October 23, 2000


Agency Release Panel
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505


This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act, in reference to request number F-2000-01932, for records pertaining to the following subject matter:

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, who was born in Bogotá, Colombia, died in 1948, and was a Colombian presidential candidate.

Much of the requested subject matter is subject to Automatic Declassification under the provisions of Executive Order 12958 § 3.4. Section 3.4 paragraph (a) states:

(a) Subject to paragraph (b), below, within 5 years from the date of this order, all classified information contained in records that (1) are more than 25 years old, and (2) have been determined to have permanent historical value under title 44, United States Code, shall be automatically declassified whether or not the records have been reviewed. Subsequently, all classified information in such records shall be automatically declassified no longer than 25 years from the date of its original classification, except as provided in paragraph (b), below.

More than five years have passed since Executive Order 12958 was issued on April 17, 1995, and the Agency is overdue in making this information available. For this reason, the Agency must immediately release records classified more than 25 years ago, whether or not they have been reviewed. Jorge Eliécer Gaitán was assassinated on the 9th of April, 1948.

Peter Romero, writing on behalf of President Clinton, said, "We are aware of the events which succeeded your father's death in Colombia." [see attached December 4th, 1998 letter of Peter F. Romero, Acting Assistant Secretary for Inter American Affairs, to Gloria Gaitán, daughter of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán.]

Original classification authority resides in the office of the President and his designates, including agency heads and their delegates. [Executive Order 12958, § 1.4.] Acknowledgement by the President or his spokesman constitutes a waiver of exemption from disclosure. At minimum, the Agency must release records pertaining to the events succeeding the death of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, which have been officially acknowledged by Peter Romero.

The Agency has failed to describe or show any logical connection between the withheld information and a conceivable harm to national security. [Campbell v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 164 F.3d 20, 30 (D.C. Cir. 1998)]; see also [Cunning v. Dep't of Justice, 848 F. Supp. 1037, 1047 (D.D.C. 1994), holding that agency must show a "logical nexus between disclosure of the information in question and potential damage to the national security."] Furthermore, "the burden [is] on the agency to justify the witholding of any requested documents." [Department of State v. Ray, 502 U.S. 164, 173 (1991)]

Thank you for considering this appeal.

Sincerely,


Paul Wolf