Documents / FOIA release
This 2006 CIA FOIA release holds correspondence between an independent writer who directs the Washington, D.C., office of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy and the CIA's Information and Privacy Coordinator. The writer appeals the denial of news media requester status and a $30.00 fee on request F-2004-01956, which sought records on John Joseph McCarthy, Jr. and Project Cherry. The letters also request records on Philip J. Corso and Philip Julian Klass. The CIA's June 20, 2006 reply refuses the appeal until the fee is paid.
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To: From: Subject: Fwd: CIA's Stonewalling of My FOIA Requester-Status Appeal Cc: Bcc: Attachments: DATE: June 29, 2006 By his June 20, 2006, letter to me (copy enclosed), your FOIA coordinator Scott Koch continues to deny my FOIA requester status as an independent writer (i.e., "representative of the news media") focusing on national security affairs. But, now, Mr. Koch's latest denial further embeds your agency in a FOIA tarbaby of its own making -- by imposing upon me an extortionist fee of $30.00 for initial CIA processing of my FOIA request (No. F-2004-01956) for all CIA records pertaining to former CIA Project Cherry operative John Joseph McCarthy, Jr. This official extortionist refusal to process my FOIA appeal of June 5, 2006, unless I pay the contested $30.00 creates a "Catch-22" for my current and future FOIA requests by declaring, in effect, "You, Mr. Bryant, have no right to appeal a fee-waiver denial unless you first pay the (erroneously) assessed fee for any current/past cases." This policy mocks the spirit of the U. S. Freedom of Information Act, and further explains why your agency has been (dis)honored by its recent receipt of the National Security Archive's "Rosemary Award." In the interest of reopening and expediting my requester-status appeal of June 5, 2006, and of making sure that Mr. Koch refrain from sabotaging my FOIA request of May 4, 2006 (re the late U. S. Army (Ret.) Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso's CIA-related revelations), I'm enclosing a check for $30.00, made payable to the treasurer of the United States. Please note that in no way does this paid-under-protest payment constitute a waiver of any of my FOIA rights in any past/current/future requests/appeals/litigation. Indeed, as regards the expected litigation ensuing from continued CIA denial of my requester status, I plan to seek CIA reimbursement of that erroneous assessment. Also note that, as a supplement to my requester-status appeal of June 5, 2006, I'm enclosing a copy of my column from the July 2006 issue of UFO Magazine (titled "Bryant's UFO View: Corso's Curse"). From this essay,
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.