Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Case No. 200303827
Segment L0040
Mr. Amrit Singh
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10004-2400
Dear Mr. Singh:
I refer to our previous correspondence regarding the release
of certain Department of State material you had requested
under the Freedom of Information Act (Title 5 USC Section
552) in your letters of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004.
We have received 73 additional documents from the Office of
the Legal Adviser which appear responsive to your request,
and have grouped them as Segment L0040. After reviewing
these documents, we have determined that seven may be
released in full, three may be released with excisions, and
46 may not be released. The released documents are
enclosed. A decision on five documents requires interagency
or intra-agency coordination. We will inform you when we
receive the results of that coordination. Twelve documents
originated with another government agency and have been
referred to that agency for review and direct reply to you.
The search in the other files has been completed, and we
will let you know as the review of the various segments has
been accomplished.
Material in 11 of the documents withheld in full is
currently and properly classified under Executive Order
12958 in the interest of national defense or foreign
relations. As such, it is exempt from release under
subsection (b)(1) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Material in two of the documents withheld in full is related
solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an
agency. As such, it is exempt from release under subsection
(b)(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
DOS-001763
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The material in the excised portions of one of the documents
released in part is of such a nature that its release would
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
privacy. As such, it is exempt from release under
subsection (b)(6) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Information in the excised portions of two of the documents
withheld in part and in all 46 of the documents withheld in
full is exempt from release under subsection (b)(5) of the
Freedom of Information Act because it is protected by the
deliberative process privilege, attorney client privilege,
attorney work product privilege, and/or another privilege
incorporated by subsection (b)(5).
In some cases, two or more exemptions apply to the same
document. In the case of a document released in part, all
non-exempt material that is reasonably segregable from the
exempt material has been released.
Sincerely,
Margaret P. Graf d
Director
Office of Information Programs
and Services
Enclosures:
As stated.
DOS-001764