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.
DOS-001645
United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520 www.state.gov
DEC 2 9 2004
Case No. 200303827
Segment L0034
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 retrieved 107 additional documents from the Office
of the Legal Adviser that appear responsive to your request,
and have grouped them as Segment L0034. After reviewing
these documents, we have determined that 13 may be released
in full, eight may be released with excisions, and 73 must
be withheld in full. All released material is enclosed. A
decision on four documents requires interagency or intraagency coordination. We will inform you when we receive the
results of that coordination. Nine documents originated
with other government agencies and have been referred to
those agencies for review and direct reply to you.
Material in the excised portions of three of the documents
released in part and in 27 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 one of the documents withheld in full is
specifically exempted from disclosure by statute, to wit,
the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 (Title 50 USC
DOS-001645
DOS-001649
- 2 -
Section 403g). As such, it is exempt from release under
subsection (b)(3) of the Freedom of InformatiOn Act.
Information in six of the documents released in part and in
71 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).
Material in four of the documents withheld in full 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.
Material in four of the documents withheld in full is
information compiled for law enforcement purposes which, if
produced, could reasonably be expected to interfere with
enforcement proceedings. As such, it is exempt from release
under subsection (b)(7)(A) of the Freedom of Information
Act.
Material in the four of the documents withheld in full is
information compiled for law enforcement purposes which, if
produced, could reasonably be expected to constitute an
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. As such, it is
exempt from release under subsection (b)(7)(C) of the
Freedom of Information Act.
In some cases, two or more exemptions may apply to the same
document. In the case of a document released in part, all
DOS-001646
DOS-001650
- 3 -
non-exempt material that is reasonably segregable from the
exempt material has been released.
Sincerely,
Maaret P. Gr feld
Director
Office of Information Programs
and Services
Enclosures:
As stated.
DOS-001647