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3 September 2006
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On 20 January 2006 Cryptome filed an FOIA request for information on NSA's compliance with FISA procedures. NSA's response was received on September 2, 2006.
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYLAND 20755-6000
FOIA Case: 48109
24 August 2006
Mr. John L. Young
251 West 89th Street, Suite 6E
New York, NY 10024
Dear Mr. Young:
This responds to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted via the Internet on 20 January 2006, which was received by this office on 23 January 2006, for:
1. The procedure NSA follows for obtaining approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for surveillance of foreign and United States targets;2. Review and approval process NSA follows for making an application to the FISC, what conditions initiate an application, who is authorized to initiate it, who prepares it, who reviews it, and who grants final approval, who makes the application and what form the FISC approval takes;
3. The role of the NSA Counsel and the Counsel's office in FISC applications;
4. Names and dates of service for NSA Counsels from the first appointment to present time; and
5. Rules and regulations governing the NSA Counsel's office, and the office's duties and responsibilities.
Your request has been assigned Case Number 48109. For the purposes of this request and based on the information you provided in your letter, you are considered an "all other" requester. As such, you are allowed 2 hours of search and the duplication of 100 pages at no cost. Since processing fees were minimal, no fees were assessed.
In February 2006, you spoke with a member of my staff on several occasions and clarified items # 1 and 2 of your request to be for the detailed procedures NSA follows for getting approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. You also explained that you had seen the April 2000 briefing entitled "NSA/CSS Operates Under the Rule of Law" on the NSA Home page on the Internet, which provides "general" procedures of the process and did not want "general" procedures unless they had been updated. Lastly, you clarified item #5 of your request to be for office duties and responsibilities of the NSA Counsel's office as related to the FISA process.
Your request has been processed under the FOIA. Four documents (152 pages) were found to be responsive to your request and are enclosed as requested. Certain information, however, has been deleted from the enclosures.
Some of the information deleted from the documents was found to be currently and properly classified in accordance with Executive Order 12958, as amended. This information meets the criteria for classification as set forth in Subparagraphs (c) and (g) of Section 1.4 and remains classified CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET as provided in Section 1.2 of the Executive Order 12958, as amended. The information is classified because its disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security. Because the information is currently and properly classified, it is exempt from disclosure pursuant to the first exemption of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. Section 552(b)(I)).
In addition, this Agency is authorized by various statutes to protect certain information concerning its activities. We have determined that such information exists in these documents. Accordingly, those portions are exempt from disclosure pursuant to the third exemption of the FOIA, which provides for the withholding of information specifically protected from disclosure by statute. The specific statutes applicable in this case are Title 18 U.S. Code 798, Title 50 U.S. Code 403-1(i); and Section 6, Public Law 86-36 (50 U.s. Code 402 note).
Since these deletions may be construed as a partial denial of your request, you are hereby advised of this Agency's appeal procedures. You are hereby advised of this Agency's appeal procedures. Any person denied access to information may file an appeal to the NSAj CSS Freedom of Information Act Appeal Authority. The appeal must be postmarked no later than 60 calendar days from the date of the initial denial letter. The appeal shall be in writing addressed to the NSA/CSS FOIA Appeal Authority (DC34), National Security Agency, 9800 Savage Road STE 6248, Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755-6248.
The appeal shall reference the initial denial of access and shall contain, in sufficient detail and particularity, the grounds upon which the requester believes release of the information is required. The NSA/CSS Appeal Authority will endeavor to respond to the appeal within 20 working days after receipt, absent any unusual circumstances.
In addition, in reference to item #4 of your request, there were three General Counsels for whom we did not have a photograph: Mr. Sidney Smith, the first General Counsel (1953 - 1959), Mr. Roy Banner (1959 - 1978), and Mr. Robert Deitz (1998 to present).
Sincerely,
LOUIS F. GILES
Director of Policy
Encls:
ajs
[Enclosures]
1. NSA/CSS Policy 1-23, Procedures Governing NSA/CSS Activities that Affect U.S. Persons, March 11, 2004, 8 pages, with Annex, 16 pages. Redacted. Formerly classified SECRET/COMINT/X1:
http://cryptome.org/nsa-css-1-23.htmhttp://cryptome.org/nsa-css-1-23.pdf (Original in PDF, 1.2MB)
This document could not be located via Google. The document states it supercedes "NSA/CSS Directive No. 10-30, "Procedures Governing Activities of NSA/CSS that Affect U.S. Persons," dated 20 September 1990, which is listed as a reference for United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (http://cryptome.org/nsa-ussid18.htm).
The document is annotated, "Approved for Release by NSA on 10-12-2005, FOIA Case # 17350."
2. Xerox copies of photographs of NSA General Counsels, 7 pages:
http://cryptome.org/nsa-gc.pdf (1.0MB)The NSA General Counsels:
Sidney Smith, the first General Counsel, 1953 - 1959 (no photo)
Roy Banner, 1959 - 1978 (no photo)
Daniel B. Silver, 1 March 1978 - 26 May 1979
Daniel C. Schwartz, 7 October 1979 - 12 September 1981
Jon T. Anderson, 6 December 1981 - 29 June 1984
Elizabeth R. Rindskopf, 29 June 1984 - 15 September 1989
Richard Sterling Surrey, 16 February 1990 - 17 January 1992
Stewart A. Baker, 7 June 1992 - 13 May 1994
Ronald D. Lee, 1 August 1994 - 9 January 1998
Robert Deitz, 1998 - Present (no photo)
3. DoD 5240 1-R, Procedures Governing the Activities of DOD Intelligence Components that Affect United States Persons, December 1982, 64 pages. No redactions. Unclassified. Available online:
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/52401r_1282/p52401r.pdf
4. United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18, 27 July 1993, 57 pages. Redacted. Formerly classified SECRET HANDLE VIA COMINT CHANNELS ONLY:
http://cryptome.org/nsa-ussid18.pdf (1.8MB)
This document and its redactions almost match those online:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB23/07-01.htm (images)
Exceptions to a match:
Redactions are by crisp whiteout rather than black crayon.A "Change Register" with no entries follows the Letter of Promulgation.
A notation of "Change 1, 28 October 1997" appears on four Distribution pages.
Different listings for Distribution.
Four fully redacted pages for Annex J.