Opinion ID: 393156
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the sufficiency of the affidavits for summary judgment

Text: 51 At issue in this case is whether the government's affidavits are sufficient to entitle it to summary judgment. Nine separate categories of information have been withheld; each category of nondisclosed information is separately contested on the basis of the government's affidavits and the appellants' responses. We therefore individually consider each category of information in turn. In so doing, we excerpt liberally from the affidavits whose sufficiency is questioned, for the convenience of those who, in requesting or responding to requests for information under the Act, may be guided by our decision. We address the categories in question in the order in which they were discussed in the briefs of the parties, not necessarily in the order of their importance. 52 A. Names, Initials, Pseudonyms, and Official Titles of CIA Personnel Not Publicly Known as Such 50 53 The appellants do not contest the defendants' refusal to release the identities of CIA employees whose connection with the CIA has not been publicly disclosed. 51 The appellants complain, however, that it is not clear from defendants' submissions that the CIA affiliation of all personnel whose identities are being withheld has not heretofore been made public. 52 54 In response, the government has reaffirmed to us the assertion of the First Zellmer Affidavit that (t)he names of CIA employees were deleted since the Agency does not disclose the identity and affiliation of those employees who do not come into public view in the course of their duties. 53 The government accordingly informs us that none of the names deleted were the names of CIA employees who have come into the public view in the course of their duties. 54 Thus this category of information is no longer at issue on appeal, because no such information has in fact been withheld. 55 B. Identities of Corporations Other than Hughes Tool Company, Summa Corporation and Global Marine, Inc. 55 56 The government's reasons for its deletions in this category were set forth in the First Zellmer Affidavit: 57 The collection of foreign intelligence is increasingly dependent on sophisticated technology and the development of technological systems. The success of a technological intelligence collection device is in turn dependent on the extent of the secrecy that surrounds its characteristics and its deployment. In most cases, the technological research, development and production is the function of private industry in the United States.... While it has been determined that the participation in this Project by Summa Corporation, Hughes Tool Company and Global Marine, Inc. need no longer be concealed for reasons of national security, it is, in my judgment, still essential that the involvement of other corporations and entities and their employees not be disclosed.... If the CIA was (sic) precluded from entering or honoring confidential agreements for the production of covert nondomestic uses of technological intelligence gathering devices an extremely valuable means of gathering intelligence would be lost. The disclosure of the names of organizations and their employees who entered into such confidential agreements with the CIA, in connection with the HGE Project, would almost certainly impact negatively on the ability of the CIA to obtain the assistance of such entities and individuals in similar ventures in the future. Disclosure of these names would thrust the identified parties into public attention and would almost certainly cause them possible financial loss because many of the entities involved conduct business abroad. A disclosure that these entities had been engaged with the CIA in an intelligence operation could be harmful to their foreign business and possibly affect the safety of those of their employees who travel abroad. 56 58 These allegations are inherently plausible; the difficulties an American concern doing business in some localities abroad could face once branded as a CIA collaborator are plain. 59 Nonetheless, the appellants contend that because the CIA has revealed the identities of some of the corporations involved in the Glomar Explorer project, it must reveal the identities of all. In particular, the appellants point to the government's disclosure of its involvement in the Glomar Explorer project with Hughes Tool Co., Summa Corp., and Global Marine, Inc., as well as the additional revelations apparently made by R. Curtis Crooke, a vice-president of Global Marine, Inc., while being deposed in a Los Angeles tax case that arose when Los Angeles attempted to tax the Glomar Explorer. In response to questions to which the government's tax counsel interposed no objections, Mr. Crooke identified Mechanics Research, Inc., Minneapolis-Honeywell, General Motors, Western Deer, Nordberg Engines, General Electric, Cooper-Bessemer, Fag Bearings (Germany), Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., and Lockheed Corp. as having been contractors on the Glomar Explorer project. 57 The appellants argue that these revelations are tantamount to an admission by the government that the national security does not require that the identity of the firms with which the CIA does business be kept secret. 58 60 In further support of this argument the appellants suggest that these intended and perhaps unintended disclosures provide us with an opportunity to test the proposition that adverse consequences of the kind alleged in the First Zellmer Affidavit occur as a result of the release of the identities of participants in CIA projects. The appellants imply that the government's failure to allege that any concrete adverse consequences resulted from the disclosure of the participation of the companies just mentioned strongly suggests that there was no such harm. In their view: If exposure of the prime contractors' participation in this CIA project did not have these adverse effects, it is impossible to conclude on the basis of the hypotheticals in defendants' submissions that revelation at this late date of the identities of other contractors could reasonably be expected to have such effects. 61 We find appellants' argument unpersuasive. The contractors on the Glomar Explorer project were given assurances of secrecy 59 and it is simply a matter of common sense that companies particularly companies doing business abroad would desire that their connections with the CIA be kept secret, if only to protect the personal security of their employees. If the CIA cannot be counted upon to keep the identity of its contractors secret when it has given assurances it will do so, potential contractors may either demand higher fees or refuse to do business with the CIA altogether. The fact that under the press of circumstances the CIA was forced to reveal its relationship with Hughes Tool Co., Summa Corp., and Global Marine, Inc., does not contradict this conclusion. It is worth noting that when the National Security Council declassified the fact that these companies had participated in the project it also determined that no further facts would be declassified. 60 Moreover, the Council's conclusion has since been reinforced by more recent determinations that this information cannot be disclosed without compromising national security. 61 62 If the CIA could guarantee perfect security to its secret contractors it might well be able to entice more companies into doing business with it. Unfortunately, a contractor must consider the possibility that leaks may occur. But it is one thing for a company to assume the risks of unavoidable or inadvertent leaks and quite another to assume the risk that a stray Freedom of Information Act request will cause the CIA to reveal the link between the company and the Agency. The latter is a risk that need not be borne, and for the reasons set forth in the First Zellmer Affidavit, should not be borne. 63 We therefore must reject the appellants' suggestion that in order to establish that Exemption 1 protects the identity of CIA contractors whose connections with the Agency are still secret, the CIA must allege that specific harms have materialized as a result of earlier revelations. First, it is apparent that the extent to which the personnel employed by these companies have been subjected to augmented hazards abroad specifically because of past revelations would be hard to prove in a court of law no matter how real the dangers may be. But more importantly, the extent of actual injury flowing from the prior revelations by the CIA in this case is not critical to an evaluation of the plausibility of the allegations of the First Zellmer Affidavit. The key assertion of the First Zellmer Affidavit is that revelation of the identity of the CIA's secret contractors would impact negatively on the ability of the CIA to obtain the assistance of such entities and individuals in similar ventures in the future. 62 64 This assertion is based on the entirely plausible proposition that secret CIA contractors seek to avoid assuming the risk that their connection with the Agency will be disclosed. That the threatened harm failed to materialize after any one particular disclosure does not prove that the risk is insignificant, and will not be likely to allay the insecurity felt by potential contractors. Thus, even if the appellants were somehow able to show that Hughes Tool Co., Summa Corp., and Global Marine, Inc., suffered no adverse consequences whatever from the disclosure of their participation in the Glomar Explorer project, that showing would not contradict the allegations of the First Zellmer Affidavit. The allegations of the First Zellmer Affidavit would be contradicted only by a showing that potential secret CIA contractors would not be dissuaded from participation in future CIA projects if they knew their identity would be revealed should it be the target of a Freedom of Information Act request. 65 The First Zellmer Affidavit claims to the contrary and is entitled to substantial weight. 63 In making this judgment the CIA is operating within the area of its expertise regarding the concerns of potential sources of technological and scientific assistance. Its assertions in the First Zellmer Affidavit are contradicted nowhere in the record. We affirm the district court's conclusion that summary judgment should be granted the defendants regarding this category of information. 66 C. Information or Technology Which Would Reveal the Purpose of the Glomar Explorer Project 64 67 In the Second Zellmer Affidavit the defendants indicate that they rely on the Vance Affidavit to establish their right to withhold information in this category. 65 In its most pertinent part the Vance Affidavit stated that: 68 To the best of my knowledge the United States Government has acknowledged only that the GLOMAR EXPLORER was owned by the United States, that it was on a mission related to the national security and, more recently, that the Central Intelligence Agency was involved in the program. I am aware of the numerous press reports concerning the purpose of the program and the identity of other governments that may have been involved. I nonetheless believe that any confirmation or denial of these reports, or the public disclosure by the United States Government of the purpose of the program ... could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security of the United States. 69 In international affairs, one deals with intangibles and uncertainties. No one can predict with certainty what damage would flow from public disclosure of further official information about the GLOMAR program, but it is my judgment, shared by other senior officials in the Department, that such disclosures could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to our national security. 70 Even to speculate publicly about specific consequences that might flow from such disclosures would, in all likelihood, be damaging, as other governments might feel constrained to react to such speculation by comments or measures. 66 71 The appellants argue, however, that the precise purpose of the Glomar Explorer project has already been revealed by both official and unofficial disclosures. They claim that: the fact that the purpose of the Glomar Explorer program was to raise a sunken Russian submarine from the floor of the Pacific is so notorious that the defendants' rationale for withholding information which would reveal that fact cannot be given conclusive weight. 67 To buttress their claim the appellants refer to three official or semiofficial publications. First, they refer to a publication of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs concerning the prospects for mining the ocean floor for minerals. 68 The publication contains the following summary concerning the Glomar Explorer: 72 In view of recent events, a U.S. firm that bears special mention with regard to the development of deep sea mining technology is the Summa Corporation owned by the billionaire recluse Howard Hughes. In 1968, a Russian diesel-powered submarine carrying torpedos and missiles armed with nuclear warheads sank about 750 miles northwest of Hawaii. The ship broke up as it sank to the ocean floor at a depth of 16,000 feet. Evidently, the Russian navy did not know the exact location of the mishap although U.S. listening devices had pinpointed the ship's location with accuracy. The U.S. Navy and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recognized this as a rare opportunity to gain valuable information about Soviet codes and nuclear capabilities. However, the means of retrieving the remains of the submarine were lacking. The CIA apparently provided the incentive for Howard Hughes to build the 618-foot, 36,000-ton Glomar Explorer, which was widely advertised as a deep seabed mining ship, with the recovery of the submarine in mind. In any event, deep seabed mining made a good cover for the secret activities of the CIA to recover the submarine. Consequently, the CIA became the owner and primary impetus for the development of the specialized deep sea recovery technology through Summa Corporation, beginning about 1970. 69 73 Second, the appellants point to a National Science Foundation Memorandum to Science Writers and Editors dated 24 November 1976 and signed by Ralph Kazarian, the Deputy Head of the Public Information Branch of the National Science Foundation. The Memorandum refers to a National Science Foundation study of the feasibility of converting and operating the ship Glomar Explorer for deep sea scientific research. 70 The Glomar Explorer is referred to in the following words: 74 The 610-foot Explorer, built with U.S. Government funds, was unsuccessfully offered for lease in early 1976. The uncertainty of its final disposition and the decision to place it in mothballs has made recent news. Public attention was first drawn to the ship in 1974 when it was used in an attempt to lift a submarine from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. 71 75 Third, and finally, the appellants point to the French edition of a book written by former CIA director William Colby describing his career with the CIA. Colby served as Director of Central Intelligence at the time of the Glomar Explorer's mission and was formerly a defendant in this suit. In the French edition of his book Colby wrote: 76 A deep-sea exploratory submarine, built under cover of Howard Hughes's Summa Corporation, the Glomar, had been taken on sea trials in the spring of 1974. Represented to the world as a daring experiment by Howard Hughes in the possibility of mining manganese nodules from the depths of the ocean, it started sailing in the summer. In fact, its mission was to recover a Soviet submarine stranded some 16,500 feet deep at the bottom of the Pacific. The security of the project and its cover were a dazzling success. So much so that a Soviet ship, which had come to the area on a reconnaissance mission at the very moment when the Glomar was attempting to bring up the submarine, sailed away after a few days without its crew having noticed anything suspicious. But the refloating itself was less satisfactory. At a depth of 10,000 feet, the Glomar underwent some damage. The Soviet submarine itself was broken into two pieces and only the forepart about one-third of the ship was eventually brought back to the surface, while the aft fell to the bottom of the sea with its nuclear missiles, its guiding apparatus, its transmission equipment, its codes, in other words with all the things the CIA had hoped to recover through this unprecedented operation. 72 77 Taken together with the unofficial revelations in the press, the appellants suggest that these three rather detailed revelations, two unquestionably from government sources and one from a now-retired but formerly highly-placed official, are tantamount to an official acknowledgement that the stories were substantially accurate. 73 78 As for the technology used in the Glomar Explorer project, the appellants point to a descriptive brochure prepared by the General Services Administration in 1976 entitled the Hughes Glomar Explorer Deep Ocean Working Vessel Technical Description and Specification. 74 That document reveals in some considerable detail the capabilities of the Glomar Explorer, in particular that it can lift an object weighing up to 8.5 million pounds from a depth of up to 17-thousand feet at a rate of at least six feet per minute while dynamically maintaining its position within forty feet of a point fixed on the ocean floor. In the view of the appellants, this incredibly detailed document belies the notion that further revelations of the Glomar Explorer's technology would disclose anything about the purpose of its mission which cannot be deduced from information released by the government years ago. 75 79 In sum, the appellants argue that the government already has disclosed the purpose of the Glomar Explorer project, as well as the technology with which it was carried out. With nothing left to hide, the government is no longer entitled to refuse to provide the appellants with the documents they have requested concerning the technology and purpose of the Glomar Explorer project. 80 The government responds by claiming that in fact the government has not officially confirmed the purpose of the Glomar Explorer project. First, the government dismisses the Senate Committee report on Ocean Manganese Nodules and the National Science Foundation brochure as being on a par with other unofficial press reports concerning the Glomar Explorer project: the government characterizes the Senate report as nothing more than a compilation of speculation from non-governmental sources, 76 and the National Science Foundation brochure as a passing reference in a memorandum from an agency not connected in any way with the Glomar Explorer project, and which apparently was based on reports in the news media. 77 Second, the statements in the French edition of Colby's book are described by the government as not an official governmental pronouncement 78 because Colby was not an agency official at the time the book was published. In addition, the government informs us that the CIA did not clear the French version before its publication in France. 79 Finally, with regard to the General Services Administration brochure about the Glomar Explorer, the government notes that the brochure simply describes the equipment presently installed on the Explorer; it does not necessarily reveal what technological equipment is discussed in the documents released (with deletions) to plaintiffs or what was on the ship when it was performing its sensitive, intelligence-gathering mission. 80 81 The government's argument, then, is that there have in fact been no authoritative, official disclosures of the purpose and technology of the Glomar Explorer project, whatever speculation there may have been in the news media and in the publications of government agencies not responsible for the project. In effect, the government argues it still has something to hide; the reported purpose of the Glomar Explorer's mission may well be notorious, but, the government implicitly suggests, its actual purpose may well still be a secret, or, at the very least, unresolved doubt may still remain in the minds of the United States' potential and actual adversaries as to the true purpose of the mission. 82 What, then, are we to make of the government's claims and the appellants' response? Certainly, based on information publicly available from official sources, it seems undeniable that the Glomar Explorer project did involve the use of a specially designed vessel capable of precisely positioning itself over a given location and then deploying an underwater work platform from which a 17-thousand-foot tapered pipe string could be lowered to the ocean floor. We do not know what other abilities it may have had. 83 At different times two explanations have been provided for the development of this vessel. At first, the world was led to believe that the ship was designed to mine the seabed for manganese nodules. Later, the story changed and the world was led to believe that the purpose of the vessel was to raise a sunken Soviet submarine. Apparently, a vessel with the capabilities of the Glomar Explorer plausibly could be used for either of these two quite different purposes. If so, it does not take much imagination to speculate about other conceivable uses to which such a capacity could be put. For example, a vessel of this type perhaps could be used to tap a communications cable traversing the ocean floor for the purpose of intercepting communications carried by that cable. Such a vessel perhaps could install or repair some type of permanent subsea installation which might be used to monitor the comings and goings of ships and submarines. Or, perhaps such a ship could be used to construct the underwater equivalent of a missile silo. 84 What should be obvious is that if it is both plausible that the Glomar Explorer was designed to mine the seabed and at the same time also plausible that the Glomar Explorer was designed to raise a Russian submarine, it is plausible that the Glomar Explorer was in fact designed to perform yet some still-secret third function. Someday, when the story is safe to tell, we may discover, in the words of Time Magazine, that raising a Soviet submarine was not (the Glomar Explorer 's) mission at all, but the supreme cover for a secret mission as yet safely secure. 81 85 And even if the true purpose of the mission was in fact to raise a submarine from the floor of the ocean, there may be some advantage in leaving the Soviet intelligence agencies with lingering doubts whether some other purpose motivated the project. Whatever the truth may be, it remains either unrevealed or unconfirmed. 82 We cannot assume, as the appellants would have us, that the CIA has nothing left to hide. To the contrary, the record before us suggests either that the CIA still has something to hide or that it wishes to hide from our adversaries the fact that it has nothing to hide. 86 The key premise on which the appellants base their argument that the cat is already out of the bag is unsupported by the record and contrary to the government's affidavits. The government's affidavits are entitled to substantial weight. There is no indication of bad faith on the government's part in the record; to the contrary, there is every indication that the government has attempted to comply with the appellants' requests to the maximum extent consistent with national security by releasing, for example, over two thousand pages of documents in this sensitive area. 87 The affidavits supplied by the government provide an understandable and plausible basis for the government's Exemption 1 claims. In Baez v. Department of Justice, 83 this court stated that if the description in the affidavits demonstrates that the information logically falls within the claimed exemption and if the information is neither controverted by contrary evidence in the record nor by evidence of agency bad faith, then summary judgment for the government is warranted. 84 The appellants in this case have shown neither contrary evidence nor bad faith. We therefore affirm the district court's conclusion that this category of information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. 88 D. Dates on Which Certain Glomar Explorer Activities Were Conducted 85 89 The government's reasons for refusing to disclose this information are contained in part in the First Zellmer Affidavit: 90 Certain dates, if disclosed, will reveal the CIA's method of covert funding of an intelligence operation by pinpointing specific times when substantial amounts of money were transferred from the federal government to the contractors. These dates, if revealed, could lead to the disclosure of the financial institutions which were involved and would thus disclose the CIA's method of covert funding. (See affidavit of Mr. Yale.) 91 The other instances in which dates were deleted were in the Program Master Schedule in Contract No. S-GM-4000 and further operational schedules dates in Contract HU-0900. The revelation of these programs and schedules for deployment of the ship for testing and operating would set forth specific locations of the ship at given dates, and indicate details of technical and operational capabilities bearing on the purpose of the mission. 86 92 The Yale Affidavit to which the First Zellmer Affidavit refers is quite detailed and too lengthy to reprint in full here. But it is worth excerpting the most material portions:Without secrecy in the attendant funding there is no chance that the secrecy of programs themselves can be maintained. Knowing the direction and volume of money flow can be every bit as revealing as knowing the commitment of manpower or hardware to a particular program. Knowledge of the fact that a certain dollar figure is being expended pursuant to a contract with a certain corporation, or division of a corporation, is often enough to reveal the nature of the project being undertaken. By way of example drawn from the circumstances of this litigation, it can be readily seen that public disclosure of the fact that the United States Government was engaged in a contract with a company by the name of Global Marine, Inc., or that large amounts of drill string were being purchased on behalf of the United States Government, would quickly lead to discovery and disclosure of the project itself. 93 What may not be as readily seen, or what might be lost sight of in view of the limited disclosure regarding the Glomar Explorer Project that has taken place, is that the methods and procedures employed in accomplishing expenditures without government attribution must be safeguarded as well as the objects of these expenditures. The significance of this point is that it involves, not the success of a single secret project, but the success of all such projects. When a program is undertaken, the success of which depends on there being no attribution of any facet of the program to the United States Government, funds in support of the program must be moved in a manner such that their movement cannot be traced to their actual origin, i. e., the Treasury of the United States.... in order not to draw attention to the fact that something extraordinary is occurring, normal commercial practice must be employed as far as possible. Security procedures normally associated with the handling of classified information by the Government cannot be employed in the commercial world without drawing attention to the fact that it is a Government transaction, which is obviously self-defeating. Therefore, the security of the requisite financial transactions is made to depend on their being indistinguishable from the thousands of ordinary transactions with which they are enmeshed. In effect, the sensitive transactions are lost against the background of normal commercial traffic, and the ability to follow the trail of these sensitive transactions is possessed by only a few witting individuals who participated in this process. In the instant case, for the reasons set forth above, payments of the sums prescribed in the contracts were not made directly from the United States Government to the contractors. Rather, several intermediaries, individual and institutional, were used to conceal the true source of funds. While steps are thus taken to break the payor-payee chain, the chain of transactions, including the identities of the intermediaries used, could be laid bare by matching dates and amounts paid against the record of the payee contractor.... 94 If the records in this case were released in their entirety, any person gaining access to them could determine the precise times at which particular amounts were paid and thus discover the sensitive channels used in these transactions. The records would identify a named bank as the depository of the Hughes Tool Company. The pertinent bank records are accessible to both bank employees and employees of the bank regulatory agencies, who, knowing what they were looking for, could identify the particular intermediary who effected the payment. Thus, in effect, a key to unlocking some very sensitive information would be placed in the hands of individuals not authorized to receive such information and over whom there is no control from a national security standpoint.... 95 ... The trail of financial transactions could also surface other CIA sponsored transactions, past or present. At this point the damage to operations of the Central Intelligence Agency would be difficult, or impossible, to contain.... (T)hese funding arrangements have not been used for the Glomar Explorer program alone. Financial trails associated with these financial transactions could lead to the identification of sensitive operations of the Central Intelligence Agency other than the one which is the subject of this lawsuit. 87 96 The appellants' response to the detailed explanation provided in the Yale Affidavit only a portion of which was excerpted here amounts to a little more than speculation and conjecture. They argue once again, now in a different context, that the information the CIA seeks to withhold is in fact already in the public domain because the identity of the Hughes Tool Company's bank was not concealed at the time of the Glomar Explorer project. Therefore, they claim, disclosure of the information they seek would add nothing to the ability of bank or regulatory agency employees to uncover the secret transactions involved. 97 To say the least, this argument is implausible. It is public knowledge that the Hughes Tool Company was engaged in a secret operation which required that secret financial transactions be mixed with the usual transactions connected with the company's ordinary commercial business. But sorting from among all the myriad credits and debits charged to the Hughes Tool Company's accounts those that are related to the company's secret operations undoubtedly presents the intelligence analyst with a staggering task unless he has more information at his disposal. 98 As the Yale Affidavit reveals, the CIA relies on the large number of normal transactions to protect the secrecy of the few secret transactions occurring at the same time. It is a matter of simple common sense that the intelligence analyst's task is made simpler if he knows at the outset on which dates secret transactions took place. He then knows that transactions occurring on other dates were normal commercial operations he can ignore. With enough dates and enough transactions an analyst could begin to piece together a set of probabilities that certain transactions involved covert operations. Together with information obtained from other sources, or perhaps by itself, this information might be enough to crack the system used by the Agency to shield its secret financial dealings from view. 99 Even without the assertions of the Yale Affidavit, made by an individual who, as Director of Finance for the CIA, is in a position to know, it would seem obvious that a foreign intelligence agency would be in a better position to crack the CIA's funding system if it knew the dates on which secret transactions took place than it would be if it did not have this information. The appellants have not provided even a plausible argument to the contrary. Certainly they have not overcome the substantial weight we must give to the affidavits of the defendants. 100 We therefore affirm the district court's finding that summary judgment is warranted for this class of information on the basis of the affidavits provided by the defendants. 101 E. Locations of Classified CIA Installations 88 102 The government's basis for withholding this information is set out in the First Zellmer Affidavit: the disclosure of the installation would reveal the identity of another company besides Summa Corp., Hughes Tool Company, and Global Marine, Inc., who worked with the CIA in confidence on the Project and who was the ostensible lessor of this particular site. To reveal the identity of this company would reveal the identity of an intelligence source and jeopardize current and future intelligence operations .... 89 The basis for the deletion of this information is thus that it would disclose the identity of a secret contractor. 103 The appellants' argument that this information is not covered by Exemption 1 or Exemption 3 is based on their conclusion that the government no longer has a right to withhold the identities of secret contractors who worked on the Glomar Explorer project. Because we have concluded above 90 that the identity of previously undisclosed secret contractors is properly withheld under Exemption 1, however, we must find that this category of information is also exempt. We therefore affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment for the defendants with regard to this category of information. F. Cryptonyms 91 104 The reasons for the government's claim of exemption for this category of information were set out in First Zellmer Affidavit as follows: 105 Cryptonyms are devised words that serve as a substitute for the identity of an activity or particular project, and are utilized as a defensive mechanism against unauthorized disclosure. A cryptonym carries significant meaning for those who are able to fit it into the proper cognitive framework and disclosure can only serve to endanger the protection afforded to intelligence sources and methods. If a document is lost or stolen, the use of cryptonyms prevents the breach of security from being more serious than it might otherwise be. The release of cryptonyms makes it possible to fit disparate pieces together and devine (sic) the nature or purpose of a project that may stand behind the cryptonym. In some instances the factual setting within which the cryptonyms appear is of such a descriptive nature that the documents could reveal to the knowledgeable reader the true identity of activity or project protected. 92 106 The appellants do not seek disclosure of the cryptonyms themselves. 93 They do seek, however, any information hidden behind the shield of a cryptonym which would otherwise be subject to disclosure under their FOIA request. In other words, the appellants merely suggest that information not properly classified cannot be withheld simply because it has been obscured by a classified cryptonym. 107 The appellants, however, have not provided any grounds whatever for doubting the accuracy of the government affidavits affirming that the information shielded by cryptonyms has been properly classified. We therefore affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment for the government with respect to this category of information. 108 G. Information Which Would Identify Certain U.S. Government Agencies or Their Employees Which Could, in turn, Compromise Sensitive Intelligence Activities 94 109 The government's basis for withholding this category of information was set forth in the First Zellmer Affidavit: 110 The names and identifying data of many present and former government officials and the identity of one government entity, the very existence of which is classified, has been deleted from the documents in this case. To reveal the name of a classified government entity would, of course, compromise its classified work. To reveal the names of those government officials, not associated with the CIA, who were involved in the HGE project, would signal to the world that these persons were and/or are engaged in highly sensitive intelligence activities and could lead to exposure of their cover and the cover used by a classified government entity. 95 111 In response, the appellants argue only that: a brief, passing reference to such an unprecedented concept as a secret agency of the United States government is insufficient to establish defendants' right to withhold any and all information concerning such an agency's identity, functions, or role in the Glomar Explorer project. 96 112 The appellants' argument is conclusory. For reasons given elsewhere in this opinion, we have upheld the district court's determination that documents that might disclose the names, initials, pseudonyms and official titles of CIA personnel 97 as well as documents that might disclose the identities of corporations involved in the Glomar Explorer project (other than those whose participation has already been officially acknowledged) 98 are properly withheld by the government. The basis for that conclusion obviously applies a fortiori to individuals and entities associated with an agency whose very existence is classified. The appellants' conclusory suggestion to the contrary in no way undercuts this conclusion. We therefore affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the defendants with regard to this category of information. 113 H. Dollar Amounts, or Derivative Data (Hours or Rates) Which Could Reveal Dollar Amounts Spent in Connection with the Glomar Explorer Project 99 114 The government's basis for withholding documents in this category is found in the Turner Affidavit, a detailed document too long to reproduce here in full. The most salient and pertinent portions state that: 115 It has been publicly disclosed that the annual CIA appropriation is contained in the annual appropriations to the Department of Defense, and that the funds involved are made available to the CIA under the transfer-of-appropriation provisions of the CIA Act of 1949. The annual CIA budget, however, is not now and never has been a matter of public knowledge. Neither have the details of that budget ever been matters of public knowledge. The nondisclosure of this information has a long record of approval by the Congress.... Both the Senate and House of Representatives have repeatedly rejected legislation that would have required the publication of the aggregate budget for the Intelligence Community or publication of the CIA budget.... And information which discloses detailed breakdown of expenditures made in connection with one specific intelligence operation, which this FOIA lawsuit involves, requires even greater protection in the interests of national security. Release of this information would be a valuable benefit to an intelligence service of a foreign country in that it would permit deductions to be made concerning the state of the art of intelligence collection in a certain area and the importance the United States attributed to particular collection activities. The existence of the technologies on which we depend, and to the level of their sophistication, could be compromised by such disclosure, and the risk of foreign countermeasures to nullify our advantage could be enhanced. 100 116 In response to this argument, the appellants reiterate their by now familiar argument that given the preexisting official disclosures of the detailed technical features and operational capabilities of the Glomar Explorer which plaintiffs have already described and documented, releasing the costs of the Glomar Explorer project would add nothing to anyone's ability to discern what is the state of the art and level of sophistication of the United States' intelligence capabilities embodied in the Glomar Explorer. 101 But as we have concluded above, 102 it is far from clear that either the purpose of the Glomar Explorer mission or the technology used to accomplish that mission are in fact known. We have been given two stories which purport to explain the Glomar Explorer 's mission: first, we were told the Glomar Explorer was designed to mine manganese nodules from the ocean floor, and then, we were told that it was designed to lift a Russian submarine. Both stories, though very different, were plausible. The truth may lie in yet a third direction. In sum, neither we nor the appellants can be sure we know what intelligence capabilities and purposes were embodied in the Glomar Explorer. Therefore, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment for the defendants with respect to this category of information as well. 117 I. Information Pertaining to Methods Employed To Provide Secret Funding of the Glomar Explorer Project 103 118 The defendants rely on the Yale Affidavit to establish their right to withhold this category of information. The Yale Affidavit in pertinent part has already been discussed at some length above in connection with a closely related category of information: the dates on which certain Glomar Explorer activities were conducted. In short, the Yale Affidavit shows that revelation of the dates in question could lead an intelligence analyst to deduce the methods employed by the Agency in the secret funding of secret projects undertaken in the national interest. Having already concluded 104 that the Yale Affidavit is sufficient to support the district court's grant of summary judgment regarding the dates withheld from the appellants by the government, we must conclude a fortiori that the government is entitled to withhold the information whose continued secrecy required that the dates be withheld. For the same reasons given above, then, we affirm the district court with respect to its grant of summary judgment for the defendants concerning information pertaining to the methods employed to provide secret funding of the Glomar Explorer project. 119