CREST Records

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All records stored in the CIA Records Search Tool (“CREST”) database, in the electronic format in which they are stored in CREST. This excludes any program files for operating CREST and is limited to the CIA documents stored in CREST.

You do not need to reprocess any responsive records to determine if withheld information may be released; this request is for records AS THEY APPEAR IN CREST. You may, in your discretion, consider records which are posted on the CIA website to be non-responsive to this request.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest.

I am the founder and editor of the MuckRock (MuckRock.com) website, which publishes original news content on a daily basis. All of MuckRock's content focuses either on FOIA itself or reports off of documents received via public records requests. Below are a number of the dozens of articles I have written for MuckRock:

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2013/oct/21/there-bump-your-bill-heres-how-dea-tested-money-co/
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2011/dec/12/fbi-carrier-iq-files-used-law-enforcement-purposes/
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2013/nov/15/interview-john-young-founder-cryptome/
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2013/dec/12/open-government-open-source-licensing/

In addition to my capacity as founder and editor of MuckRock, I am also a full-time journalist whose work has been published in such online and print outlets as the Boston Globe, Commonwealth Magazine, and the New York Daily News.

My professional biography and some recent articles for the Boston Globe: http://www.bostonglobe.com/staff/morisy

My coverage of topics from national cybersecurity to privacy to government waste has been cited by a host of other news outlets at the international, national and local levels.

As of this writing, the only way to access most of the information in the CREST database is to travel to the National Archives and conduct a search on a machine physically located there. Once the CIA releases these records and we post them on the Internet for free public access, anyone will be able to perform searches of these records at their leisure, significantly improving the public’s understanding of government activities and operations.

In addition, I plan to work closely with several intelligence and national security experts to analyze these documents and report on information which could not be easily gleaned from them previously due to the restricted access.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires. You may release the records on CD, on DVD, or on another electronic medium (such as a removable hard drive) which we can easily access. I am willing to discuss alternative formats with you at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Michael Morisy

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 4, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.