LETTER RE QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2001

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
0005498779
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
9
Document Creation Date: 
June 24, 2015
Document Release Date: 
April 14, 2011
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
F-2007-00194
Publication Date: 
May 4, 2001
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon DOC_0005498779.pdf131.84 KB
Body: 
OP CRET, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Washington, D.C. 20505 OGC-ISD-2001-50113 4 May 2001 . The Honorable Warren B. Rudman Acting Chairman, Intelligence Oversight Board Old Executive Office Building Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. Chairman : I am submitting this quarterly report for the first quarter calendar year 2001, pursuant to Section 2.4 of Executive order12863, "President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board." The Executive Order requires'me to report to you, intelligence activities that I have reason to believe may be. unlawful or contrary to Executive Order or Presidential directive. Since my last report, I am aware of three re_po_tahle items. .I am also submitting three informational stems of interest that are included because of their significance. I have no reason to believe that these informational items constitute intelligence activities that were unlawful or contrary to Executive Order or Presidential directive. Reportable Items APPROVED FOR RELEASED DATE: 25-Feb-2010 Privacy Act Violation. In April 1995., the CIA provided information to-a writer about a defector with US person status, that was obtained from a CIA Privacy Act system of records without the receipt of any written consent from the defector. This resulted in an inadvertent technical violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, since-the dissemination did not fall within one of the statutory exemptions to the Act, and CIA failed to secure the necessary explicit written. consent needed-to otherwise authorize the dissemination of the-records-under the Act.." The impact of the Privacy Act on the dissemination was not realized until January 2001, following a review of files "No agency shall disclose any record which is contained in any system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains [subject to 12 exceptions]." 5 U.S.C. ?552a (b). TO CRET The Office of General Counsel has reviewed the documents at issue and interviewed several of those who were involved in structuring and working on the research project. We found that although CIA did a'diligent job in its review of the materials on the basis of classification, there is no indication in the relevant files, nor in the memories of those involved at the time, that the necessity.of a Privacy Act waiver was considered by any of the parties or by OGC. The DepartmenL of Justice'-s Criminal Division was notified of the facts surrounding the dissemination and declined prosecution of misdemeanor charges against any of the parties under the criminal provisions of the Privacy Act, given that the failure to secure the written consent was merely an oversight and there was no evidence of intent to violate the law. Our review of this matter leads us to conclude that it is highly unlikely that such an arrangement will ever be utilized by the Agency-again. Thus, it is highly unlikely that the Privacy Act violation that occurred in this case will ever be replicated. The Honorable Warren B. Rudman Informational Items of Interest TO ET/ The Honorable Warren B. Rudman TOP\ \ET The Honorable Warren B. Rudman Please call-me if you would like to discuss any aspect of the items noted above. Robert c mara, Jr.