16 May 2006. Related:

NSA Operates Under the Rule of Law: http://www.nsa.gov/releases/HPSCI_04122000/sld001.htm

NSA Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.nsa.gov/about/about00007.cfm

12 May 2006

Cryptome spoke by telephone this morning to Pamela Phillips, Chief, FOIA/PA Services, National Security Agency (301-688-6527), to review the status of two FOIA requests:

1. NSA Case 19136, dated October 6, 1999:

Under the Freedom of Information Act I request any and all information and documents on:

The invention, discovery and development of "non-secret encryption" (NSE) and public key cryptography (PKC) by United Kingdom, United States, or any other nation's intelligence and cryptology agencies, prior to, parallel with, or subsequent to, the PKC work of Diffie-Hellman-Merkle.

Ms. Phillips said this case is nearing final approval, with 40 requests ahead of it. In April 2004 NSA said Cryptome's request was number 45 in the easy queue. A recap of the correspondence through October 2005:

http://cryptome.org/nsa-foia-recap.htm

There have been about 13 exchanges of letters on this request, including an exchange with the CIA to which NSA had made a referral, which denied access to a document and denied an appeal of the denial:

http://cryptome.org/cia-nse2.htm

2. NSA Case 48109, dated January 20, 2006 (made via the NSA FOIA website online form):

Under the Freedom of Information Act I request any and all information and documents on:

1. The procedure NSA follows for obtaining approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for surveillance of foreign and United States targets.

2. The review and approval process NSA follows for making an application to the FSIC, 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 the present time.

5. Rules and regulations governing the NSA Counsel's office, and the office's duties and responsibilities.

Ms. Phillips said this case is being processed and may require additional clarification by Cryptome beyond two telephone clarifications in early February.

Ms. Phillips said NSA is telephoning more often now for clarification rather than writing to speed processing of requests. However, some clarifications require writing to assure precision in answering requests. Cryptome offered to take requests for clarifications by phone and to answer in writing to ease the burden on NSA.