November 22, 1993 Chief, Office of Policy National Security Agency/Central Security Service Fort George Meade, MD 20755-6000 Reference: SENSOR FUSION Dear Sir or Madam: This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act [5 U.S.C. € 552(a)] on behalf of my client, Mr. John Gilmore. I write to request a copy of all agency records or portions thereof, in electronic or other form, which pertain, relate, or refer to sensor fusion. "Sensor fusion" is the activity or process of "fusing" or merging information from a variety of different sensors to produce a more informative product. For instance, merging radar data with intercepted radio transmissions and adding in satellite pictures may reveal a concentration of metal (from radar data) that coincides with a site that is transmitting communications. This request includes, but is not limited to: electronic records such as software for performing sensor fusion; all documentation for such software; documentation about equipment used for sensor fusion; and records about agency use of sensor fusion. If the requested records are not in the possession of your agency, or if other agencies may also possess such records, I ask that you forward this request to any agency that you believe may have records responsive to this request, and inform me of such action. Such agencies may include the NRO and the CIA. In the alternative, I ask that you inform me of other agencies that you believe possess and control such records. As you know, the FOIA provides that an agency must make an initial determination of whether to comply with a FOIA request within ten working days of receiving the request. Your own regulations provide that Ò[t]he Chief, Office of Policy, shall notify the requester of his determination within 10 working days of his receipt of the request.Ó [32 C.F.R. € 299.4(b)]. If the records that you possess were originated or classified by another organization, I ask that your organization declassify them (if needed) and release them to me, as provided in the FOIA, within the statutory time limits. If there is a conflict between the statutory time limits and some regulation or policy that requires you refer the records, the statutory requirement takes precedence over any Executive-branch regulation, policy or practice. As you know, the FOIA provides that no more than an additional 10 working days be taken for such consultation. 5 U.S.C. € 552(a)(6)(B). If you do refer documents to any other agency, and they are not provided within the time limits, we intend to litigate on this point. We also remind you that the long-standing rule that the FOIA "makes no distinction between records maintained in manual and computer storage systems," Yeager v. D.E.A., 678 F.2d 315, 321 (D.C.Cir. 1982), has recently been amplified in Armstrong v. E.O.P., No 93-5002 (D.C. Cir., Aug. 13, 1993). Any paper print- outs of electronic records, such as e-mail, must include all information in the electronic record. Assuming that there would be no loss of releasable information, such as written comments made on paper print-outs, we therefore ask you to release all responsive electronic records in electronic, i.e., machine-readable, form. As you know, the FOIA provides that even if some requested material is properly exempted from mandatory disclosure, all segregable portions must be released. [5 U.S.C. € 552(b)] If any or all material covered by this request is withheld, please inform me of the specific exemptions that are being claimed, and mark all deletions to indicate the exemption(s) being claimed to authorize each individual withholding. If the (b)(3) exemption is claimed, please indicate the relevant withholding statute(s). In addition, I ask that your agency exercise its discretion to release information that may be technically exempt. As you know, the Attorney General on October 4, 1993, directed that agencies should administer the FOIA under a presumption of disclosure, and that information which need not be withheld should not be. Please do not delay processing because of uncertainty about the request. I have reasonably described the records sought. If you have any questions regarding this request, please telephone me at the above number, and we can discuss your questions. I also request that fees be waived because Mr. Gilmore is deemed a media requester by your agency for FOIA purposes. Should there be any problem in this regard, Mr. Gilmore promises to pay up to $1000 in fees, and you should therefore begin processing of this request without fee-related delays. As provided under the FOIA, I will expect a reply within ten (10) working days. Sincerely, Lee Tien Attorney at Law On behalf of Mr. John Gilmore rom owner-cypherpunks Mon Nov 29 13:27:25 1993 Received: by toad.com id AA14244; Mon, 29 Nov 93 13:12:26 PST Received: by toad.com id AA14124; Mon, 29 Nov 93 13:09:31 PST From: gnu (John Gilmore) Return-Path: <gnu> Received: from localhost by toad.com id AA14120; Mon, 29 Nov 93 13:09:28 PST Message-Id: <9311292109.AA14120@toad.com> To: cypherpunks Subject: NSA FOIA: Public Domain Classified Records Date: Mon, 29 Nov 93 13:09:27 -0800 November 23, 1993 Chief, Office of Policy National Security Agency/Central Security Service Fort George Meade, MD 20755-6000 ATTN: FOIA request Reference: PUBLIC DOMAIN CLASSIFIED RECORDS Dear Sir or Madam: This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act [5 U.S.C. € 552(a)] on behalf of my client, Mr. John Gilmore. I write to request a copy of all agency records or portions thereof, in electronic or other form, which pertain, relate, or refer to documents which are formally designated as "classified" by the U.S. Government but which are known by NSA officials to be outside direct government control, in the possession of persons not presently employed by the U.S. government, available to the public in libraries, or otherwise in the public domain, whether within or outside the United States. This request also includes all agency records which were previously classified but are no longer classified or had their classification level downgraded if the fact that the records were outside direct government control, in the possession of persons not presently employed by the U.S. government, available to the public in libraries, or otherwise in the public domain, whether within or outside the United States, was a factor in declassification or downgrading. To help you understand the nature of this request, I refer you to Mr. Gilmore's earlier request for Military Cryptanalysis by William Friedman and Military Cryptanalytics by Friedman and Lambros Callimahos. As you know, your agency initially denied Mr. Gilmore's request for Parts III and IV of the Friedman treatise on the ground that they were classified, but later released these records after Mr. Gilmore proved that Parts III and IV were available to the general public. Mr. Michael Smith, Chief, Office of Policy, informed the court and Mr. Gilmore that NSA officials had known for many years that these records had entered the public domain, but that he himself was unaware of this fact, and thus chose not to disclose them at the time of Mr. Gilmore's request. This request is intended to reach any other such records (still classified) and any records for which downgrading or declassification was ordered if the presence of the records outside direct government control was relevant to the downgrading or declassification determination. Although Mr. Gilmore does not by this request seek the already-released portions of Military Cryptanalysis by William Friedman and Military Cryptanalytics by Friedman and Lambros Callimahos, he does by this request seek any records that pertain to whether the unreleased portions of Part III of Military Cryptanalytics by Friedman and Lambros Callimahos are known by NSA officials to be outside direct government control, in the possession of persons not presently employed by the U.S. government, available to the public in libraries, or otherwise in the public domain, whether within or outside the United States. This request is also intended to trigger declassification review of all records responsive to this request. Mr. Gilmore would also like a list of all records responsive to this request if such a list can be provided in advance of the records themselves. As you know, the FOIA provides that an agency must make an initial determination of whether to comply with a FOIA request within ten working days of receiving the request. Your own regulations provide that Ò[t]he Chief, Office of Policy, shall notify the requester of his determination within 10 working days of his receipt of the request.Ó [32 C.F.R. € 299.4(b)]. If the records that you possess were originated or classified by another organization, I ask that your organization declassify its. If there is a conflict between the statutory time limits and some regulation or policy that requires you refer the records, the statutory requirement takes precedence over any Executive-branch regulation, policy or practice. As you know, the FOIA provides that no more than an additional 10 working days be taken for such consultation. 5 U.S.C. € 552(a)(6)(B). If you do refer documents to any other agency, and they are not provided within the time limits, we intend to litigate on this point. We also remind you that the long-standing rule that the FOIA "makes no distinction between records maintained in manual and computer storage systems," Yeager v. D.E.A., 678 F.2d 315, 321 (D.C.Cir. 1982), has recently been amplified in Armstrong v. E.O.P., No 93-5002 (D.C. Cir., Aug. 13, 1993). Any paper print- outs of electronic records, such as e-mail, must include all information in the electronic record. Assuming that there would be no loss of releasable information, such as written comments made on paper print-outs, we therefore ask you to release all responsive electronic records in electronic, i.e., machine-readable, form. As you know, the FOIA provides that even if some requested material is properly exempted from mandatory disclosure, all segregable portions must be released. [5 U.S.C. € 552(b)] If any or all material covered by this request is withheld, please inform me of the specific exemptions that are being claimed, and mark all deletions to indicate the exemption(s) being claimed to authorize each individual withholding. If the (b)(3) exemption is claimed, please indicate the relevant withholding statute(s). In addition, I ask that your agency exercise its discretion to release information that may be technically exempt. As you know, the Attorney General on October 4, 1993, directed that agencies should administer the FOIA under a presumption of disclosure, and that information which need not be withheld should not be. Please do not delay processing because of uncertainty about the request. I have reasonably described the records sought. If you have any questions regarding this request, please telephone me at the above number, and we can discuss your questions. I also request that fees be waived because Mr. Gilmore is deemed a media requester by your agency for FOIA purposes. Should there be any problem in this regard, Mr. Gilmore promises to pay up to $1000 in fees, and you should therefore begin processing of this request without fee-related delays. As provided under the FOIA, I will expect a reply within ten (10) working days. Sincerely, Lee Tien Attorney at Law On behalf of Mr. John Gilmore