LETTER TO PAUL M. WESTER, JR. FROM EDMUND COHEN RE DETAILS OF THE DISPOSITION OF RECORDS ASSOCIATED WITH A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) REQUEST DEALING WITH THE DEATH OF CBS JOURNALIST, GEORGE POLK

• Document Type: FOIA
• Keywords: FOIA
• Keywords: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005288908
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: June 22, 2015
• Document Release Date: October 7, 2008
• Case Number: F-2008-01468
• Publication Date: April 26, 2007

UNCLASSIFIED
Central Intelligence Agency
CIO/IMS 0453-06.
26 April 2007
Mr. Paul M. Wester, Jr.
Director.
Modern Records Programs
National Archives and Records Administration
-8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, Maryland 20740-6001
(b)(3)
.This is in response to your letter of 19 June 2006,
.wherein you. ask for. details of .the disposition of records.
associated with a Freedom of Information Act.(FOIA) request
(No. F-2003-00340) dealing with the death of CBS
Journalist, George Polk.
Consistent with GRS 14, the Agency generally disposes
of documents released to FQIA requesters and the associated
source documents five years aftar the Agency's response to
the requester, provided the requester has not appealed the
Agency's determinations in the FOIA case. In this context,
source documents a.re copies of originals that are reviewed
and treated as part of the processing of a FOIA request.
The disposition of the, originals would be governed under
separate authorities.
With respect to the nine original documents associated
with this FOIA case, upon receipt of your inquiry, we
thoroughly searched those records systems where we
reasonably expected to locate the documents. Among other
things, we reviewed information contemporaneous with'the
dates. and subjects of correspondence released in the
original FOIA case. We reviewed information from various
components across the Agency. Notwithstanding our.
exhaustive search, we did not locate the nine documents
or anything that would otherwise reveal their disposition.
 UNCLASSIFIED
Mr. Paul M. Wester, Jr.
As you know, we take seriously our recordkeeping
responsibilities and have made o.ur records available to
countless historians and commissions. Moreover, we have
been equally cautious over the decades, as we are today,
to preserve our records in accordance with approved records
control schedules. It is unfortunate, given our. otherwise
excellent history of meeting our FOIA obligations and our
engagement with the .National Archives to make available
millions of-pages of significant materials on or involving
the Central Intelligence Agency, that we are unable to find
these nine documents. We would welcome the opportunity to
share with you, in some detail, the measures we undertook.
to find the original documents.
Please contact ~y Chief,
Records Management and Technology Group, or me by mail or
telephonically, at
respectively, for anv further questions on this
Edmund Cohen
Chief, Information Management rvices
UNCLASSIFIED