Ivan Saric's INSCOM file (or part of it). For some reason it is not included on the finding aids of the RG 319 IWG records. I acquired through a redirected FOIA request to INSCOM. I suspect because, according to this release, it only contained a brief half-paged blurb worth of biography. The page also a short biography of Gregorij Rožman, bishop of Ljubljana and collaborator with the Nazis, who, like Saric, escaped justice after the war.
CREST or the the CIA Records Search Tool is a system used by the CIA to make available declassified records since 2000. It is located at NARA II in College Park, Maryland. For years, this system and the records contained with were available on just four computers housed on the second 3rd floor of the NARA II building. The reasons this limited access were, according to Mother Jones's reporting: fear of hackers altering the information, an implict desire to keep foreign intelligence from accessing those files, and a general wish to prevent mischief.
This inclusion of "metadata" makes for interesting reading. Recently, I discovered that metadata can compromise information the CIA wants withheld on national security or privacy grounds. Here is a safe example of such. Enter the name "Ann Caracristi" (she was the first female deputy director of the NSA) into the CREST search engine. You get back one document.
Now, request that document from the CIA. Here's what you get. Notice how Ms. Caracristi's name is withheld. Oops. Caracristi Turner Letter
Half-Baked Declassification
Another problem with CREST is that it's subjected to the same half-baked CIA declassification standards as any FOIA, MDR, or statutory-required release. Here are two versions of a 3/14/1984 memorandum from Herbert E. Meyer to the Director of Central Intelligence,the deputy Director of Central Intelligence, and the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council titled: “Abortions in the Soviet Bloc: What They Mean.” The first version was released in August 2008. The second version was released in December 2008.
The August 2008 version has the following redactions:
A name or names on the first page is redacted while on the second page, Herbert E. Meyer's signature and another name are withehld. The third page is withheld in its entirety.
The December 2008 version it features fewer redactions. As you can see, the name withheld in the August 2008 edition is revealed. Meyer's signature is revealed though the name is still redacted. Only two names are redacted on the third page.
None of the Really Good Stuff is There
CREST and "Best of CREST" has a lot of interesting and worthwhile stuff. However, the truly fascinating materials are not hosted on the CIA's website. You have to FOIA them and then wait and possibly pay fees. This serves to limit access to these files by erecting utterly unnecessary barriers between the documents and the public. If the CIA has the staff and equipment to scan worthless thank you letters, than they have the staff to include copies of cool documents like the records on Stargate, Ramparts Magazine, and Grillflame, where most, if not all the responsive records have to be ordered up via FOIA.
The answer to the headline question is yes. About two weeks ago, the FBI evoked FOIA exemption 7(a) and denied access to all Bain Capital records on the grounds that "there is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records; and that release of the information contained in these responsive records could reasonably be expected to interfere with the enforcement proceedings."
Whether or not this "enforcement proceeding" target Bain Capital founder Mitt Romney is unknown.
Some have asked in response to other FBI FOIA request related postings on this site whether the FBI is required to release files related to an open investigation. As this response shows, the answer to that question is no. However, the response also shows that the FBI is required to acknowledge their existence. The only time Bureau is allowed to claim a no records response is during an active investigation in which acknowledgment of responsive records would compromise it.
The file contents aren't all that interesting, but the FBI's Record and Information Dissemination Section's ineptitude and sloth are on full display. I had a request submitted for all their records on Pope John XXIII. They give me the 10 pages of previously released material and then tell me that there might be more records where that came from. In essence, I am told to FOIA again and maybe this time they'll do their jobs.
As for the records themselves, as stated above there's nothing much to them. The file starts with a news article regarding the John XXIII's election. The second document, a three page cable from the American legation in Rome to J. Edgar Hoover regarding the health of John XXIII. In the cable, it speculated that the pope is dying from cancer (he ultimately dies from stomach cancer) and that this knowledge is being concealed by the Vatican due to John XXIII's desire to complete his work. The file concludes with some more press material about Pope John XXIII including a three page article from “Divine Love” a publication based in Fresno California, sent anonymously to J. Edgar Hoover.
charges banks premiums, 'which are actually taxes,”
transfers liability for poor management decisions from those who made the decisions, to their competitors,”
aggravated the S&L banking crisis of the 1980s and 1990s due to its inept management
"removes incentives for individuals to act on their own to protect their deposits or even inquire as to thehealth of their financial institution."
and, undoubtedly the worst of all in Paulite eyes,
"lacks constitutional authority"
Given his antipathy towards FDIC, and the ease with which Ron Paul can avoid supporting this system (by simply withdraw one's money from a bank), you'd expect Ron Paul to have no contact with the FDIC banking system, right? Wrong. Like most things government, Ron Paul is content to spit out platitudes about the evils of government, while mindlessly gorging on the benefits and goodies it gives out. As shown by Ron Paul's 2010 Presidential Campaign financial disclosure forms (h/t Opensecrets.org), Paul not only uses FDIC protection, but actively maximizes his protection by keeping the maximum amount of money covered in FDIC in one bank, and then spreading the rest out to a number of other financial institutions. As shown by the screen shot below, Ron Paul has 250,000+ in account at FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF LAKE JACKSON and spreads out the rest of his cash to two other Lake Jackson banks, the TEXAS DOW EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION and the TEXAS GULF BANK.
Now, I am sure the Paul nuts are going to vomit forth two defenses of their beloved icon. First, they'll argue that Paul is merely getting back the money he pays into this system. This is a common Libertarian argument, one that is without merit given that there is not a Libertarian alive who tracks his use of government resources to ensure that he only uses what he paid into the pot and not a penny more.
Second, they'll offer some convoluted gibberish about how Paul is forced to do this because of the government and he has no choice. Like the banks, he has the option of not being covered by FDIC. He can keep the money at home or in an investment not covered by the government.
Christ, given that Mandela spent decades in jail to maintain his beliefs, is it too much to ask that Ron Paul incur the slightest inconvenience in order to earn his reputation as some solid, limited-government, "pro-freedom," reputation?
The FBI has responded to a FOIA that I had submitted for records pertaining to the Aspen Institute and released a small, 20-page file on the group. Those hoping for dirt on the Koch Brothers will be disappointed, the records deal with two separate protests directed against the organization. One lead by the US Labor Party and its minions in the National Caucus of Labor Committees (both of which were vehicles for the personal ambition of Lyndon LaRouche) which are described by in the FBI file as being “ a violent-oriented Marxist revolutionary organization, which aims to replace democracy in the U.S., with a Communist form of government,” and a smaller protest directed against the Aspen Institute in 2000.
The first protest was directed by the USLP and its NCLC wing against an Aspen Institute conference that was hosted at the Wye Plantation in Queenstown, MD in February 1979. The conference was an American-British affair supported by US State Department, which the files shows, provided security, titled, “Issues of Governance in Public Broadcasting.” The meeting featured senior figures in British and American public television. The investigation began after a member of the USPL or NCLC was caught trying to pass themselves off as a member of the Hudson Institute with orders to “pull together a dossier on the US Labor Party.” After some comparing of notes by those he contacted and those the USPL member claimed ordered his work, it was revealed that this individual was not a member of the Hudson Institute. The file is not clear, but it appears at this time that the FBI was involved. The FBI assembled a Teletype on the matter, but appears to have taken no further action.
The second protest monitored was the 8/19/2000 protest against the Aspen Institute during their 50th anniversary celebrations. There is frankly very little of interest here except the fact law enforcement seemed shocked that the protesters were shocked to be on the receiving end of polite, respectful law enforcement behavior and that the Direct Action Network was targeted by the FBI.
Recently, in response to a FOIA request submitted on my behalf, the FBI released to me its 191 page dossier on the Westboro Baptist Church, a rather vile organization known for its staunch anti- LGBT stance. As a survey of the file conducted by me reveals, the Westboro Baptist Church has experienced some degree of blowback due to their “God Hates Fags,” crusades. The file also reveals past incidents of anti-Semitic belief that drove the WBC to support a Nazi war criminal.
In response to the possibility of harm against Phelps and his clan, the FBI conducted investigations into threats against the organization. In 1996, the FBI intervened redacted after she sent threats to the Westboro Baptist Church after becoming enraged over his attitudes towards the LGBT community. They intervened the self-confessed guilty party, the served at least one subpoena (to her ISP), and fully documented the threat. Even after deciding the case was not worth federal investigative resources, the AUSA, in light of [redacted]'s possession of firearms, even tried to keep the case open in the event that Phelps traveled to the West Coast again. In 1998, the FBI investigated bomb threats against the Westboro Baptist Church. Twice in January 1999 and thrice in March 1999, bomb threats were received by the Westboro Baptist Church and each time the FBI looked into it.
Other interesting factoids gleaned from the FBI dossier on the Westboro Baptist Church:
The militia network (1)types believed that Phelps was an ally due to his and his church's anti- LGBT biogtry,and its membership occasionally became agitated to the point of threatening violence when this was discovered not to be the case.
The FBI provided information on the group to the Canadian (and possibly the Finnish) government(s).
Westboro Baptist Church is staunchly anti-Semitic.
In one press release they described Harriet Lerner as “THE JOLLY ANTICHRIST JEW” In another press release, the Westboro Baptist Church calls Ruth Bader Ginsburg a “Jewish Dwarf,” and asks in a photo caption: Why was she chosen over 3 gentile women?” A January 1997, press release described the Office of Special Investigations' attempt to deport to Kolnhofer as “Jew vengeance” and claimed that these efforts amounted to “SHYLOCK JEWS WANT ANOTHER POUND OF FLESH. POOR OLD MAN, 79, ON LIFE SUPPORT.” It also railed against “tyrant Jew Judges” and :Bloody Nazi Jews” in Kansas who supposedly attacked members of the church and suppressed their free speech and freedom of religion rights. The press release concluded with a announcement that the WBC would be protesting the Holocaust Museum (alternatively described as the “Holocaust Memorial Sodomite Museum and the Holocaust Fag Museum,” in Washington DC in January 1998.
The reason for the Westboro Baptist Church's litigious nature is their refusal “to solicit or accept financial contributions, being of the Old School Baptist persuasion, whose churches never pass the plate, lest the Gospel be deemed for sale.”
His family has criminal behavior and the FBI recommended that “caution should be used when addressing [redacted] and his followers. Some of the family members, including [redacted] have criminal records to include battery, extortion, witness intimidation, harassment, and other miscellaneous charges.
They view their signs as “huge, colorful, state of the art productions”. In a Twitter message, Zacharias Phelps Roper confirmed that this still their view, stating: "Absolutely! (＾ｰ^)ノ".
The FBI informed on WBC to [redacted] of [redacted Canadian law enforcement or intelligence agency]. It also appears that the FBI did a “threat assessment” regarding the Westboro Baptist Church and the risk they they posed to then-Finnish President Tarja Halonen.
When contacted by the author for comment and follow up questions, Timothy Phelps replied:
That's great news! If there's anything in there that might remind you of your duty to serve your Creator, focus on that part. The rest can be used as you see fit (toilet paper, bird cages, kindling, or what not)
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