William Odom NSA

To Whom It May Concern:

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

William Eldridge Odom (June 23, 1932 – May 30, 2008) was a retired U.S. Army 3-star general, and former Director of the NSA under President Ronald Reagan, which culminated a 31-year career in military intelligence, mainly specializing in matters relating to the Soviet Union. After his retirement from the military, he became a think tank policy expert and a university professor and became known for his outspoken criticism of the Iraq War and warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. He died of an apparent heart attack at his vacation home in Lincoln, Vermont. His death has been widely reported. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053102193.html

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the Bureau for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established.

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,

Michael Best

I am interested in personnel documents and materials, including personality files, applications, papers regarding promotions, commendations or criticisms, as well as security checks regarding the William Odom and any Inspector General reports relating to the Inspector.

Thank you.

Thank you for the update. The interpretation you describe with "reading this last part as ....IG
Reports relating to William Odom" is correct and consistent with my intent. Thank you for clarifying, and I apologize about the slightly vague language. To further clarify, I did not mean to state that I am looking for IG Reports authored or contributed to by William Odom, but rather IG Reports that relate to him directly. If you require any further clarification or have any suggestions about how to refine the request so as to reduce the search and review burden on your office while still providing materials of interest, I will try to be open to them.

Thanks!