MEETING WITH NARS REPRESENTATIVES ON PROTECTING OSS RECORDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP93B01194R001300100038-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 30, 2001
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: January 29, 1979
• Content Type: MFR

Approved For Relea 2002/01/08: CIA-RDP93B01194R00W0100038-6
24 January 1979
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RC000
STATINTL kOM .
VIA : Chief, Operas-ons Branch, CRG
SUBJECT: Meeting with MARS Representatives on
Protecting O:`, Records
1. The meeting w:c, held for two hours on 22 January 1979 at NARS.
STATINTL The undersigned and' of the OSS Review Group met with
the fallowing represe ivies o Milton 0. Gustafson, Chief of
the Diplomatic Records ;:ranch, flumes r,'onmann, Chief of the Declassifi-
cation Branch at NAPS ender Alan Thompson; Chester Dunham, Section Chief
under Hohmann; Richard Yon Doenhoff, Section Chief under Hohmann;
Ms. Pat Dowling, Archival Technician under Gustafson. Alan Thompson was
out sick. Purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to protect certain
references to OSS personnel in State Department records accessioned to
NARS which cover the period 1940-1945. Involved are certain indicies in
3x5 form, some in purport book form, and some files. What is to be
protected are a relatively few names of OSS and SSU personnel who served
under non-official cover. It is necessary to protect them when their
name appears on a record together with data identifying them as OSS or
SSU. Approximately 218 entries on cards or purport sheets need protecting.
2. There was no question of MARS willingness to protect the names
and even to do it in a way that would best conceal the CIA hand. The
cards and purport sheets will be withdrawn and dummy cards and sheets
put in their place. The insert will contain the name, or place if it is
a source card, date of the document, the project number which leads to
the original, and a stamp stating the original is withheld at the request
of "another U.S. Governinent agency", unnamed. Some indicies are based on
names of personnel, some are based on places (locations of overseas posts)
and the name appears in the text of the entry. The latter category are
called "source cards". Hohmann's shop will make up the new cards and
STATINTL sheets, and will help Ms. Dowling put them into their
proper place in e es. The original cards and purport sheets will
be stapled to their parent document and kept in a classified file. The
referenced project file and this can be a new project used solely for
these documents or could be included as part of a project used regularly
for this general purpose, will contain only a few innocuous pieces of
paper which could safely be shown to a requester who asks to see it.
Approved For Release 2002/01/08: CIA-RDP93B01194RO01300100038-6
 Approved For Relea&2002/01/08 : CIA-RDP93B01194R001,L100038-6
3. Most of our t'iie was spent discussing on what grounds we would
withhold the card. The choices are B1 or B3. They would work as follows:
a. Bl means ~,rithholding under "National Security" grounds. In
this case, any re ui..` `hc withheldi document would be forwarded to
CIA for an answer. [ho same would be true for any appeal to a negative
answer to the origical C j?.