INFORMATION REVIEW & RELEASE (IRR) NEWS FOR 19-23 JANUARY 2004 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05578189
• 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: January 23, 2004

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Information Review & Release (IRR) News for 19-23 January 2004
Executive Summary
Future Planninz Calendar
(U11141440) 27 February 2004: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP): Next Liaisons'
meeting in Crystal City.
(U/hk411.13) 24 February 2004: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP): Next Principals'
meeting at EEOB in Washington, DC.
(UHA111(1) 31 December 2006: The Automatic Declassification Date per Executive Order 12958, as amended.
Overview of IRR Activities--Last Week
(b)(3) (UHAIU0) ERWG Meets
(UtharRelQ) The External Referral Working Group (ERWG) held its monthly meeting on 21
January 2004. Attendance numbered 45-representatives from 20 federal agencies. ERWG's Information Security
Oversight Office (IS00) representative thanked those agencies for their timely submission of Declassification Plans
for meeting Executive Order 12958's amended deadline. The next steps in ISOO's approval process include: I)
January-March�ISOO analysts will review the plans and discuss them with the submitting agencies and, then 2)
April-June�ISOO will re-review these plans and visit agencies to resolve any outstanding issues. The final step will
be a letter from Bill Leonard, D/ISOO, approving the plan. ERWG's representative from the National Archives and
Records Administration then briefed members on NARA's proposed Referral Center expansion. NARA opined that
the existing referral process will fail to reach the 14 million pages which NARA estimates must be reviewed annually
to satisfy the EO deadline. Thus, workspace at NARA will be expanded to 40 workstations to assist major
declassification agencies in their review efforts. Additional personnel (for review and processing) also are desirable.
The new NARA Referral Center may be ready by June 2004. The ERWG also considered an information-gathering
strategy and project time line for an Equities Notification Database (END). In the next few months, an effort will be
made to interview agencies to gain a better understanding of their referral processes and database requirements.
Their response to a planned questionnaire should facilitate this information-gathering process. The ERWG plans to
review this initiative in March 2004.
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(U*ARICI.),JOIA Requests
(U//A4104)-Interest in Possible Saudi-Iraqi Nuclear Collusion
(U//AIU ) The National Security Archive seeks documents including, but not limited to intelligence appraisals,
memoranda, intelligence reports, information cables, etc., relating to "Saudi Arabia's possible, or actual
encouragement, participation in, or support, financial or otherwise, for Iraq's civilian or weapons-related nuclear
program from 1981 through August 1990."
(U/L4.11.10) Interest in the Drafting of Letter to Saddam
(Uthstirr5) The National Security Archive seeks disclosure for inspection and possible copying of "all documents in
any media reviewed/or created in connection with the drafting of the letter from President Reagan to Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein, conveyed to Saddam by presidential envoy Donald Rumsfeld in December 1983."
(I.MA4430) Request for "Operation Rat Hole" Intelligence
(U//7MCJ) The requester states that he watched a documentary series titled "Covert Action" on the Discovery
Channel (14 January 2004) concerning "Operation Rat Hole." He seeks any intelligence information that this
operation produced regarding the attempted assassination of a Muslim cleric in London.
� The FOIA case manager sent an initial letter acknowledging receipt of the request. It informed the requester
that an analyst would contact him in the event that any problems were encountered during the review process,
or if additional information is needed.
(U/harI+Je) CDC Declassification Center
(U/htttrlet) From The Archives:
(UHAIU0) Mr. Nixon: No Job More Important
(U//AIU0) A 13 November 1968 memorandum (with attachment) to the DDI from Walter Pforzheimer, then curator
of the CIA Historical Intelligence Collection, highlights how historical documents can enlighten the present by
illuminating the past. Mr. Pforzheirner's cover memo records: "Attached is a copy of Vice President Richard M.
Nixon's speech to the Ninth CIA Orientation Course presented on 10 February 1953. As you will note, Mr. Nixon
presented his talks from the Congressional point of view. However, some of his thoughts and comments are of
interest in the light of his forthcoming Presidency." Mr. Nixon's remarks follow: "The objectives for an affirmative
foreign policy can be attained only by the support which policy makers must receive from you. I speak now as a
member of the administration and as a member of the National Security Council, which is the greatest consumer of
your product, to emphasize that knowledge of the facts is essential if we are to make the right decisions. Essentially
that is why we have to have intelligence. Perhaps the best proof of this point is the rather obvious truth that with
better intelligence support our nation might have avoided most of our present difficulties... .Better intelligence might
have put our leaders on notice as to the true character of the Communists, the men in the Kremlin, the men we were
dealing with across the table at Yalta, Potsdam, and Teheran.. ..Better intelligence might have given us a greater
appreciation of the overall global movement. Better intelligence might have put our leaders on notice as to the true
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character of the Chinese Communist movement in the early days of its development. We would have known that the
Chinese Communist was no different, essentially, than his counterpart in the satellite countries of eastern Europe and
that, therefore, the choice in China was not between a Nationalist Government and something better, but between a
Nationalist Government and something far, far worse. This, therefore is your job, to gather and analyze in [an]
impartial Manner all the facts and to make the findings available to those who have to make policy....I recognize that
this is a tough job. I know some of your assignments will be dangerous and, simultaneously, interesting. I realize
also, that many of you have already served well in difficult undertakings. In an organization of this type, which must
be a kind of silent shock absorber, I can imagine there are times when your tasks seem boring and maybe completely
meaningless, because you can't see the big picture. Hence, you are tempted to ask yourselves such questions as 'Why
do we get this? Why do we have to spend precious time in tasks such as these?' I admonish you to have confidence
in those who direct your activities, and without allowing your efforts to be neutralized, that you do the job assigned
to you, because, I say this advisedly, there is no job in our present government which, I think, is more important than
the task you ladies and gentlemen will be doing in the years ahead."
� At the time he was invited by CIA Director Allen Dulles to address the Agency Orientation Course in 1953,
Mr. Nixon was Vice President under President Eisenhower and generally considered a "hardliner" against the
communists. At the time of Mr. Pforzheimer's 1968 memo, Mr. Nixon had just been elected President and,
apparently, the Agency was trying to get a handle on the views of their new boss.
(UllictIg43) Enduring UFO Bargain
(U//A) Readers probably are aware that information on UFOs is one of this Agency's most popular areas of
requester interest today. But they might not know that UFO information has been a perennial favorite going back a
long way. In the context of responding to a UFO information request, the Journal of the Office of Legislative
Counsel (1 November 1978) indicates that, even then, there was such recurrent interest...that there is a package of
material relating to the subject of UFOs that we regularly send out to requesters (at a cost of $11.80 for copying
charges)." A bargain, undoubtedly! A similar package is available today.
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