By Larry W. Bryant
[LWB Note: Within a week of each other in January 2012, the Rosemary-Award-winning U. S. Central Intelligence Agency and the lofty but testy and ineffectual Office of Government Information Services at the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration sent me letters proving that their regard for freedom of information centers not on serving the public interest but on serving their own bureaucratic interests. Yes, folks, here we have, once again, another chapter in the We-versus-Them struggle for greater UFOIA -- UFO freedom of information and accountability. At this point, short of my winning a state lottery so as to fund litigation in support of UFOIA progress, we're left with only one viable resource: the emergence of enough whistleblowers with ample confirmatory evidence of their accounts that would convince a federal grand jury to investigate, and report upon, their revelations. They might choose to jump-start this long-overdue disclosure process by issuing deathbed confessions as to their role in/observation of any aspect of the worldwide cover-up of the UFO-E.T. experience (see Item 2.111). Meanwhile, for your inspiration and amusement, I'm printing the contents of each agency's notification letter below.]
== Letter from the NARA-OGIS chief (17 Jan 12) ==
Dear Mr. Bryant:
Re: Courtesy copies to OGIS -- MN:KF:CZ
We are writing to confirm that we have received your latest courtesy copy [LWB Note: I prefer to label it "action copy"] of your correspondence to the U. S. Air Force dated January 4, 2012 [see Item 2.92] and received on January 5, 2012. We have received many courtesy copies from you [LWB Note: untrue, unless no more than three CC copies are considered "many" by OGIS staffers] over time via email and have advised you we do not open case files upon receipt of courtesy copies. We also write to inform you that we will no longer be acknowledging receipt of courtesy copies from you.
The Office of Government Information Services serves as the FOIA Ombudsman, providing assistance to the public and to Federal agencies. We provide mediation services to resolve FOIA disputes and we also review agencies' FOIA policies, procedures and compliance. If in the future you would like to request our services, you may contact us with an express request for our assistance. If we receive future courtesy copies from you we will not acknowledge their receipt.
Thank you for your interest in the Office of Government Information Services.
Sincerely,
Miriam Nisbet, Director
Office of Government Information Services
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== Letter from the CIA's FOIA chief (20 Jan 12) ==
Reference: F-2012-00334
Dear Mr. Bryant:
We received your 28 December 2011 letter, appealing our 23 December 2011 final response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for "any and all CIA-generated and CIA-received records pertaining to the Mars-Visitation Program."
Your initial request [see Item 2.145] was not processed, therefore, there are no administrative appeal rights and we cannot accept your appeal. You are encouraged, however, to refine the scope of your request and submit it anew at any time.
Sincerely,
Susan Viscuso
Information and Privacy Coordinator
[LWB Note: could it possibly be that the Agency is vying for yet another Rosemary Award for poor FOIA performance? And: how ironic would it be for the OGIS operation to be added, eventually, to the list of awardees?]
