August 1976 CIA Mail Opening

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d28180b3f1)
* Tracking Number: NARA-NGC-2018-000330
* Requester Name: Emma Best
* Date Submitted: 02/19/2018
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: To Whom It May Concern: This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records: A copy of the DOJ report described regarding the CIA mail opening program. The report was described by the Justice Department in "Report of the Department of Justice Concerning Its Investigation and Prosecutorial Decisions with Respect to Central Intelligence Agency Mail Opening Activities in the United States." The report was described on page 2"In August 1976 the Criminal Division submitted to the Attorney General a report summarizing the evidence it had acquired, and analyzing the legal questions that potential prosecutions would present. The report concluded that it was highly unlikely that· prosecutions would end in criminal convictions and recommended that no indictments be sought. 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, Emma Best

Dear Emma Best,

Thank you for submitting your Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act
request to the National Archives and Records Administration, via the
FOIAonline website.

Because you have requested access to historically permanent federal
records, we have forwarded your FOIA request, received in our office
February 20, 2018, to our Office of Research Services, Special Access and
FOIA staff, for further review and handling. As a result, your request has
been removed from the FOIAonline website and you will be assigned a
tracking number by that office.

If you would like to follow up with that office directly, please contact
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By phone: 301-837-3190
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Matthew Heichelbech
Government Information Specialist Detailee
National Archives and Records Administration
Office of the General Counsel, Archives II
301-837-1934
matthew.heichelbech@nara.gov

<matthew.heichelbech@nara.gov>

<matthew.heichelbech@nara.gov>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: foia@regulations.gov <foia@regulations.gov>
Date: Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 8:07 AM
Subject: FOIA Request Export: NARA-NGC-2018-000330
To: "matthew.heichelbech@nara.gov" <matthew.heichelbech@nara.gov>

Below is an export of the submitted request information for the FOIA
request NARA-NGC-2018-000330.

- *Name and Address*
- First Name: Emma
- Middle Initial:
- Last Name: Best
- Organization:
- Mailing Address Location: United States/U.S. Territories
- Address Line 1: MuckRock News, 411A Highland Ave
<https://maps.google.com/?q=411A+Highland+Ave&entry=gmail&source=g>
- Address Line 2: DEPT MR 49137
- City: Somerville
- State/Province: MA
- Zip/Postal Code: 02144
- *Contact Information*
- E-mail Address: requests@muckrock.com
- Phone Number:
- Fax Number:
- *Agency and Fee Information*
- Assigned Agency: NGC - Office of General Counsel
- Will Pay Up To: $0.00
- *Description*
- To Whom It May Concern: This is a request under the Freedom of
Information Act. I hereby request the following records: A copy
of the DOJ
report described regarding the CIA mail opening program. The report was
described by the Justice Department in "Report of the Department
of Justice
Concerning Its Investigation and Prosecutorial Decisions with Respect to
Central Intelligence Agency Mail Opening Activities in the
United States."
The report was described on page 2"In August 1976 the Criminal Division
submitted to the Attorney General a report summarizing the
evidence it had
acquired, and analyzing the legal questions that potential prosecutions
would present. The report concluded that it was highly unlikely that·
prosecutions would end in criminal convictions and recommended that no
indictments be sought. 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,
Emma Best
- *Fee Waiver*
- Fee Waiver Requested: No
- Fee Waiver Reason:
- *Expedited Processing*
- Expedited Processing Requested: No
- Expedited Processing Reason:

RDT2 1823951

Dear Ms. Best,

This is in response to your February 20, 2018 Freedom of Information Act
request (RD# 56132) regarding "a DOJ report described regarding the CIA
mail opening program." Your correspondence was forwarded to our office for
response on February 23, 2018.

*We make reasonable efforts to assist researchers with their work. As a
matter of policy, the National Archives is staffed to assist researchers
with their work, including but not limited to pointing researchers to
helpful finding aids to begin their research. However, given the
limitations on staff resources, we do not generally conduct substantive
research in response to requests filed under the Freedom of Information
Act, except in circumstances where documents are easily locatable.*

Please note that records of the Central Intelligence Agency are available
to search via the CIA's Records Search Tool (CREST).

The CREST system is the publicly accessible repository of the subset of CIA
records reviewed under the 25-year program in electronic format. Over 11
million pages have been released in electronic format and reside on the
CREST database, from which researchers have printed about 1.1 million
pages.

*We believe a responsive record is available on CREST. The document number
is 0001420864.*

We also identified another potentially responsive record among *Subject
Files of the Attorney General in Record Group 60: Records of the Department
of Justice. *

This series consists of correspondence, memorandums, handwritten notes,
agendas, schedules, articles, briefs, speeches and addresses, orders and
other administrative issuances, minutes, books, brochures, circulars,
newsletters, transcripts of testimony before congressional committees,
telegrams, newspaper clippings, press releases, reports, summonses,
statistical budget summaries, statistical tables, Congressional bills,
journals, studies, judicial publications, invitations, and other records
relating to the general functions and management of the Office of the
Attorney General. The Attorneys General represented in the records are
Edward H. Levi, Griffin B. Bell, Benjamin R. Civiletti, William French
Smith, Edwin Meese III, Richard Thornburgh, and William Barr.

The records concern policy formulation and the administration and
management of Department of Justice programs. The records contain
information received from and sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Supreme Court Justices, Federal officials, Members of Congress, Department
of Justice staff, business or corporate organizations, community
organizations, foreign dignitaries, and private individuals.

We identified two file units related to CIA Mail Opening in the records of
Attorney General Edward H. Levi (Entry P 16). We estimate that the folders
are approximately 100 pages, and include a press release, along with
correspondence from the Attorney General to the President c. 1975-1977. The
NARA reproduction fee is currently $.80 per page.

We would be happy to make these records available to you or a colleague in
our Textual Research Room. Alternately, we are happy to produce an invoice
for a records reproduction. If you wish to receive a price quote, please
provide the following information in email to archives2reference@nara.gov,
along with a preferred billing and shipping address.

RG 60

P 16

Box 29

CIA MAIL OPENING

We are happy to assist you in any additional research questions you may
have and hope this has been helpful in your search. We do not consider this
a denial of your FOIA request. However, if you are not satisfied with our
action on this request, your options for appeal and dispute resolution are
outlined in the attached enclosure.

Sincerely,
--
Haley J Maynard | archivist
Textual Reference Operations
National Archives at College Park, MD
301.837.0569 <(301)%20837-0569>

Dear Ms. Best,

Below is the link from CREST that was referenced in our March 1 response.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/0001420864

We have also attached a PDF here, as a courtesy.

Sincerely,
--
Haley J Maynard | archivist
Textual Reference Operations
National Archives at College Park, MD

Your FOIAonline user account for requests@muckrock.com has been deactivated due to inactivity.