Documents / Official release
This 1995 Clinton Presidential Library file contains Presidential Determination No. 95-45, signed by President Clinton on September 29, 1995, and its supporting papers. The determination exempts the Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from any hazardous waste law requirement to disclose classified information, following the lawsuits Kasza v. Browner and Frost v. Perry. The file also includes Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall's unclassified declaration invoking the military and state secrets privilege, along with recommendation memos from Widnall, Deputy Secretary of Defense White and Anthony Lake.
> 2 2. Purpose: This Declaration is made for the purpose of advising the court of the national security interests in and the security classification of information that may be relevant to the above captioned lawsuits. The statements made herein are based on (a) my personal consideration of the matter; (b) my personal knowledge; and (c) my evaluation of information made available to me in my official capacity. I have concluded that release of certain information relevant to these lawsuits would necessitate disclosure of properly classified information about the Air Force I, SHEILA E. WIDNALL, HEREBY DECLARE THE FOLLOWING TO BE TRUE AND CORRECT: 1. Official Duties: I am the Secretary of the United States Air Force and the head of the Department of the Air Force. In that capacity, I exercise the statutory functions specified in f ■ section 8013 of Title 10, U.S. Code. I am responsible for the formulation of Air Force policies and programs that are fully consistent with the national security directives of the President and the Secretary of Defense, including those that protect national security information relating to the defense and foreign relations of the United States. As the Secretary of the Air Force, I exercise authority over the operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, and the information associated with that operating location. As the head of an agency with control over the information associated with the operating location near Groom Lake, I am the proper person to assert the military and state secrets privilege with regard to that information. Under Executive Order 12356,1 exercise original TOP SECRET classification authority, which permits me to determine the proper classification of national security information on behalf of the United States. Executive Order No. 12356, Sec. 1.2, 47 Fed. Reg. 20,105 (1982), reprinted in 50 U.S. Code Section 401 (1991), Presidential Order of May 7, 1982, Officials Designated to Classify National Security Information, reprinted in 50 U.S. Code Section 401 (1991).
Not linked to a story yet.
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 34 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.