Re: Declaration in Bryant V CIA

Approved for Release: 2025/06/11 C07083374
and the charge was for duplication only, it was not affected by fee category.2 The
letter further explained that requests for fee waiverss must be considered under the
standards that Agency regulations outlined at Part 1900 of Title 32 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). In accordance therewith, the CIA infonned Mr.
Bryant that because the infonnation he sought was already in the public domain,
and “its re-release would not likely contribute significantly to public
understanding of the operations and activities of the United States Government,”
his request for a fee waiver was denied. The September 30, 2008 letter also
informed Plaintiff that he could appeal the denial of his request for a fee waiver
within 45 days from the date of the letter, but if CIA has started to process a
request, the Agency would accept an appeal of a fee waiver denial only “if the
requester agrees to be responsible for the costs in the event of an adverse
administrative or judicial decision.” In an effort to assist Plaintiff further, CIA
also included a copy of an article from the CIA’s intemal magazine Studies in
Intelligence, Summer 1997, entitled “CIA’s ‘Role in the Study of UFO’s, 1947-
90.” The item was provided at no cost because it was under 100 pages. (A true
2 The CIA did not formally address Plaintiffs request for status as a new media
representative in its September 30, 2008 letter, although after explaining the cost of the
UFO package—ten cents per page less the first 100 pages, the letter stated “as a requester
in the ‘all other’ category.” Regardless, since the only charge was for duplication, the fee
was the same whether his fee category was determined to be news media or all other.
3
Although Plaintiff used the tenn “waiver” in his request letter, based on context of his
letter (and subsequent appeal and complaint), it appears that there was confusion over fee
category (status) and fee waiver and that requester used the latter term to mean his
request for news media status. Notwithstanding that it appears Plaintiff did not request a
fee waiver, because of his use of the term waiver, the CIA treated it as such.
4
Approved for Release: 2025/06/11 C07083374