CIA FOIA for 1956 Eugene Carson Blake briefing (f2015-01266)

27 May 2015

Agency Release Panel, c/o

Michael Lavergne

Information and Privacy Coordinator

Central Intelligence Agency

Washington DC 20505

Reference: F-2015-01266

Dear Mr. Lavergne:

This letter is to appeal the response of 15 April neither confirming nor denying the existence of records of

CIA contact with or briefing of the members of a delegation from the National Council of the Churches of

Christ which visited Moscow in March 1956.

The 1949 CIA Act, as amended, and the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, provide for the

protection of intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure. Invoking these protections

is moot, and the existence of the records, along with the records themselves, should be declassified and

released, as:

1) The intelligence sources are all deceased. No active CIA operation could be endangered through the

release of information about these men:

Decatur Ward Nichols, died January 24, 2005.

Henry Knox Sherrill, died May 11, 1980.

Eugene Carson Blake, died July 31, 1985.

Charles Parlin, died November 15, 1981.

Walter Van Kirk, died July 6, 1956.

Herbert Gezork, died October 1984.

Roswell Barnes, died December 21, 1990.

Franklin Clark Fry, died June 6, 1968.

Paul B. Anderson, died June 26, 1985.

2) The chief targets of the intelligence collection in question are deceased. No active CIA operation could

be endangered through the release of information about these men:

Metropolitan Nikolai, died December 13, 1961.

Patriarch Alexei, died April 17, 1970.

3) An unclassified 2013 report of an evaluation required by the 2010 Reducing Over-Classification Act

indicates that Agency staff routinely misapply derivative classifications:

“Seventy-five percent of the sampled reports had inaccuracies in the declassification instructions

in the classification block. Discrepancies included: use of a 50-year declassification date when there was

no sensitive human source information to justify the extended period of classification;”

This statement suggests that a routine 50-year classification of records to protect sensitive human sources

is common practice. Given that 59 years have elapsed since March 1956, prior administrative practice

suggests that records pertinent to my request should be declassified and released.

3) The method in question – contacting and cultivating religious figures as sources of foreign intelligence

– has been acknowledged by the CIA for the past 40 years.

The final report of the Church Committee in 1975 described CIA contact with clergy: “The number of

American clergy or misionaries [sic] used by the CIA has been small. The CIA has informed the

Committee of a total of 14 covert arrangements which involved direct operational use of 21 individuals.”

[http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs94th/94755_I.pdf p.202]

In 1996, Rodney I Page, deputy secretary general of the NCCC, testified before Congress that even

suspected CIA use of religious workers as intelligence assets undermined the workers’ credibility, and

placed their lives in danger. He added that it was widely known that the CIA operated under a general ban

on such use of religious workers and clergy, but could authorize exceptions to the ban. The substance of

CIA methodology is known.

[http://archive.org/stream/ciasuseofjournal00unit/ciasuseofjournal00unit_djvu.txt]

Thank you for your attention, and please contact me directly with any further questions.

Sincerely,

David Staniunas