Agency: FBI
Originator: FBI
From: HQ
To: WH
Document date: 05/28/1996
Document type: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

## Page 1

Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hotel:

DATE: 11-14-2017

JFK Assassination System

Date:

3/31/201

Identification Form

Agency Information

AGENCY: FBI

RECORD NUMBER :

124-10376-10375

RECORD SERIES: HQ

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : 62C-HQ-1029205-1190

Document Information

ORIGINATOR:

FBI

FROM:

HQ

TO : WH

TITLE:

DATE: 05/28/1996

• PAGES: 12

SUBJECTS :

JFKARCA OF 1992

DOCUMENT TYPE: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION: Secret

RESTRICTIONS: 1B; 1C; 3

CURRENT STATUS : Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 04/27/1999

OPENING CRITERIA: INDEFINITE

COMMENTS: INC PETITION

v9.1

DocId: 32321217

36

Page 1

---

## Page 2

Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hotej .

DATE: 11-14-2017

SECRET

BY HAND

May 28, 1996

The Honorable William J. Clinton

President of the United States

Washington, D.C. 20500

3112/99

5668-540/poe

JFK

Dear Mr. President:

For the reasons set forth in detail in the enclosure,

this

letter requests that you exercise your authority, under

Section 9(d) of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination

Records Collection Act of 1992, to postpone public disclosure of

portions of five documents ordered released by the Assassination

Records Review Board. (U)

As I indicated in my letter to you of May 10th, the FBI

has cooperated extensively with the Board and made the broadest

disclosure of documents in our history.

We have withheld very

little, deferred to the Board whenever possible, and appealed

only when vital national interests would be compromised by the

release of certain information.

(U)

Deo. Dir.

ADD Adm.

ADO IT.

AS51. Dir.:

Adm. Servs.

Crim. inv.

CuiS

Into. Mgme.

1730.

Intell.

Lab.

Logal Coun.

loch. Serv.

Traning

011. at FEDA

Oft. Liaison

§ int. Att

OH. of Pubtic

& Cong. Als. _

TOM Office

Tolerationa Am.

Dinactor's Offica_

MAILAOOM I

DocId:32321217

Page 2

Classified by: 38556

Reason:

1e5(c)

Declassify

on: X1

N5-

1

1

1

1

- Director

Mr.

Kennedy

Mr. R. Bucknam

Mr. Bryant

Ms. Morris

Mr.

Perry

1

1

1

-

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

- Mr.

Lewis

Collingwood

K. O'Brien

Shapiro

Maddock

Bowman

1 - Ms.

Keeley

- Mr.

Divers

1

- Mr.

P. Kelley

1

- Mr.

D. Evans

1

- ALU

Library

1 - ALU Tickler

PWK: wam

(24)

indian

Nuter,

42C-H0-1029205 b40

KRIAL ATTACHE

PY UNCLASSIPIED WERN SEPARATED FROM CLASSIFIEO ENCLOSURE

X,6. Mil

iter

HAR

---

## Page 3

Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Aot of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote).

DATE: 11-14-2017

SECRET

The Honorable William J. Clinton

In this instance,

we asked the Board to postpone

disclosure of selected

portions of 69 documents.

The Board

• did

accede to our request in a few cases but ordered most of the

remaining documents to be disclosed in full.

After carefully

considering the interest of the public in disclosure against the

harm that would result from release, we feel constrained to

appeal the disclosure of information in five documents. (U)

Disclosure of information in four of the documents

would reveal investigative or surveillance techniques used to

gather important information from foreign countries.

Disclosure

of this material would compromise those techniques and impair

foreign relations.

Release of the information in the last

document would severely invade the privacy interests of a private

citizen and subject him to public ridicule and embarrassment with

no discernable contribution to the public's understanding of the

circumstances

surrounding President Kennedy's assassination. (U)

I regret the necessity of appealing the disclosure of

this information so soon after forwarding you our earlier appeal.

I cannot in good conscience, however, permit this information to

be made public without requesting you to fully consider the

adverse

ramifications of its release. (U)

I also want to express my deep concern about the

Board's habit of making public comments concerning these appeals.

At the time of our last appeal, the Board issued a press release,

either believing that their arguments would be better received in

another forum or hoping to bring public pressure to bear on the

White House, and thus influence your decision-making.

I believe

it would be

more appropriate to address our genuine differences

on the merits, pursuant to the legislation which created the

Board. (U)

Sincerely,

Louis J. Freeh

Director

Enclosure

SECRET

SECRET MATERIAL ATTACHED

UNCLASSIFIRD WIRN SEPARATED FROM CLASSIFIKD ENCLOSURE

-2-

' DocId: 32321217 Page 3

---

## Page 4

Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination

Records Collection Act of 1992 714 USC 2107 Hote).

DATE: 11-14-2017

SECKET

The Honorable William J. Clinton

1 - Honorable Warren M. Christopher

The Secretary of State

U.S. Department of State

Washington, D.C.

1 - The Honorable Jamie S. Gorelick

The Deputy Attorney General

U.S. Department of Justice

Washington, D.C.

1 - Mr. David G. Marwell

Executive Director

'Assassination Records Review Board

Washington, D.C.

NOTE: By letter of 5/1/96 the Executive Director of the JFK

Assassination Records

Review Board notified the FBI of the

Board's determination

that certain FBI records should be released

to the public.

Because the FBI believes that some of these

records should not be released, it is necessary to appeal their

release to the President.

Car; Data.

Civi a tia

Franco.

Natani s--

Gon carsal manana

→O90S GIEGU

SECRET

SECRET HATERIAL ATTACHED

UNCLASSIFIED WHEN SEPARATED FROM CLASSIFIED ENCLOSURE

-3 -

DocId: 32321217

Page 4

---

## Page 5

Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (41 USC 2107 Note).

DATE: 11-14-2017

SECRET

PETITION FOR POSTPONEMENT

UNDER

SECTION 9 (d)

OF THE

PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

ASSASSINATION RECORDS COLLECIION ACT OF 1992

This petition requests, on behalf of the Federal Bureau

of Investigation (FBI), the President to exercise his authority,

under Section 9(d) of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination

Records Collection Act of 1992' (the Act), to postpone public.

disclosure of portions of five documents ordered released by the

Assassination Records Review Board (Board) •

Copies of the

documents are attached at Tab A. Some of the documents are

classified; portions ordered disclosed by the Board which the FBI

seeks to protect are highlighted in yellow. (U)

The Board's determinations concerning disclosure of the

information in question are set forth in a letter, dated

May 1st.

A copy of the Board's letter is attached at Tab B; it

is not classified.

Under Section 9(d) of the Act, the President

has the nondelegable authority to require postponement of

disclosure under the standards set forth in Section 6 of the Act.

The Standard for Postponement

Per Section 6 of the Act, disclosure of assassination

records? or particular information

in such records may be

postponed if there is clear and convincing evidence that --

Classified by! a

Reason

Declassify on:

3/14/99

5668-50/12

(1)(0).

' 44 U.S.C. § 2107, note.

2 Defined by Section 3 of the Act to mean "a record that is related to the assassination of President

Jobn F. Kennedy, that was created or made available for use by, obtained by, or otherwise came into the

possession of ... any Executive agency ...

SECRET

DocId: 32321217 Page 5

---

## Page 6

Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 144 USC 2107 Hotel.

DATE: 11-14-2017

SECRET

Document 10001 is an internal FBI document. It

describes

member of the Dallas County (Texas) District Attorney's Office

FBI's performance in investigating President Kennedy's

assassination.

The information, which we seek to protect from

disclosure for Mr. Lane's sake,

depicts Mr. Lane involved in what

is described as a

"masochist rite" in which he appears "nude,

with his arms taped behind him, sexually aroused, and his sex

organs being tortured."

(U)

Document 10130 relates information concerning the

issuance of a visa to a

" Mr. David P. Welch that we obtained by

intercepting teletype traffic between the Czechoslovakian Embassy

in Washington, D.C.; and the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations

in Cuba.

teletype line was also used by the cuban

Mission to the United Nations in New York, New York.

We seek to

postpone disclosure of a dozen words identifying the involvement

of the Czechoslovakian Embassy and Cuban Ministry in the

transaction.

Document 10414 and document 10076 are related.

Document 10414 quotes two New York file numbers with the file

captions: "Czechoslovakian Intelligence Activities in the United

States, "

and "Czechoslovakian Diplomatic Activities in New York."

Document 10076 consists of two "search slips" on Clay Shaw.

two postponed file numbers are the FBI Headquarters numbers

The

relating to the above New York files.

Although the file captions

are not on the search slip, we seek to protect these headquarters

file numbers from disclosure, along with the New York file

numbers and captions, because of matters contained in the files.

Mr. Clay Shaw's name appears in both documents, and was obtained

as a result of telephonic surveillance: of the Czechoslovakian

consulate General.

The documents to which the headquarters file

numoers pertain contain summaries of activities overheard on this

technical coverage. (S)(Ul

Document 10248 is another "search slip" containing a

file number which we seek to postpone.

The subject of the file

to which the number pertains is Colonel L. Horak, the military

and Air Attache in the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Washington,

This particular file contains

information on attempts by Colonel Horak, by letter and by

celephone, to obtain counter-electronic surveillance equipment

and "buggina" equipment from a Mr. G. Novel, whose name is also

on the slip.

(8)(UT)

SECRET

4

DocId: 32321217 Page 6

---

## Page 7

Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote).

DATE:• 11-14-2017

SECRET

relations of even long-standing allies, much less those of former

enemies or neutrals.

Uncertainties in this arena may adversely

affect evolving relationships in others. When the relationships

in question are in a state of evolution, such as those between

Czechoslovakia and the United States, the impact of such a

disclosure may prove especially harmful. "Al

Second, if we declassify today the investigative

techniques that we use when targeting foreign establishments,

officials, and agents, we may not under prevailing classification

principles keep classified the same information tomorrow.

Thus, even though the consequences of a seemingly innocuous

disclosure--such

as the file numbers from the "search slips"

here--may be well understood in a particular context, assessing

their impact from all other relevant perspectives is difficult at

If the file numbers in question are released, then future

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for files under that

number will have to be processed, resulting inevitably in more

and more information from the file being released. (U)

Further, if we declassify our use of wire and telephone

interceptions, to investigate Cuban and Czechoslovakian officials

and establishments in this instance, then all other uses of the

same techniques on the same officials in other situations may

prove impossible to classify in the future on

the grounds that

disclosure would compromise foreign relations. Put differently,

once we discard the policy against officially acknowledging our

use of particular investigative techniques against specific

used tao da portant entela

foreign establishments and agents, we can no longer use it to

justify withholding similarly sensitive information in the

future.

Just as importantly, once the policy is breached, we

may not be able to use it to shield our use of similar techniques

on other countries which we target for surveillance.

The same

for example, can be expected to arise with regard te our

investigation of other members of the former soviet bloc, france, [5J

Venezuela, Israely and a large number of other nations.

We are not alone in maintaining this posture.

no other country officially acknowledges using

pachild investigative techniques to target the establishments or

officials of foreign countries within their territory or

elsewhere.

5 See Fitzgibbon v. CIA, 911 F.2d 755 (D.C. Cir. 1990).

SECRET

8

DocId: 32321217

Page 7

---