US Department of State
Asked by Patrick McLaughlin on April 29, 2015.
2 answers from Michael Morisy and Patrick McLaughlin.
Several years ago I attempted to get information regarding the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran in February of 1979 using FOIL to the US State Department. The request had to do with the location of the debriefing center for embassy staff, and specifically regarding my older brother who was in the embassy at the time of the takeover. He called me at home in 1979 claiming he was in Wiesbaden Germany after being freed and leaving the embassy but for the last 35 years has adamantly and very seriously claimed he never called me. The result that I received from State was that the target of the inquiry was still living and that information could not be provided to me. I wanted to find out if there is a way around this type of response from a FOIL request? I would love to some day show him documentation that he was in fact in Wiesbaden Germany and did call me from there. If there is anyway to attempt to retrieve this information I would very much appreciate it.
<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">Note</span>:<span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">The</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">Embassy</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">takeover</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">that</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">I</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">mention</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">in</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">this</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">note</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">is</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">not</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">one</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">which</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">took</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">place</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">in</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">November</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">of</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s1">'79 after which the hostages were held for the 444 days, the one that I mention is nick named the Saint Valentine'</span><span class="nv">s</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">Day</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">Open</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">House</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">which</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">occurred</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">on</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">Valentine</span><span class="err">'s Day of 1979.</span><span class="w"></span>
</pre></div>
Was your brother staff, or did an agency publicly acknowledge he was there??
If so, you should be able to appeal that he was staff, and had no reasonable expectation of privacy in terms of public knowledge that he was there. You can appeal right from the site.
If not, you could ask him if he’d be willing to fill out a privacy waiver, and you could refile the request with the privacy waiver: http://foia.state.gov/_docs/DS-4240.pdf#
Michael:
<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">His</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">title</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">was</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Minister</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Counselor</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">and</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">I</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">would</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">suppose</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">that</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">he</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">would</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">be</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">considered</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Staff</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">It</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">would</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">be</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">totally</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">impossible</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">for</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">him</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">to</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">sign</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">anything</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">related</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">to</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">his</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">whereabouts</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">after</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Iranian</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">take</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">over</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">of</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">embassy</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">in</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">February</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">of</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="mf">1979.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">He</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">called</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">from</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Wiesbaden</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Germany</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">several</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">days</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">after</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">he</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">was</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">freed</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">from</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">captivity</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">only</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">for</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">several</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">hours</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">by</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">students</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">who</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">climbed</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">over</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">walls</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">to</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">get</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">in</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">facility</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">When</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">he</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">called</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">he</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">spoke</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">to</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">both</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">my</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">wife</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">and</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">myself</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">sounded</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">sober</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">and</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">claimed</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">that</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">he</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">was</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">calling</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">from</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Germany</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">He</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">was</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">a</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Lt</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">in</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Navy</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">before</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">his</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">stint</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">with</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Dept</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">of</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">State</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">He</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">was</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">stationed</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">on</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">USS</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Iwo</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Jima</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">in</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Gulf</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">of</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Tonkin</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">during</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Viet</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Nam</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">war</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">He</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">was</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">nuclear</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">weapons</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">officer</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">onboard</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Interesting</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">because</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Gulf</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">of</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Tonkin</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Resolution</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">stated</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">that</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">those</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">weapons</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">were</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">banned</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">from</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">that</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">location</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">From</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">my</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">internet</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">research</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">about</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">where</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">released</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">hostages</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">were</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">debriefed</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">only</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">military</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">hostages</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">went</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">to</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Wiesbaden</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">and</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">other</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">went</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">to</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Frankfort</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">or</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">elsewhere</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Here</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">is</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">a</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">page</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">from</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">my</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">own</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">website</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">regarding</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">my</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">brother</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">and</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">his</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">involvement</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">with</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">the</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Navy</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">and</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">US</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">State</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nl">Department:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nl">http:</span><span class="c1">//citlink.net/~insider/my-brother-mike.html . I would really like to discover where he was sent after the February 14, 1979 take over of the US Embassy in Tehran. Any help will be greatly appreciated.</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Pat</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">McLaughlin</span><span class="w"></span>
</pre></div>