INFORMATION REVIEW & RELEASE (IRR) NEWS FOR 23-27 AUGUST 2004 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05578055
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: April 2, 2019
• Case Number: F-2010-01471
• Publication Date: August 27, 2004

Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578055
1-01-( (J1-1-1UAL UJt UNLY
Information Review & Release (IRR) News for 23-27 August 2004
Executive Summary
Future Planning Calendar
(U/A11344) 8 September 2004: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAPI: Next Liaisons'
meeting at NARA in Washington, DC.
(UHATIII9) 28 September 2004: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP): Next Principals'
meeting at EEOB in Washington, DC.
(Di/M.(40)- 31 December 2006: The Automatic Declassification Date per Executive Order 12958, as amended.
Overview of IRR Activities--Last Week
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
(b)(3)
(U//A4448)-FOIA Requests
(U/httig.(43-Seeking CIA's Records on the 'Colombo' Crime Family
(U/Lffier) A requester is seeking records relating to the investigation of, or CIA involvement with, my grandfather,
Joseph Colombo, Sr., the Italian American Civil Rights League, organized crime, and/or the 'Colombo' crime family,
including but not limited to, my grandfather's involvement with the CIA and the circumstances surrounding his
shooting. The requester (a lawyer with Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc.) notes that his grandfather was shot
three times on June 28, 1971, and died seven years later from complications.
� The FOIA case manager advised the requester that CIA cannot confirm or deny whether it had a covert
relationship with the subject, nor can it confirm or deny whether it had relevant records. The Agency can
search for responsive records concerning an open or otherwise acknowledged affiliation. Freedom of
Information Act professionals call this a "split Glomar" response because the Agency can neither confirm nor
deny only part of the request.
(U//A4434) OSS Records Relating to Three Basque Agents
(UHAR7f!)-1-A New Jersey requester, having located records on the FBI website labeled "Special Intelligence
Service/Basque," seeks information about three particular Basques, who perhaps served in the Office of Strategic
Services (OSS) during World War II. He adds: "My research points in the direction of a possible OSS operation
based in Spain during World War II. In addition to being mentioned in FBI records, I found references to two of
them in The New York Times. [One] was registered as a foreign agent representing Emperor Haile Selassie of
Ethiopia. I do not know if the records will show them as Allied or axis agents, or both."
� The FOIA case manager informed the requester that most OSS records are now held at The National Archives
FOR �max_ USE ONLY
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578055
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578055
FOR �mak_ U0C ONLY
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
at College Park, Maryland. The case manager provided the requester with NARA's contact address and five
previously released documents (resulting from a MORFERWI search). He responded with a gracious note of
thanks for the information; stating that he anticipates making new requests at a later time.
(11/M1111) Interest in the Blair House Attack
(UHATOrt A requester is seeking copies of documents relating to Puerto Rico nationalists Griselio Torresola's and
Oscar Collazo's attack on the Blair House, President Harry Truman's temporary residence during 1950 renovations to
the White House. "Of special interest to me are documents regarding Griselio Torresola, who participated in the
attack and died that day. I am aware there is an autopsy report with photos, among other documents."
� The FOIA case manager informed the requester that the responsibility for domestic intelligence is generally
within the province of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and that the CIA is not authorized to release
records originated by other government agencies �even if any are located. The case manager provided the
FBI's address in the event the requester wishes to pursue his FOIA request.
Editor: The Life magazine (13 November 1950) accompanying the request records: President Harry S.
Truman had lunched with his wife and was taking a nap at Blair House. On the avenue below his bedroom
window, only a few people strolled past. Two Puerto Ricans approached the house from opposite sides. They
were so unobtrusive-looking that a hotel clerk, noting their black hats, mistook them for divinity students.
Suddenly, both men began firing at the guards, wounding three.., one fatally. Both gunmen were stopped in
their tracks...one fatally. Ironically, they were not practiced gunmen. One was a quiet handbag-polisher from
the Bronx; the other lived on relief in Manhattan.
(U/rAtrtr) Uncovering a DC 3's Secret Mission
(UHAIU ) A Swedish requester seeks information regarding: (1) Cooperation between the CIA and its Swedish and,
perhaps, British partners during the Cold War, and (2) Documents relating to the 13 June 1952 downing of a
Swedish DC 3, and the role played by Swedish spy, Colonel Stig Wennerstrom, as well as other Soviet intelligence
operations that are pertinent to this cooperation and the DC 3's secret mission. The request claims that his father was
the pilot of the DC 3. He plans to write a book using both our responsive documents and other material now
available from Swedish Government archives. The DC 3 was discovered in the Baltic Sea last summer.
(UHAIUO) CIA Declassification Center
(UHAIUO) From the Archives:
(U114644344) How Times Have Changed
(U//klinl�ej-On 8 April 1970, John Hanes, former Senator Leverett Saltonstall, and John Upsto�all members of the
[Secretary of State's) Committee to Facilitate Travel�visited the CIA to discuss travel and passport problems
relating to Agency affairs. CIA's Director of Support Robert Bannerman said that while passports and visas help the
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(b)(5)
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578055
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578055
CIA follow the travels of foreign nationals, the Agency "could devise other means of monitoring" if there was
freedom of travel without documentation. The group noted that very few international travelers interested police
forces or internal security authorities, and that "the number of international travelers who resort to false
documentation are also probably extremely small." Mr. Hanes strongly agreed with this view and "did not see why
elaborate border controls were exacted both in documentation requirements and inspection and in luggage inspection
when the number of illegal travelers or suspicious travelers was so very small." Hanes and U ston concluded that
most drug arrests came from tips, not customs' or immigration officers' discoveries
CC:
(b)(3)
I-UK
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 C05578055