Who Runs Gov

Mr. Stephannie Oriabure, Archivist
National Archives and Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20408-0001

Reference: EOM-2009-00573 / NLMS 2009-001 (Cheney, Richard B.)

Dear Ms. Oriabure:

Your facsimile of 21 April 2009 referred one document to this agency responding to the referenced Executive Order 12958 Mandatory Declassification Review request. I have enclosed a copy of your correspondence at Tab A.

As you are aware, a request for Mandatory Declassification Review is governed by Executive Order 12958, as amended, which was signed and executed by the President on March 25, 2003. Under section 3.5.(a)(3) of that Executive Order, a document is excluded from Mandatory Declassification Review if that document contains information that is the subject of pending litigation. This provision ensures that the Mandatory Declassification Review process is not used to disrupt simultaneous litigation proceedings that are already pending. In researching the information in question, we have discovered that it is currently the subject of pending FOIA litigation (Bloche v. Department of Defense, Amnesty International v. Central Intelligence Agency). Therefore, the requested document, which contains this information, is excluded from Mandatory Declassification Review.

The requester may appeal my decision to the Agency Release Panel, in my care, within 45 days from the date of this letter. He may send his appeal to:

Agency Release Panel
c/o Information and Privacy Coordinator
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505.

Sincerely,

Delores M. Nelson
Information and Privacy Coordinator