KORNBLUH, PETER; CHILE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0000430883
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-00344
• Publication Date: September 7, 2000

(b)(3) (b)(6) The National Security Archive The George Washington University Gelman Library, Suite 701 2130 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037 IN ALL CORRESPONDENCE PLEASE REFER TO ARCHIVE FILE NO. 20000582CIA091 Kathryn I. Dyer Information and Privacy Coordinator Central Intelligence Agency Washington, D.C. 20505 Dear Ms. Dyer: 20 SEP -7 AF1 0: 06 APPROVED FOR RELEASED DATE: 02-23-2010 Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. Section 552, et seq. (as amended), I hereby request disclosure of the documents described on the attached page of this letter for inspection and possible copying. If you regard any of these documents as potentially exempt from the FOIA's disclosure requirements, I request that you nonetheless exercise your discretion to disclose them. As the FOIA requires, please release all reasonably segregable nonexempt portions of documents which contain information you regard as exempt. To permit me to reach an intelligent and informed decision whether or not to file an administrative appeal of any denied material, please describe any withheld records (or portions thereof) and explain the basis for your exemption claims. I am requesting expedited consideration of this request under Section 552(a)(6) of the Freedom of Information act (as amended). In accordance with the language of that section, I feel that there is a compelling need for the expedited release of these documents due to the fact that the final release of documents under the presidential Chile Declassification Project is slated for September 14th, 2000, and there is widespread public interest in these documents. Moreover, there has been a recent surge in public attention to these documents due to the CIA director George Tenet's reluctance to declassify them. The issue has been the subject of numerous press articles and editorials, in the Washington Post, New York Times, Baltimore Sun, St. Louis Dispatch and elsewhere. Many newspapers have published stories describing the declassification controversy, and some have editorialized strongly in favor of a more thorough public release of CIA documents related to Chile. In an editorial on August 22, 2000, the Washington Post stated that "the CIA's reticence has harmed the perceived credibility of the declassification effort" and that "the CIA should not have the last word." On August 29, 2000, a New York Times editorial titled "A CIA Cover-Up on Chile" stated that "there is no good reason to withhold documents that would help Chileans and Americans understand their past." At the National Security Archive, we will disseminate the declassified information both through articles and interviews by Peter Kornbluh, as well as on our website, www.gwu.edu/-nsarchiv, which already contains declassified  documents on Chile, as well as a posting on the controversy over the CIA's refusal to declassify the covert record on Chile. I certify that the above is absolutely true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. This request is made on behalf of the National Security Archive, a nonprofit public interest research institute and library in Washington, D.C. The Archive is a tax- exempt nonprofit organization whose purpose is to enrich public policy debate by making widely available records on important areas of major public concern on foreign, defense and intelligence policy. Documents obtained by the Archive, including the records requested in this letter, are carefully analyzed, indexed, organized into collections and published. Archive document collections are also available for inspection and copying at the Archive by scholars, journalists, members of Congress and their staffs, present and former public officials, other public interest organizations, and the general public. Information in these documents is disseminated across the country through distribution of our published collections to research libraries and through the Archive's other publishing and media activities. I am conducting research on the subject of this request as part of an Archive research team which includes experts on the subject and which already has done extensive research and determined that the requested materials are necessary to our project. Please also waive all fees in connection with this request. In National Security Archive v. U.S. Department of Defense, 880 F.2d 1381 (D.C. Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 110 S Ct. 1478 (1990), the Archive was declared entitled to a waiver of all search and review fees under the FOIA as a "representative of the news media." This request also qualifies for a waiver of duplication fees because disclosure of the information in the requested documents is in the public interest since release to us of these records, which directly relate to the formation of U.S. policy on the subject, is likely to contribute significantly to greater public understanding of the operations or activities of the government in making that policy. Should you decline to waive or reduce all duplication fees, we are prepared to pay normal reproduction costs if I decide to copy the records produced, but please describe your specific reasons in writing and notify us before incurring costs over $100. To expedite the release of the requested documents, please disclose them on an interim basis as they become available to you, without waiting until all the documents have been processed. If you have any questions regarding the identity of the records, their location, the scope of the request or any other matters, please call me at (202) 994- 7000. I look forward to receiving your response within the ten-day statutory time period. Sincerely, Peter Kornbluh Senior Analyst  FOIA Requester: Kornbluh, Peter FOIA Sequence Number: 20000582CIA091 Date of Request: 08/30/2000 NSA Record Number: 21502 Subject of Request: 1) Any and all correspondence, including "written assurances", transmitted from the CIA to National Security Council personnel working on the Chile Declassification Project in September or October 1999, which committed the. CIA to search its operational files for documents on covert operations, pursuant to the February 1, 1999 tasker on Chile. 2) The guidance paper sent by Director George Tenet in the fall of 1999 to the Directorate of Operations requesting compilation of documents relating to the entire history of U.S. covert operations in Chile. 3) Any and all documents, including but not limited to memoranda, progress reports, recommendations, evaluations generated by CIA reviewers between October 1999 and August 2000 who were conducting the review and redaction of hundreds of records on CIA covert operations in Chile. Note: I request that all documents be reviewed in their entirety, and that no information be omitted on the grounds of "non-relevance".