CIA Cannot Find Its Own Regulations On How To Declassify Documents

from the or-maybe-it's-classified dept

There have been questions about what documents the CIA chooses to declassify, and so Kel McClanahan of National Security Counselors filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out what procedures the CIA must follow in response to requests to declassify information. McClanahan appeared to know exactly what he was looking for, but... was told that the CIA simply could not find any such documents.
I especially like this part: "our searches were thorough and diligent, and it is highly unlikely that repeating those searches would change the result." This certainly reminds me of the news that came out last year about how the administration wanted permission to lie in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, such that if it doesn't want to release a document, it can just say that no such documents exist, rather than admit it does exist but can't be revealed. No, that's not wide open to abuse at all...

Filed Under: cia, classified information, foia, national security counselors