DEAR MR. HOUSTON;

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP59-00882R000300240047-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 14, 2001
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: September 22, 1955
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release(2@jigg8/'2' ; I IMf59-00882R000300240047-9
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL
WASHINGTON 25
OGC HAS REVIEWED. *DOC Waiver Letter In ERU File*
Lawrence R. Houston, Esq.
General Counsel
Central Intelligence Agency
2430 E Street, K. 71.
Washington 25, D. C.
SEP2
1955 2
This is to confirm a request orally made to your agency
in informal discussions between Mr. Theodore L. Thau De uty
Assistant General Counsel in my office, and of your
agency. Our request is for the advice and assistance of your
agency in helping this Department to answer a letter dated July 29,
1955, from The Honorable 17ill_iam F. Tompl'-ins, ;assistant Attorney
General, Department of Justice, to The Secretary of Commerce. In
that letter this Department has been asked to det_--rmine whether
three documents, ori,gina'_y prepared by the Bur au of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce of this Department, and which ,,rere seized early
in 1945 from the now defunct merasi_a i:"_agazine in Kew York City,
" re presently clan si.fi ed and, if so) w_. ether t e~* can be
declassified at this time and released to Senator Fastland's
Internal Security Subcommittee by this Depart-anent without impairing
the national defense of the United States."
The three documents referred to by the Department of
Justice are described by it as:
(1) "The document is a Sumriary of Economic Information on Japan
as reported by Ame-,.-11 cans returning to the United States on the
S. S. Gripsholm, august 25, l942. The report i_s by Victoria C.
Hungerfort, Assisted by C. N. Henring, Far Eastern Unit, Bureau of
Foreign and Domestic Commerce, doted December 14, 1942.
(2) "The subject of this document is: 'Ra:'wa;.T Transportation
in Occupied China,' Volume I - Parts I and II Section A of. Part III,
it was prepared in the Far Eastern Unit 1943, Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce. It is a 'Confidential-' document and bears the
date '1943'.
(3) "This is a 'Confidential' Report captioned: 'Preliminary
Economic Survey of Korea.' This was prepared for the Division of
COi i= fi:==`~iAL
Approved For Release 2001/08/24: CIA-RDP59-00882R000300240047-9
 Sincerely yours,
Philip A Ray
CONE I ~ T-tAL
Approved For Release 200i/08/24: ' ,P59-00882R000300240047-9
_RTR
LON H ! IAL
Lawrence R. Houston, Esq. - 2
Economic Studies, Department of State by Charles H. Henning, Far
Eastern Unit, Bureau or Foreign and Domestic Commmerce, August 2,
1943."
The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce is no longer
in existence and the successor agencies of this Department are not
in a position to review and make a judgment about the present
classification and possible declassification of these documents in
terms of potential impairment of the national defense in the light
of all relevant considerations, many of which we believe may be
now known only to your agency. It is for this reason that we are
asking your agency's advice and guidance to help us determine
whether any or all. of the three documents in question may be
declassified by this Department for release to the Sen-te Internal
Security Subcommittee by the Justice Department.
At our suggestion - has obtained from the Justice
Department a copy of its letter of July 29 and the attached list of
documents and, :-,e understand, review of the documents in question
has been made by representatives of your agency. We are also
informed b-r that your agency may now be in a position to
consider our request on a formal basis and we uould., therefcre,
greatly appreciate any advice and guidance that you can give us in
this matter at your earliest convenience.