Documents / FOIA release
This is a July 27, 2021 FOIA response from NASA's Office of Communications to John Greenewald, Jr. It covers records from Leslie Kean's lawsuit against NASA seeking Kecksburg documents. NASA released 207 pages in full, 7 in part and withheld 31, noting that most of the lawsuit case files had been destroyed under records retention rules. The enclosures include court declarations, a 2003 appeal decision ordering a broader search, a 2019 FOIA response, and Stan Gordon's account of the missing NASA fragology files.
June 18, 2003 Ms. Lee Ellen Helfrich Attorney at Law Lobel, Novins & Lamont 1275 K Street, NW Suite 770 Washington, DC 20005-4048 Dear Ms. Helfrich: By letter dated May 9, 2003, to the NASA Administrator, you appealed, on behalf of your client, Ms. Leslie Kean, an initial determination under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 et seq., issued by Ms. Sharon S. Holgerson, FOIA Officer at NASA Headquarters. Your client’s initial request, dated January 31, 2003, sought “all data of whatever form including correspondence, telegraphic, electronic, photographs, scientific reports, analyses or tests such as metallurgic analysis, collection records, interviews with civilians . . .” relating to a Kecksburg incident in December 1965, or Acme; NASA fragology files for 1962-1967; and any records on Richard M. Schulherr, Project Moon Dust, “Cosmos 96,” and “NASA’s involvement of the recovery of the satellite, parts or debris thereof, anywhere in the United States or Canada.” In response to your client’s request, a search was conducted at the NASA Headquarters History Office, and no responsive records were determined to exist. You have appealed this determination on a number of grounds. You state that it is clear that documents on this topic are, or were, in the Agency’s possession or control because you have enclosed three with your appeal letter and, therefore, question the reasonableness of NASA’s search. One document appears to be a list of NASA files in storage at the Federal Records Center, including one entry entitled “Moon Dust.” A second document appears to be a description of “Cosmos 96,” printed from a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Web site, and dated May 6, 2003. The third document is a memo dated May 7, 1968, from R. M. Schulherr, who was apparently a NASA employee, to C.N. Jones, on “Moondust from Columbia.” Your research indicates that there are also a substantial number of documents related to fragology that were created by NASA, and you question why the only installation apparently contacted by NASA in processing your client’s request was the NASA Headquarters History office. You note that you were informed on April 7, 2003, by Ms. Kellie Robinson of the FOIA Office that a previous FOIA request had been received concerning the same events, and documents were located and released. NASA’s initial determination issued to your client did not reference or disclose the existence of the previous FOIA requests, nor cite any reasons for not disclosing the correspondence, nor provide any segregable portions of those documents. Therefore, you seek copies of the earlier FOIA requests relating to the same information and NASA’s responses to those requests.
FOIA release, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 223 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.