MEMO: APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT OF UNFAVORABLE DECISIONS BY THE JFK ARRB
Originator: CIA
From: DAVID COHEN. DD/O
To: DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
Document date: 02/07/1996
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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2022 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

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DD/096-1190

FEB 0 7 1996

MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence

VIA:

FROM:

SUBJECT:

Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

Executive Director

General Counsel

David Cohen

Deputy Director for Operations

Appeal to the President of Unfavorable Decisions

by the JFK Assassination Records Review Board

(AIUO)

1. Action. It is requested that you appeal to the

President three unfavorable rulings by the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Review Board. (AIUO)

2. Intormation at issue.

At its regular monthly meeting in

Washington, D.C. to review the U.S. Government's JFK files, the

Board

announced its determination to release sensitive,

classified CIA information that the DO had sought to protect.

This information will:

- Implicate high-ranking Mexican officials in a Joint

Telephone Tap Operation Against Foreign Embassies in

Mexico City 30 years ago (Attachment A) ;

- Identify a Sensitive Unilateral Source

(Attachment B); and

-- Identify an overseas CIA station (Attachment C) • (S)

3.

JEK Act Process. Under the JEK Assassination Records

Collection Act, government documents identified as "assassination

records" must be released in total to the public unless one of

six limited exceptions apply (which include intelligence sources,

CL BY (0198172

REASON 1.5 (c)

DECL X1

DRV HUM 4-82

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SUBJECT: Appeal to the President of Unfavorable Decisions by the

JEK Assassination Records Review Board (AIUO)

methods, and activities). When

an exception applies, a

government agency may "postpone" release of the information for

up to 25 years.

The Act also established a Presidentially-

appointed JFK Assassination Records Review Board to review each:

agency's processing of records and to approve or disapprove every

postponement, and to consider requiring the release of substitute

language for information postponed.

The burden is on the

agencies to present the Board with "clear and convincing

evidence" that particular information meets the criteria for

postponement under one of the Act's exceptions.. The Board must

advise an agency head in writing of its determinations. Only the

President can reverse the Board's decisions and only an agency

head can appeal to the President.

The Act gives the President

only 30 days from the date of the Board's determination letter to

act on an appeal.

In light of this deadline, the White House

Counsel has directed that it receive appeals to the President

within seven days of a Board letter.

The Executive Director of

the Board, however, recognizes the difficulty in bringing an

appeal within such

a short timeframe, and has recently indicated

that the running of the statute of limitations would probably not

be raised as a defense in an appeal. As to the releases at issue

here, the CIA faces

the following deadlines:

- CIA was notified as to the Board's decision on

Attachment A by telefacsimile dated 7 December 1995.

The

DCI has not yet received a formal notification letter as

Is required by statute, and the CIA has been informed that

one is not forthcoming.

The Board decided that a formal

notification letter was not required because it only

substituted language into a document previously released in

part.

(ALUO)

- The DCI was initially notified of the Board's

decision on Attachment B by letter dated 28 November 1995.

The Board denied the Agency's request to reconsider the

release of this information on 14 December and decided that

an official notification letter was unnecessary. (AIUO)

- As to Attachment C, the Board issued their final

determination letter on 27 December 1995. (AIUO)

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SUBJECT: Appeal to the President of Unfavorable Decisions by the

JFK Assassination Records Review. Board (AIUO)

4. CIA Efforts to Comply with the JFK Act.

It is important

to note that the CIA has declassified and released a tremendous

volume of previously classified information in order to meet not

only the letter but the spirit of the Act. Additionally, the CIA

has been extremely forthcoming with the members and staff of the

JFK Board.

With respect to the three matters listed above, we

firmly believe that we have met the requirements of the Act to

permit protection of the information.

We have presented clear

and convincing evidence to the Board, summarized in the

attachments, that each of the three above subjects falls within

one or more of the Act's six exceptions.

However, despite

numerous explanations, briefings and informal appeals to the

Board by Agency officials on these issues, the Board has

disapproved the postponement of two of the subjects, and directed

substitute language be released in one document that will, in

essence, release the third.

The Board has rejected our

postponement decisions on other issues, but we decided after

extensive internal debate not to request that you appeal those

determinations. The Board's current determinations, we believe,

are so contrary to the provisions of the Act permitting certain

information to remain protected and pose risks to intelligence

sources and methods of sufficient gravity that we believe an

appeal is warranted. (S)

5. If you concur in our proposal to appeal the Board's

actions, please sign the attached letter to the President

(Attachment D). (U)

Day coher

Attachments:

As

stated

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SUBJECT:

Appeal to the President of Unfavorable Decisions by the

JEK Assassination Records Review Board (AIUO)

IMS/ESG/J. Goins/ 44447/7 February 1996

Distribution:

Orig - Addressee

1 - DDCI, w/atts.

- Executive Director, w/atts.

1

- Executive Registry, w/atts.

1

- Office of General Counsel, w/atts.

2

- DDO/Registry, w/atts.

1

- C/LAD, w/atts.

- C/EUR, w/atts.

- C/PCS, :w/atts.

- C/DCI/CSI, w/atts.

- C/CSI/HRG, w/atts.

-

C/IMS, w/atts.

- C/IMS/ESG,. w/atts.

1 - DO/IRO, w/atts.

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