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
JUN 18 2005
Case No. 200303827 L12
Ms. Amrit Singh
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation 18th
125 Broad Street, Floor New York, NY 10004-2400
Dear Ms. Singh:
I refer to our letter dated December 29, 2004, regarding the release of certain Department of State material under the Freedom of Information Act (Title 5 USC Section 552) .
As you may recall, further coordination was required before a decision could be made as to the release of 21 of the documents previously retrieved in response to the L12 segment of your request. The coordination has now been completed for nine of them and we find that two may be released in full, five may be released with excisions, and two may not be
released. The released documents are enclosed. We will inform you when we receive the results of coordination on the other 12 documents.
The material in the two 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.
The material in the excised portions of five of the documents released in part is related solely to the internal personnel practices of an agency. As such, it is exempt from release under subsection (b) (2) of the Freedom of
Information Act.
The material in the excised portions of the two documents released in part is specifically exempted from disclosure by statute, to wit, the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949
(Title 50 USC Section 403g). As such, it is exempt from release under subsection (b) (3) of the Freedom of Information Act.
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The information in the two 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,
~.
\' Marg~ret P. ~Director Office of Information Programs and Services
Enclosures: As stated.
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