INFORMATION REVIEW & RELEASE (IRR) NEWS FOR 10 - 14 JUNE 2002 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
05578239
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
4
Document Creation Date: 
March 8, 2023
Document Release Date: 
April 2, 2019
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
F-2010-01471
Publication Date: 
June 14, 2002
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PDF icon INFORMATION REVIEW & RELE[15598815].pdf133.96 KB
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Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239 Information Review & Release (IRR) News for 10- 14 June 2002 Executive Summary (b)(3) (b)(5) Immediate Calendar: (U/htiVti) 26-27 June 2002: Historical Review Panel: Next meeting at Future Plannin2 Calendar: (II/hosteO) 31 July 2002: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAPI: Next Liaisons' meeting, site to be determined. (Ua 20 August 2002: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP): Next Principals' meeting, site to be determined. (U/1.0,14115) April 2003: The Automatic Declassification Date per Executive Order 12958, as amended, for unreviewed intelligence-related or multi-agency records. Overview of IRR Activities Last Week: (W/A1140} Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (LWAT1717) ISCAP Votes to Protect Intelligence Budget Figures (Ufigirl") The members of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) voted on 10 June to deny the release of the Intelligence Budget figures for the years 1989 to 1996. ISCAP, in a meeting held in the Situation Room of the West Wing of the White House, voted unanimously to uphold the DC1's decision to protect in full a document revealing the 1989-1996 budget figures that had been requested by Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) under the Mandatory Declassification provisions of EO 12958. Previously, in 1999, in response to a request by FAS for the release of the 1988 budget, the ISCAP voted to protect the figure, but by a narrow margin of 3 to 3 (under ISCAP bylaws, a majority vote is necessary to overturn an agency's decision.) � The ISCAP is a six-member panel established by President Clinton's Executive Order 12958. One of the Panel's responsibilities is to hear appeals of Mandatory Declassification Requests (MDRs) such as the one submitted by FAS in this case. The Panel members are selected by the Secretaries of Defense and State; the Attorney General; the DC1; the Archivist of the United States; and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The Chairperson of the ISCAP is selected by the President. (Ull'AtItT44) Publications Review Board (UllittleiG) Chairman Briefs State Department Historians on New Prepublication Review Obligation (U///4514Q) The Chairman of the Publications Review Board (PRB) and other Agency officers briefed the State Department historians on their newly-acquired prepublication review obligation. The Agency and State Department reached a Memorandum of Understanding on the process for researching and publishing Agency documents for the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series. One of the provisions of the Memorandum requires the State historians to sign secrecy agreements similar to those of CIA employees. Like CIA employees, State historians now have a lifetime obligation to submit for review all nonofficial publications dealing with intelligence data or activities. (b)(3) (b)(3) ADMINI3T1bATIVE INTERNAL UGC NLY Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239 Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239 MUIVIIPIIJ I / �nrc vu. lid LI (rut UGC NLY (b)(3) (b)(5) (b)(3) (U/1k44494�Publications & Policy Review Division (Hi/04W) Information Review Policy Branch Completes Work on CIA Historic Names Policy (U/FirFele) The Information Review Policy Branch (IRPB) in the Publications and Policy Review Division (PPRD) recently completed its staff work on an Agency policy governing the release of names of historic or well-known Agency officers. The policy deals with the releasability of names for over 100 important, well-known Agency officers. The Agency Release Panel (ARP) unanimously approved the policy at its June 2002 meeting. � PPRD is continuing to work on other parts of an Agency-wide policy for the release of Agency officer names., including a master list of previously released names and a list of high-level Agency positions for which CIA can release names. (WA-WM Information Review Policy Branch Chief Demonstrates New Database for Information Review and Release Community (UMMT99) The Information Review Policy Branch Chief demonstrated to the June 2002 meeting of the Agency Release Panel (ARP) a new Lotus Notes-based database capturing Agency declassification and release policies and relevant background information. The database combines the current ARP database with the new policy portion. � The new features include a compilation of approved release policies; a collection of legal authorities and Agency Regulations pertaining to information release; and a searchable database of releasable Agency names. PPRD will continue to update the database as the ARP approves information review and release policies. (U//Atte) FOIA Requests (U/A+1344) California Student Wants To Become Stealth Pilot (UPATOrl, A California middle school student working on a career day project wrote in requesting information on the US Stealth programs and technology. He indicated that he would eventually like to join the CIA or become a stealth fighter pilot. � The FOIA case manager located, and sent, four documents that indirectly touched on the student's area of falls under their purview. The case manager wished the young man the best of luck in his endeavors. research. He was also referred to the US Air Force because information regarding the Stealth progratn (U/icet) Florida Requester Wants Information on Soviet Spy Who Died Almost 60 Years Ago (U/Airib) A Florida man requested all information "regarding the activities and death of Jacob Gobs, aka Jacob N. Gobs," who according to the requester was a USSR spy leader who died in 1943. � The FOIA case manager advised the requester that the CIA was not created until 1947 and referred him to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for any information that might be contained in the records of OSS or its predecessors. (U/Agegir} Interest in Japanese and Soviet Biological Warfare Programs More than 60 Years Ago (U/Ictre) A requester from California asked for information "on the Japanese Biological Warfare Program before and during World War II ... specifically Unit 731, Unit 100 and any information on the 'Nomanhan incident' (b)(3) (b)(3) (b)(3) (b)(3) Awhiume-roA-rpir _Arragmni I leg gpmi v Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239 Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239 , ,,, M-111V-%1IVL..- 1111LniviAL USE OINL T , regarding the use of biological agents by either the Japanese or the Soviet Union in 1939." (b)(3) (b)(5) (U/VIIIri) Employment Referrals to CIA by Soviet Academician (U/t'7 A freelance writer from Maine requested information and records on Sergius Yacobson, who according to the requester, was a Library of Congress Slavic specialist who "referred candidates for employment to the Central Intelligence Agency." (b)(3) (b)(5) (b)(5) (b)(3) (b)(5) (U/Aele) Requester Expands His FOIA Request (U/Allsie) A requester from California asked for 14 documents from an MKULTRA listing that CIA had sent to him in response to a previous FOIA request. In addition, he added an additional nine items that he wants CIA to search, including "Noah's Ark; Neural implants/invasive, psychotronics; Jerusalem Israel Temple Mount; bioelectronics; Acoustic non-lethal weaponry; Russian parapsychology; and reincarnation." � The FOIA case manager sent the requester the /4 specified documents from the Management of Officially Released Information (MORI) datahavp and infnnied him that the additional items in his letter would be treated as a new request. (U/Perige) New York Requester Asks for Information on "Suspected Terrorists" (U/Aitslis)-A requester from New York wrote in for information pertaining to "terrorist/suspected terrorist" Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Mohammed Atef. (U/A4441) Texas Inmate Wants CIA's Records on Drug Operations in Mexico (U/AILITY) A requester who is incarcerated in Texas asked for all information related to "training camps and special operations" taking place in Mexico in the 1990s. which the requester claims were reported by him previously to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEM./ � The FOIA case manager advised the requester that because he had previously reported the activities in Mexico to the DEA, that agency should be contacted for releasable information. I (Uorren) Appeals (U/fAle0) POW/MIA Activist Appeals CIA Decision on More Than 31,000 Pages (UHATIM) In a letter dated 13 June, POW/MIA activist Roger Hall of Maryland filed an appeal under the Mandatory Declassification Review provisions of EO 12958 regarding CIA's treatment of over 31,000 pages of Senate Select Committee records. Mr. Hall alleges in his appeal letter that "the CIA is unlawfully trying to hide past errors ... that [it] knowingly influenced the abandonment of American POWs in Laos and other communist countries." Mr. Hall's appeal will be handled by the CIA's Agency Release Panel (ARP). In addition to the CIA material, the Senate Select Committee records, which are housed at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), contain records from seven other agencies. Mr. Hall has informed the Information Security Oversight Office (IS00) that he intends to appeal all material withheld by those agencies as well. (b)(3) (b)(5) (b)(3) � LU CU Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239 Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239 A MINICTRATIVE INTERNAL USE NLY all/A4444). CIA Declassification Center (U//A444/1\ From the Archives: General Walters Says CIA Looks Good (UHATert)IDDCI Lieutenant General Vernon Walters was well known for his storytelling and humor. In a 9 June 1976 speech to the Charlottesville Council on Foreign Relations that was recently reviewed by the DCI team at the CIA Declassification Center, he noted that many allegations about the CIA had been made in recent years, "In fact, the other day I saw a cartoon that I thought was pretty good. It showed a couple at the movies, and one leaned over to the other and said, 'This must be a real old movie, the CIA are the good guys.' " Walters stated, "We have had a deliberate and malicious attempt to tell the American people that the real threat to their liberty was the CIA and FBI and the defense intelligence agencies. And this is just nonsense." He acknowledged that there had been abuses, bad judgment and "some nuts and kooks," but that if one compared the number of people who had served with the Agency since its inception to any similarly sized organization in the United States, "that we would look good, even if you put us alongside Health Education and Welfare or Agriculture." Vernon Walters (1917-2002) This is a record CC: Sent on 18 June 2002 at 07:59:35 AM (b)(5) (b)(5) IN I CNI'lf\L Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578239