Chogyam Trungpa (FBI)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Any and all investigative and non-investigative records that relate or refer to Chogyam Trungpa (3/5/1939 – 4/4/1987) or his aliases.

Trungpa was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher and author who was born on 3/5/1939 in Kham, eastern Tibet (now Sichuan Province, China). Trungpa founded the meditation center Tail of the Tiger (now Karme Choling) in Barnet, Vermont, in 1970. He moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 1971. There, he founded the Buddhist groups Vajradhatu (now Shambhala International) and Naropa University. Trungpa moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1986. He died there on 4/4/1987 and was cremated at Tail of the Tiger, in Barnet, Vermont, on May 26, 1987.

Trungpa's death was reported in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/27/us/2000-attend-buddhist-cremation-rite-in-vermont.html

Please search the Central Records System (CRS), the Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Indices, and the FBI Counterdrug Information Indices System (CIIS) for both main-file and cross-referenced records.

Please include the following aliases in your searches:
- Chogyam Trungpa
- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
- Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
- Chokyi Gyamtso
- Chokyi Gyatso
- Vidyadhara
- Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa
- Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
- Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
- Dorje Dradul
- Dorje Dradul of Mukpo
- Sakyong
- Kongma Sakyong
- Kongma Sakyong I
- Druk Sakyong
- Sakyong Dorje Dradul

I believe these records are maintained by FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., as well as by the FBI's field offices in Denver, Colorado, and Albany, New York, and the FBI's overseas office at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, Canada.

I am a full-time, professional journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, Al Jazeera America, The Intercept, PRI's The World and Religion News Service (RNS). I am making this request as part of the news-gathering process, not for commercial purposes.

If there are fees, please inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request.

If possible, please provide these records by email attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

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.

Sincerely,
Joshua Eaton

To Whom It May Concern:

On 9/9/2019, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") for "any and all investigative and non-investigative records that relate or refer to Chogyam Trungpa (3/5/1939 – 4/4/1987) or his aliases." I also gave the following search parameters:
-- I asked FBI to perform a search of the Central Records System (CRS), the Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Indices, and the FBI Counterdrug Information Indices System (CIIS) for both main-file and cross-referenced records,
-- I provided a list of aliases for Trungpa that I asked FBI to include in its search, and
-- I directed FBI to records maintained by FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.; FBI's field offices in Denver, Colorado, and Albany, New York; and the FBI's overseas office at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, Canada.

On 9/13/2019, FBI responded to my request, assigning it case number 1446715-000 and saying that it had found no responsive records. Specifically, FBI said that it "conducted a search of the places reasonably expected to have records" but was " unable to identify records responsive" to my request.

FBI's response to my request did not indicate what systems of records the agency searched, what aliases it included in its searches, or what physical locations it searched for records in. The short turn-around time for this request and my past experience with the length of time often involved in FBI records searches also gives me pause over whether the agency conducted a full and thorough search for responsive records.

I believe FBI's search for records was insufficient in this case, and I ask you you remand this request back to the agency for further search.

Thank you for your time and help.

Sincerely,
Joshua Eaton