MEMORANDA FOR THE RECORD OF CONVERSATIONS WITH JOHN SHERWOOD, WASHINGTON TIMES REPORTER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 18, 2009
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: June 22, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
W w
22 June 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR: George Lauder
Director, Public Affairs Office
SUBJECT: Memoranda for the Record of Conversations with John
Sherwood, Washington Times Reporter
1. Attached are memoranda for the record of my three telephone
ab
o V
conveI JQ I.I VIIJ
Washin ton Times. talked first to Sherwood o- n 18
1 told
d
t
d
er
ay.
yes
June, and alked to Sherwoo
that I would send these reports on my conversations.
2. Sherwood's piece in today's Washington Times seems harmless
enough. I was glad that he got off the missing war diaries business,
but sorry that he did not give the DCI credit for his initiative in
releasing these documents.
3. Now that this story and yesterday's piece in the Post have
appeared, I suspect that there will be more press queries about these
records.
Attachments
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
W
20 June 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Telephone conversation with John Sherwood, Washington Times,
20 June 1984 (636 3264)
1. John Taylor, Reference Archivist in the Modern Military
Headquarters Branch at the National Archives, called and asked if I would
talk to John Sherwood of the Washington Times, who was with him in his
office. I agreed (having told erwoo yesterday that I would talk to him
again today), but first asked Taylor about the war diaries, which Sherwood
has questioned me about yesterday. He told me that the S.I. and S.O. war
diaries that the Agency withdrew from the 194 feet recently transferred to
NARS, contain 10,000 pages. Taylor knows that these files were withheld so
that CIA could re nd to a FOIA case, and he had been informed (correctly,
I understand from that they will be returned
to NARS in about two months.
2. Taylor then put Sherwood on the line. He asked more questions
about why these war diaries were not being released now, and I explained
again that the law requires the Agency to respond to FOIA requests, and
that we could not drop this case in mid process to transfer the documents.
I tried to convince Sherwood that the temporary delay in releasing the war
diaries was not the story here, but that the release of the 194 cubic feet
of OSS documents, and the rich historical information they contain, was
what was newsworthy. I'm not sure I succeeded, since he seems convinced
that there is some secret reason why CIA has held up releasing the war
diaries, which must therefore be of central importance.
3. I also explained that these OSS records are being released as the
first step in a selective declassification program that Mr. Casey had
promised to Senator Durenberger in their exchange of correspondence last
October. I read the operative paragraph from the DCI's letter to Sherwood,
and explained how the DCI's commitment to release older historical records
was related to the FOIA relief bill now pending in Congress.
4. Sherwood told me that he is looking through various groups of OSS
documents, trying to find something to hang his story on. Using our list
of the records transferred, I suggested some groups as especially
promising. I suspect, however, that he is still convinced that the really
good stuff is in the S.I. and S.O. war diaries that the Agency has withheld.
J. Kenneth McDonald
Chief, History Staff
STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
W
21 June 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Telephone Conversation with John Sherwood, reporter for The
Washington Times, 2:50 p.m. 21 June 1984 (636 3264)
1. John Sherwood called this afternoon while I was out and talked with
called
who tol
d him he could not discuss the OSS records. Sherwood
at Public Affairs, who suggested that I continue as
Sherwood's contact here on the OSS records.
2. I called Sherwood, and found that he had just finished his story
for tomorrow's paper. He read me what sounded like the lead paragraph,
which focused on CIA's withholding the war diaries. The general line was
that while the war diaries were the most promising material, the CIA was
withholding them to respond--"they say"--to FOIA requests. He asked if that
was correct, and I said I thought not.
3. I explained that while the war diaries would undoubtedly be
interesting, they were but a small part of the 194 feet now being released.
This surprised Sherwood, who had the impression that they were a major
portion. I noted that while John Taylor at NARS had described these war
diaries as containing about 10,000 pages, which sounds massive, they
probably only filled a few boxes-probably only a foot or two of the 194
cubic feet being released. In any event, the Agency had no choice but to
withhold them, since the law requires that it respond fully to FOIA
requests, and these war diaries had been requested under the Act. Moreover,
I explained that since CIA will transfer some 2500 cubic feet of documents
over the next year or so, it seemed wrong to focus on a few boxes of
material held up for a couple of months.
4. Sherwood also asked why CIA had kept these World War II records
from the public for some forty years. I explained the need to protect
sources and methods in intelligence records, so that they ordinarily have to
remain classified--unlike most military classified records, for
example--even after the events or operations they concern become known. I
noted that intelligence methods in World War II could still need protection,
and that some people who worked with OSS could still not be identified.
Having seen the marker cards in the files noting documents withheld,
Sherwood was already aware that some of these records remain classified for
national security reasons and have not been released. He also knows a large
CIA team of reviewers needed several years to declassify these records.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
4. Sherwood told me that the his story is mainly an account of how an
OSS Special Operations officer, Lieut. William Downey, USNR, undertook a
mission to capture a German V-1 bomb. He thought this more significant than
the Washington Post's story today on how the OSS infringed copyrights in
broadcasting translated Broadway songs to Germany.
J. Ke neth McDonald
Chief, History Staff
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
18 June 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Telephone conversation with John Sherwood, Washington Times,
4:40 p.m. 18 June 1984 (636 3264)
1. After John Sherw r r for The Washington Times, called
while I was out, I called in Pub it Affairs, who fered to
return Sherwood's call. of Public Affairs called me later in the
afternoon, and said that Sherwood was inquiring about the release of OSS
documents to the National Archives and Records Service (NARS), and that it
was OK for me to talk to him about this if I wished.
2. I called Sherwood, who told me that he had already talked to Jill
Merrill, Public Affairs officer at NARS, and John Taylor, the main Reference
Archivist in the Modern Military Headquarters Branch at NARS (where the OSS
records now are). He has seen the NARS news release, and knows that it will
not go out in the NARS newsletter until around 11 July. John Taylor told
him that of the 194 feet now transferred, the 'history narratives' are
probably the most interesting but that of these, the Secret Intelligence
(SI) and Special Operations (SO) narratives were still at CIA. Sherwood
wanted to know if I could give him any more information on these files, as
well as any leads on other newsworthy files in the records now open at
NARS. .
3. I assumed that Taylor was referrin to the SI and SO war diaries
that are still here, being processed in for a FOIA request.
probably would not be transferred to NARS for'at least another two months.]
I explained that these records were only temporarily delayed, and that there
was a lot of other highly important material in the recently opened
records. It is a pity that with all of these records actually released and
open for Sherwood to look at, Taylor should direct his attention to the few
boxes from this first batch that are not yet available.
4. As for other leads, I told Sherwood that although I had looked over
the collection while it was here, I had not looked closely enough at any of
the documents to give him specific advice about where to start his own
research. Sherwood asked if I could see if anyone here--perhaps from the
declassification review team--could give him any leads on the documents. I
told him that I would look into this, but that the NARS people in Modern
Military were clearly the best guides to these records now.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDP01-00569R000100090072-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDPO1-00569R000100090072-4
5. Sherwood asked if he could call me tomorrow when he was with John
Taylor at NARS, and I agreed. Sherwood mentioned that he has covered a lot
of National Archives stories, having been a reporter with The Washington
Star for 19 years before joining The Washington Times.
STAT
J. Kenneth McDonald
Chief, History Staff
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/18: CIA-RDPO1-00569R000100090072-4