he is writing, and that he
already has a publishing contract for the book.
(U//*H310) Student With Short Deadline Wants CIA's Help
(U//A44Q) A student from Potomac, Maryland, requests records on "Louis Mountbattan [sic]" and "the partition
between India and Pakistan." He explains that his paper is due in seven days, "so if you could send this information
quickly it would be greatly appreciated."
�
The case manager informed the student that "we recognize that this
response will not arrive prior to your research paper due date (unless you have petitioned for an
extension)" and suggested for future research assignments that he look at our "Popular Document
Collection" on CIA's Internet website.
(LHATIII3Hnformation Needed for Discovery Channel Documentary Series
(U//�A requester seeks records on "ice bullets or other dissolving projectiles, especially in relation to theories
about the assassination of JFK." She is also interested in "escape and evasion devices developed by the CIA." The
requester is conducting research for a documentary series called Myth Busters for the Discovery Channel.
(W/A11441...Another Request for STAR GATE CDs
UNCLASSIFIED
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144
UNCLASSIFIED
(U/77C1117) An attorney from Oyster Bay, New York, who is the author of The Psychic Battlefield--A History of the
Military Occult Complex, and a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, requests the newly
released 72,000 pages concerning the STAR GATE remote reviewing project and adds that it is his understanding
that "these are available on CD-ROM."
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
� The STAR GATE collection is available on the CIA Records Search Tool (CREST), a public access system
located at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland]
(UHA11117) CIA Declassification Center
(U//k11113) From the Archives: "A Funny Thing Happened on My USSR Vacation"
(U//A+140) A July 1966 NSC Memorandum from the Johnson Library with the title "More Spies" relates an
attempted Soviet recruitment of an American Engineer. The engineer worked for a private company that was
engaged in classified projects and CIA was brought in to ascertain his clearances. The engineer was on vacation in
the Soviet Union and one evening picked up a woman at a local bar and "proceeded to get drunk with her." They
drifted off to a nearby park and "at some point during the liaison, the woman screamed, 'rape!' Nine men
immediately jumped up from adjacent bushes and proceeded to take pictures and arrest the engineer. The Soviets
threatened him with a jail sentence ranging from 8 to 32 years." However, "if he would cooperate, answer some
questions regarding his company, and spy for the Soviet Union when he returned to the United States, they were sure
the young lady would drop the charges." He was released and instructed to make contact in Mexico City to pass
further information. Instead, he went to his company's security office and "proceeded to tell them, 'a funny thing
happened on the way to the office this morning."
(U//AI Special Collections Division
(Ullicli30} LVIS To Deliver Large Tranche of Guatemala-1954 Documents to NARA
(U//Al- IMS will deliver this week 4,364 documents (12,338 pages) on the 1954 CIA covert action on
Guatemala to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). This release is a voluntary CIA
declassification initiative that responds to the commitment by a succession of Directors of Central Intelligence to
demonstrate greater openness in the release of historically significant records. It is timed to coincide with a State
Department conference on Guatemala Covert Action scheduled for 14-16 May 2003 and with the release of a
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) volume on Guatemala, 1952-1954. The FRUS volume consists
almost entirely of CIA information on the covert action, including documents contained in this release.
� This is the second and concluding release of CIA records relating to the 1954 covert action on Guatemala
known as PBSUCCESS. The first release of Guatemala covert action documents to NARA took place in
May 1997 and consisted of 756 documents (1,926 pages). That release highlighted the most politically
sensitive issue in the collection: proposals -- never implemented -- for the assassination of key government
officials and Guatemalan Communists. The records in the current release are a continuation of the 1997
(b)(3)
UNCLASSIFIED
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144
UNCLASSIFIED
release, and document the overall conduct of the covert action, which brought about the resignation of
President Arbenz in June 1954.
This is a record.
CC:
(b)(3)
Sent on 30 April 2003 at 09:55:02 AM
UNCLASSIFIED
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578144