Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. 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
JUL 2 5 2005
Case No. 200500848 FBIl
Ms. Amrit Singh
American Civil Liberties Union
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York, New York 10004
Dear Ms. Singh:
I refer to your letters dated October 7, 2003 and May 25,
2004 to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
requesting the release of certain material under the Freedom
of Information Act (Title 5 USC Section 552). The FBI
determined that four of the relevant documents retrieved by
them in response to your request either originated with the
Department of State or were of primary interest to the
Department of State. Those documents were therefore
referred to us for appropriate action.
We have determined that three of the documents may not be
released. The fourth document has been referred to its
originating agency for direct reply to you.
Material in all 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.
Information in two 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.
The FBI has informed us that their FOIPA number for this
case is 999626. They have also informed us that FBI
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information in two of the documents withheld in full is
exempt from release under subsections (b)(6) and (b)(7)(c)
and that FBI information in the third document withheld in
full is exempt under subsections (b) (1) , (b) (2) , (b)(6),
(b)(7)C) and (b) (7) (E) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Sincerely,
Margaret P. Grafeld
Director
Office of Information Programs
and Services
Enclosures:
As stated.
DOS-003188