Abid Hamid Mahmud

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All records of interrogations or debriefings of Abid Hamid Mahmud (aka Abd Hamid Mahmud Al Khatab Al Nasiri) who served as presidential secretary of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq from 1991 to 2003. Please specifically include all records of interrogations, interviews, or debriefings conducted by, or on behalf, of the Iraq Survey Group as well as any other records of interrogations, debriefings, or interviews. I note that Abid Hamid Mahmud is deceased, having been executed in 2012 (for an obituary see http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18356722).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail 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,

David Lindsey

Dear Mr. Lavergne,

Thank you very much for your prompt response to my FOIA request for all records of interrogations or debriefings of Abid Hamid Mahmud, which your agency has numbered as F-2016-02336.

In your response, you have denied my request on the basis that the existence or nonexistence of such records is currently and properly classified. I note, however, that the CIA has itself disclosed the existence of such records in the “DCI Special Advisor Report on Iraq’s WMD” (i.e., the Duelfer Report) which is available on the CIA website at https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004.

I direct your attention to Volume 1 page 6 of this document, which lists senior Iraqi officials and notes the officials that were interviewed by the Iraq Survey Group. Abid Hamid Mahmud is listed (as ‘Abd Hamid Mahmud Al Khatab Al Nasiri) on the fifth line down (Secretary of the President) and his name is bolded and italicized, indicating that he was interviewed by the Iraq Survey Group. By a rough count, interviews/interrogations of Abid Hamid Mahmud are referenced or quoted on at least 40 occasions in this report. As such, the existence of these records has been officially disclosed and is not classified.

Best regards,

David Lindsey