Nicholas Natsios CIA

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America.
Tracking #

F-2016-00545
Submitted Dec. 1, 2015
Status
Rejected

Communications

From: Michael Best

Subject: None

Fax

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Files relating to Nicholas Natsios, July 31, 1920-September 2004 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lowellsun/obituary.aspx?pid=2663204 , who was CIA chief of station in Greece, Vietnam, France, Korea, Argentina, The Netherlands and Iran.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public through MuckRock and the Internet Archive's national security collection, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. Any records released will further the public's understanding of how CIA operated in the past and will contribute to journalistic and scholarly studies of the intelligence community.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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,

Michael Best

From: Central Intelligence Agency

Subject: None

Mail (Postmarked Dec. 29, 2015)

An acknowledgement letter, stating the request is being processed.

From: Central Intelligence Agency

Subject: None

Mail (Postmarked Feb. 4, 2016)

A fix is required to perfect the request.

From: Michael Best

Subject: None

Mail

I would like to appeal the denial of my request for fee waivers. In the letter sent by Michael Lavergne on February 3 2016, Mr. Lavergne claimed that the information I sought would not contribute significantly to the public understanding of the operations or activities of the government. I contest this decision on the basis of three facts:

1. Mr. Lavergne has not located or reviewed the records and claims that he will be unable to do so without additional information, which I am sending. Since he asserts that he is unfamiliar with the records, it is impossible for him to have made an informed determination and therefore the denial was, by definition, arbitrary and capricious and thus not consistent with the law. Res ipsa loquitur.

2. The files requested are for a CIA officer who served as Chief of Station in many countries over many years. He oversaw and was involved in many government operations and activities. In 1959, he was the Chief of Station in Vietnam and at that time his deputy was William Colby, the future Director of Central Intelligence. Given his long term and high level involvement in, and oversight of, government and CIA operations, it is absolutely inconceivable that documents relating to him will not significantly improve the public's understanding of government and CIA operations and activities.

3. Since Nicholas Natsios is the father to Deborah Natsios, one half of the whistleblower website Cryptome AKA Cryptome.org, which served as a predecessor to and was involved in the creation of WikiLeaks, there is an obvious ongoing public interest in the records.

From: OIP-NoReply

Subject: OIP's response

Email

Please do not reply to this e-mail, as this account is not monitored. To ensure a prompt reply, please direct any inquiries to the contact information listed in the correspondence provided to you. Thank you.

From: Michael Best

Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Request #F-2016-00545

Email

I agree to the fees, and the information provided will be enough to positively identify the individual.

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