LETTER TO GEORGE BUSH FROM WILLIAM F. DONNELLY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00004R000100010006-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: February 28, 1987
• Content Type: LETTER

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MEMORAMOUM FOR: DD/HOUSE AFFAIRS: or I
DD/SENATE AFFAIRS :
DD/LEGISLATION
The attached document is being ready to be sent
to the Hill. The registry needs an "OK" from one of
the above. PLEASE DO NOT HOLD. -----~-
v
Send back the attached document so Registry
can process.
THANK-YOU
D _- r #:-013
SUBJECT : 1'1 (,,L a. L t ~Th
Originator Office:
Date 3 "0 tr of 9
FO M PRE 515 lUl EUSE D TI NSVIOUS
STAT
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Central intelligence Agency
The Honorable George Bush
President of the Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Mr. President:
2 8 FE B 1987
OIS 87-019
Submitted herewith, pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C.
S552(d), is the report of the Central Intelligence Agency concerning
its administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) during
calendar year 1986.
This was another year of achievement in terms of our commitment
to reduce our backlog of requests for information. Despite an
increase of 10 percent in the number of incoming requests, compared
with the number received in 1985 (3094 compared with 2804), we were
able to complete 3580 requests. Our backlog of 1661 cases at the
end of 1985 was thus reduced to 1175 at the end of 1986, a reduction
of 29 percent. Of the 3094 new requests, 1526 were FOIA cases, 1312
were "my file" requests processed under the Privacy Act, and 256
were for mandatory review under Executive Order 12356.
The Agency's semi-annual reports to Congress, required by the
CIA Information Act, have been sent for the last two years to the
Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
and the House Committee on Government Operations. In those reports
we included statistics for the median response time in handling FOIA
requests. Representative English, Chairman of the Government
Information, Justice, and Agriculture Subcommittee of the Committee
on Government Operations, found that statistic particularly useful
in assessing our performance and asked that we continue to include
our response time in the annual reports. For the FOIA cases on
which responses were completed in 1986, the median response time was
3.24 months. This is a considerable improvement over the median
response time of 9.2 months reported in October 1985 for the period
of March to September 1985. October 1985 was the first time this
calculation was made.
The CIA Information Act has contributed significantly to the
reduction of both our backlog and our response time because
Intelligence Officers no longer have to spend time reviewing a large
volume of unreleasable operational documents. They can now devote
their efforts to documents that possibly can be released, thus
speeding up the processing of requests that have some potential for
adding to the public's knowledge. We have also concentrated part of
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our manpower on completing our older requests. In most instances,
these are massive cases that require the efforts of several analysts
over a long period of time. Again this year we reduced the number
of open cases received prior to 1980 by over half. At the beginning
of 1986 there were 96 pre-1980 cases still open; at year's end there
were only 34. There are only 26 cases received in 1980 that remain
open, bringing our total remaining pre-1981 cases to 60 with the
inclusion of an additional year. More complete details of our
production/workload statistics for CY 1986 are enclosed at Tab A.
There were 158 new administrative appeals received this year. With
the completion of 178 appeals, our appeals workload was reduced by
20 cases, bringing our total of open appeals to 166.
During 1986 our manpower input to FOIA/PA processing was 107
manyears -- a level consistent with recent years. This continues to
represent a significant burden to the Agency in terms of both
personnel and funds diverted from our primary mission. This is true
for two reasons. First, even with the passage of the CIA
Information Act and the exemption of operational files, operational
documents found in other files must be reviewed for release by
professional officers working on the area concerned. This means
that they must be diverted from their intelligence duties to conduct
the review. Second, discounting expenditures for space, equipment,
and overtime differential, all of which remain high, the expenditure
of funds continued at about the same level as in 1985. Since 1975
we estimate that the Agency has spent over in personnel STAT
costs alone for processing information requests -- for STAT
FOIA. Although we are allowed under FOIA to charge fees for records
searches and duplication, these fees are inadequate for recovering
even a small portion of the costs. The Agency has, since 1975,
collected only $105,086 in fees. When compared with funds expended
for administering the FOIA, this continues to represent a return of
waivers and reductions granted, the Agency collected only) in STAT
fees and advance deposits during CY 1986 -- about half that of CY
1985. The fee waiver provisions in the Freedom of Information
Reform Act, passed in late 1986, will further reduce our fee
collections during the coming year.
During 1986 we continued to benefit from the effects of the CIA
Information Act. First, we have been able to concentrate our
efforts more productively on potentially releasable records to the
benefit of the requesters. Second, and more importantly, the time
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formerly spent in searching for and processing sensitive operational
files can now be devoted to other requests and to carrying out the
Agency's primary missions. We are encouraged by our continued
improvement in the reduction of our backlog and response time and
will make every effort to show further improvement during CY 1987.
Sincerely,
William F. Donnelly
Deputy Director
for
Administration
STAT
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STAT
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74920 Federal Register / Vol. 45, No. 221 / Thursday, November 13, 1980 / Rules and Regulations
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
32 CFR Part 1900
Public Access to Documents and
Records and Declassification
Requests
AGENCY: Central Intelligence Agency.
ACTION: Final rule.
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 13, 1980.
? 1900.25 Fees for records services.
(a) Search and duplication fees shall be
charged according to the schedule set forth
in paragraph (c) of this section for services
rendered in responding to requests for
Agency records under this part. Records
shall be furnished without charge or at a
reduced rate whenever the Coordinator
determines that a waiver or reduction of
the charge is in the public interest because
furnishing the information can be consid-
ered as primarily benefiting the general
public. Thus, the Coordinator shall deter-
mine the existence and extent of any identi-
fiable benefit which would result from
furnishing the requested information and
he shall consider the following factors in
making this determination:
(1) The public or private character of the
information sought;
(2) The private interest of the requester;
(3) The numbers of the public to be
benefited;
(4) The significance of the benefit to the
public;
(5) The usefulness of the information to
the public; and
(6) The quantity of similar or duplicative
information already in the public domain.
In no case will the assessment of fees be
utilized as an obstacle to the disclosure of
the requested information. The Coordina-
tor may also waive or reduce the charge
whenever he determines that the interest of
the government would be served thereby.
Fees shall not be charged where they would
amount, in the aggregate, for a request, or a
series of related requests, to less than $6.
Denials of requests for fee waivers may be
appealed by writing to the Executive Secre-
tary of the Information Review Committee,
via the Coordinator.
(b) In order to protect the requester and
the Agency from large, unexpected fees,
when it is anticipated that the charges will
amount to more than $25, the processing of
the request shall be suspended until the
requester indicates his willingness to pay.
The requester shall be notified and asked
for ,his commitment to pay all reasonable
search and duplication fees. At his option,
the requester may indicate in advance a
dollar limitation to the fees. In such an
event, the Coordinator shall initiate a
search of the system or systems of records
deemed most likely to produce relevant
records, instructing the system managers to
discontinue the search as soon as the stipu-
lated amount has been expended. Where
an advance limit has not been stipulated,
the Coordinator may, at his discretion or at
the behest of the requester, compile an
estimate of the search fees likely to be
incurred in processing a request, or of such
portion thereof as can readily be estimated.
The requester shall be promptly notified of
the amount and be asked to approve its
expenditure. In those cases where the Coor-
dinator estimates that the fees will be sub-
stantial, an advance deposit of 50 percent
of the estimated fees will be required; in
those cases where there is reasonable evi-
dence that the requester may possibly fail
to pay the fees which would be accrued by
processing his request, an advance deposit
of 100 percent of the estimated fees will be
required. The notice or request for an
advance deposit shall extend an offer to the
requester whereby he is afforded an oppor-
tunity to revise the request in a manner
calulated to reduce the fees. Dispatch of
such a notice or request shall suspend the
running of the period for response by the
Agency until a reply is received from the
requester.
(c) The schedule of fees for services
performed in responding to requests for
Agency records is established as follows:
(1) For each one quarter hour, or fraction
thereof, spent by clerical personnel in
searching for a record, $1.50;
(2) For each one quarter hour, or fraction
thereof, spent by professional personnel in
searching for a record, $3.50;
(3) For each on-line computer search,
$11.00;
(4) For each off-line (batch) computer
search of Central Reference files, $27.00;
(5) For all other off-line computer
searches of Agency files, $8.00 per minute
of Central Processing Unit (CPU) time;
(6) For copies of paper documents in sizes
not larger than 81/2 X 14 inches, $0.10 per
copy of each page;
(7) For duplication of non-paper media
(film, magnetic tape, etc.) or any document
that cannot be reproduced on a standard
office copier, actual direct cost; and
(8) For extra copies of reports. maps,
reference aids, and other Agency publica-
tions, actual cost.
(d) Inasmuch as the Agency's systems of
records are highly decentralized, several
computer searches may be required to pro-
cess a request, depending upon its scope.
The computer search costs given in para-
graph (c), of this section, do not include
whatever professional /clerical search time
is needed to determine whether the records
located are in fact responsive to the request
(e) Search fees are assessable even when
no records pertinent to the requests, or no
releasable records are found, provided the
requester has been advised of this fact and
he has, that notwithstanding agreed to in-
cur the costs of search.
(f) For requests which have accrued sub-
stantial search and duplication fees, or for
requests for records which have been previ-
ously released, or where there is reasonable
evidence that the requester may possibly
fail to pay the accrued fees, then, at the
discretion of the Coordinator, the requester
may be required to pay the accrued search
and duplication fees prior to the actual
delivery of the requested records; other-
wise, the requester shall be billed for such
fees at the time that the records are provid-
ed. Payment shall be remitted by check or
money order, made payable to the Treasur-
er of the United States, and shall be sent to
the Coordinator. No appeals or additional
requests shall be accepted for processing
until the requester has paid all outstanding
charges for services rendered under this
part.
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STAT
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