Full opinion text
OPINION HAROLD H. GREENE, District Judge. Plaintiff is an historian researching the disappearance and assumed death in 1956 of Jesus de Galindez, a Basque exile who was then living in New York City and teaching at Columbia University. Galindez was also the United States delegate of the Basque Government-in-exile, which was headquartered in Paris; he was an FBI informant, giving information on Spanish exile activities in New York City; and he was a public critic of the regime of Rafael Trujillo, head of state of the Dominican Republic until 1961. The disappearance of Galindez, who was last seen on a March evening after a student dropped him off at a Manhattan subway station, was alleged by colleagues of Galindez and political com-mentors to have been engineered by Trujillo and executed with the unwitting aid of an American pilot, Gerald Murphy, whose body was subsequently found in the Dominican Republic. The Galindez incident and its aftermath received extensive publicity, highlighting as they did the controversial and ambivalent relationship between the United States and the Trujillo regime, which was opposed to the Soviet Union but at the same time had a reputation for repression. A number of investigations were carried out to determine what had happened to Galindez and Murphy. The Dominican Republic hired Morris Ernst, a prominent New York City lawyer, to investigate the case and, it presumably was hoped by his client, to establish that country’s lack of culpability. Meanwhile, the New York City Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. investigated the case in one way or another, as late as 1971, sometimes jointly, sometimes independently. Despite all this effort, the disappearance of Galindez and the role of Murphy remain a public mystery. I Genera] Having devoted years to solving that mystery through private interviews and other forms of research, plaintiff brought this lawsuit in 1979 to follow up on requests for government records that he had filed with the CIA and FBI under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b). Plaintiff challenged the substantial deletions made in the documents which the government identified as relevant; he also claimed that the CIA’s search had not been adequate. In February 1981, the Court denied defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of the applicability of the exemptions they had invoked, ordering the submission of limited in camera affidavits which would explain in detail the agencies’ various rationales for not releasing all relevant documents in their files. The Court singled out 89 documents that were to be addressed in the affidavits. Subsequently, finding that it could not fulfill its statutory responsibility to conduct a de novo review on the basis of the limited in camera affidavits, the Court ordered the CIA and FBI in November 1981 to submit in camera affidavits pertaining to all of the records except only the 78 documents no longer contested by plaintiff and the one document in the (b)(1) category on which the Court was able to rule on the basis of the limited affidavits. The defendants were ordered to submit under seal the unabridged versions of every contested document, not because the agencies’ good faith had been controverted, but “in order that the Court may be able to monitor the agencies’ determinations in accordance with the Court’s guidelines.” Memorandum of November 16, slip. op. at 2 n. 2. The CIA complied by submitting 14 volumes of documents and an in camera explanatory affidavit executed by Louis Dube (“Dube affidavit”), all of which the Court has reviewed. The documents were arranged in the following manner: Category A, Collection 1 -- Liaison w/foreign intell. service Category B, Collection 2 - CIA station locations Category D, Collection 3 - Intelligence sources Collection 4 Collection 5 Collection 6 Category E, Collection 7 -- CIA operations and methods Collection 8 - CIA cover Category F, Collection 9 -- Privacy material Category M, Collection 10 — Miscellaneous Collection 11 Collection 12 -- Liaison Collection 13 Collection 14 — Employee identities, internal organization information Despite the bulk of the submissions, the CIA’s justifications for a number of the withholdings still suffer from a lack of specificity that is common and not always inappropriate in these “national security” FOIA cases. See, e.g., Ray v. Turner, 587 F.2d 1187, 1211 (D.C.Cir.1978) (Wright, J., concurring) (there may be cases where “affidavits sufficient to allow de novo review would reveal the very information that the agency claims is exempt”). Lack of specificity is not inevitable in all respects, however, particularly at this advanced stage in the litigation when all of the governments’ submissions are in camera, as the most recent filings by the FBI demonstrate. The FBI submitted two affidavits, one by Peter Kellen explaining the (b)(1) deletions, and one by John Phillips explaining the (b)(7) withholdings. Both describe with considerable precision the nexus between the material deleted and the alleged harm that might flow from disclosure. To be sure, the FBI’s task was an easier one since it now claims exemptions for only 14 documents while the CIA claims them for 530. Yet there is not one CIA narrative that rivals in specificity all of’those of the FBI. Since CIA withholdings account for the vast majority in the case, this Opinion is primarily devoted to defendant CIA rather than to defendant FBI. Unless otherwise specified, therefore, “the government” and “the agency” refer to the CIA. Most of the CIA deletions are defended on the basis of the (b)(1) national security exemption. Where adequate explanations are provided or where the possibility of identifiable harm to the national security is self-evident from in camera review, the Court upholds the deletions. With respect to a number of deletions, however, the CIA’s explanations lack the specificity required under the Act and are not credible. This lack of specificity falls in the main into two categories: (1) paucity of explanation why palpable harm to the national defense or foreign policy of the United States is likely to occur if information about a particular operation or relationship were released, and (2) lack of explanation how the deleted words — either alone or in context— actually communicate the allegedly sensitive information. Some paucity in the first respect is not surprising since the CIA cannot predict the future, and the only question that can legitimately be asked is “whether the predicted danger is a reasonable expectation.” Halperin v. CIA, 629 F.2d 144, 149 (D.C.Cir.1980). However, with respect to the second inadequacy — which surfaced when the Court, having resolved the first inquiry in the CIA’s favor, next inquired whether a given deletion actually fell into the qualifying category — little, if any, speculation is needed, yet the affidavits often failed to provide any nexus between deleted material and the secret the material supposedly would expose. It is where deletions are unexplained and the expurgations either appear unrelated to the stated category or fall within it only if the category is defined in an impermissibly broad fashion (see Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820, 823 (D.C.Cir.1971)) the Court orders disclosure of the deleted matter. The Court now turns to a category-by-category examination of the deletions and their justifiability. II Privacy The Court has previously ruled that the CIA properly invoked exemption (b)(6) to withhold documents containing information related to an individual’s medical condition or sexual habits because this information is “highly personal or intimate in nature,” Board of Trade v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 627 F.2d 392, 398 (D.C.Cir.1980), and because the individuals’ substantial privacy interests were not outweighed by the public interest in disclosure. Memorandum of November 16, 1981, at 8-9. At the same time, the Court held that exemption (b)(6) had been invoked improperly to shield the “identity of persons involved in the Galindez-Murphy affair, such as names contained in Murphy’s notes, the identities of persons who allegedly witnessed Galindez’s death, and the identities of associates of other persons prominent in these events.” Id. at 9. Such information, the Court found, was not personal in nature, concerned the individuals' interaction with the CIA, and was subject to a strong public interest in disclosure. Id. at 10. In compliance with the Court’s previous privacy rulings, the CIA submitted in this round one relatively slender volume containing documents whose deletions are based on exemption (b)(6) but which were not subject to the Court’s previous in camera review. Having reviewed the full text versions of the documents in this volume, the Court finds that the “F” deletions in documents 236 and S-17 properly fall under exemption (b)(6) because they involve medical and sexual details. The following documents fall into the second category identified supra at p. 711, and the material withheld on privacy grounds must therefore be released: Nos. 146, 107, 197, 213, 240, 241, 242, 492, F359. Ill Relationships with Foreign Intelligence Services The CIA has submitted three volumes of documents classified as “secret” or “confidential” the deletions in which are said by the CIA to be necessary to protect its relationships with intelligence services of foreign governments. (Collections 1, 12, 13). The Court previously ruled that the CIA could properly invoke exemption (b)(1) to protect its relationships with foreign intelligence services to the extent that official disclosure of such relationships would “inhibit its ability to deal with these agencies in the future and therefore harm the national security.” Memorandum of November 16, 1981, at 7. As set forth in the CIA’s affidavit, to which the Court must and does accord substantial weight, there are several reasons for exempting from the FOIA information that would officially confirm cooperation between the CIA and foreign intelligence services. First, there may be bilateral consequences: to the extent that the CIA is unpopular in the country whose intelligence service worked in concert with the CIA, official confirmation of this partnership might discredit that government with its public and place pressure on the foreign government to cease any current cooperation with the CIA, or to take diplomatic or other action. See, e.g., Afshar v. Department of State, supra, 702 F.2d at 1134 (D.C.Cir.1983); Phillippi v. CIA, 655 F.2d 1325, 1332-33 (D.C.Cir.1981). Second, there may be multilateral consequences: to the extent that the precise nature of the cooperation was previously unknown or unsuspected by other governments, their public or private posture toward the formerly cooperating government might change, possibly with international repercussions. Cf. Gardels v. CIA, 689 F.2d 1100, 1104 (D.C.Cir.1982) (“foreign intelligence agencies [might] ‘try to zero in and identify specifically what were the nature of [the] relationships or with whom the relationship were’ ”). The Court is satisfied, therefore, that as a category, information exposing sensitive relationships with foreign intelligence services, even if they occurred in the past, is properly classified pursuant to the criteria of Executive Order 12,065 and properly withheld from plaintiff under exemption (b)(1). The Court’s responsibilities under FOIA do not end here, however. It must also be satisfied that the deletions said by the CIA to be included in a particular category “logically fall[] within the claimed exemption.” Lesar v. United States Department of Justice, 636 F.2d 472, 481 (D.C.Cir.1980). The Court has therefore reviewed the documents in conjunction with the Dube affidavit with this standard in mind. While the bulk of the deleted material in Collections 1, 12, and 13 is information that would “inhibit the [CIA’s] ability to deal with [foreign intelligence services] in the future” (see supra) and was on that basis ruled by the Court to be exempt from disclosure, some of it does not concern intelligence liaisons between the United States and another government. Bather, it simply concerns nonsensitive contacts between the CIA and foreign or domestic officials, and the reporting of information about third parties. For example, since Galindez had been the New York delegate of the Paris-based Basque government-in-exile, representatives of that body were understandably anxious upon his disappéarance to regain possession of the Basque government files that had been under Galindez’s control and were located in the small Basque government office in New York City which had also served as Galindez’s residence. See, e.g., released portions of document 52. Yet because Galindez was a missing person within the jurisdiction of the New York Police Department, there was considerable investigative interest by that department in Galindez’ personal effects. In fact, the Police Department had seized the files which the Basque government sought to recover. The CIA acted as an intermediary between several Basque officials and the department to help the Basques obtain the files, a role which prompted its agents to contact various New York officials. The CIA has made deletions obscuring the intermediary role it played in this aspect of the Galindez affair even though this was a purely domestic role and had nothing to do with the trading of information or the planning and conducting of joint operations between U.S. and foreign intelligence services. The deletions made to protect this type of information appear to be tailored more to prevent public criticism over the CIA’s past actions in the United States itself (see Sims v. CIA, 709 F.2d 95, 101 (D.C.Cir.1983) (Sims II)) than to guard against disclosures that may “inhibit its ability to deal with [foreign intelligence services] in the future.” Another type of overinclusive withholding in this category occurred where the CIA deleted sentences and paragraphs of investigative material pertaining to the Galindez case, or to Latin American events more generally, on the basis that the information was acquired from, or as a result of a liaison with, a foreign intelligence service even where the sentence or paragraph does not, either explicitly or implicitly disclose the liaison. In such cases, for all the reader knows, the information could as readily have come from a periodical, newspaper, FBI file, confidential source, or CIA employee as from a specific foreign intelligence service. Where the CIA has been overinclusive in the manner just described, the Court will order the withheld material released. The Appendix to this Opinion contains the Court’s rulings on withholdings in this category. IV CIA Station Locations The CIA justifies- a number of deletions under both exemption (b)(1) and exemption (b)(3) on the basis that the deleted material would identify the past location by city and nation of several CIA stations, confirm that there was a CIA presence in these countries at the time of Galindez’s disappearance and thus, it is argued, harm the national security. The Court previously held that the exemptions may not be invoked to shield former CIA station locations. The CIA has since continued to press its claim, and the Court has analyzed the issue once again and in more detail. Upon such examination, it has decided to uphold the government’s claim with respect to most of the station locations, and to deny it with respect to but one of them. First. It is generally accepted that the CIA need not release material that would disclose the location of current CIA installations, but it has apparently not previously been decided whether the agency may properly withhold information that would reveal installations extant in the past. However, it would appear that such a revelation would suggest to most people that there continues to be a CIA station at the same location. On this basis, the CIA quite correctly argues that if an installation’s former location were revealed, a “hostile country ... may take a variety of measures against the United States ranging from diplomatic protest to military action.” Dube affidavit at 15. While this is not necessarily true with respect to all countries, it is likely to be true with regard to some of them. Moreover, most of these deletions appear in the “to” and “from” greeting sections of internal memoranda. The gain to plaintiff from such information would be minimal; yet the damage to the national security could be considerable. For that reason, the deletions will be upheld. Second. The situation is different with respect to references to the CIA’s previous station in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic (known as Ciudad Trujillo during the time these documents were generated). The fact that a CIA station existed in the Dominican Republic until 1961 is publicly known within the meaning of Afshar v. Department of State, supra. In that case, the Court of Appeals held that an agency’s reliance on the national security or “source and method” exemptions would be undercut if the information is already publicly known. Public knowledge in this sense would be established if the plaintiff could show that the information (1) already in the public domain is as specific as that which would be released through FOIA, (2) relates to the same time period as that which would be released, and (3) has been the result of an “official and documented disclosure.” 702 F.2d at 1133. In 1975 the U.S. Senate published a report on “Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders” resulting from hearings into the CIA’s past involvement in Latin American governmental affairs that were conducted by a subcommittee chaired by Senator Frank Church. In the section devoted to American involvement in events leading to Trujillo’s assassination in 1961, the report makes numerous references to “the CIA Station in the Dominican capital” during the years 1960 and 1961, and it frequently cites and quotes from cables from “Station to [¶] [headquarters].” Nonetheless, the CIA has withheld from plaintiff in this lawsuit exactly the same information contained in the same sorts of communications. In 1975 Congress weighed the public interest in disclosure against the potential harm to national security with respect to disclosure of a CIA presence in the Dominican Republic until Trujillo’s assassination. In fact, in the opening pages of its report, the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities stated that We believe that the public is entitled to know 'what instrumentalities of their Government have done.... We reject any contention that the facts disclosed in this report should be kept secret because they are embarrassing to the United States. Despite the temporary injury to our national reputation, the Committee believes that foreign peoples will, upon sober reflection, respect the United States for keeping faith with its democratic ideal____ Report at 2. The CIA’s implication that release of the words “Ciudad Trujillo” and “COS” in the documents sought by plaintiff would cause more harm to the national security than the detailed revelations made by the Senate concerning the CIA’s role as liaison between the United States and the dissidents who plotted Trujillo’s overthrow is simply not credible. For the reasons stated, the deletions with respect to the CIA’s station installations are sustained with the exception of references to the installation in Ciudad Trujillo through May 1961, the date of Trujillo’s death. V Sources Four of the fourteen volumes of documents (Collections 3, 4, 5 and 6) submitted in camera by the government contain materials which have been withheld in part or in full on the justification that the information would reveal the identities of intelligence sources. As indicated supra, the Director of Central Intelligence is statutorily “responsible for protecting intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure,” 50 U.S.C. §§ 403(d)(3), 403g, and this provision has been held to apply to FOIA under exemption (b)(3). In addition, exemption (b)(1) permits the withholding of properly classified information that “concerns ... intelligence ... sources” the unauthorized disclosure of which “reasonably could be expected to cause at least identifiable damage to the national security.” See note 21 supra. A. It is appropriate at this juncture to summarize first the case law regarding the application of these exemptions. For purposes of applying sections 403(d)(3) and 403g (exemption 3), an intelligence source is a person or institution that provides, has provided, or has been engaged to provide the CIA with information of a kind the Agency needs to perform its intelligence function' effectively, yet could not reasonably expect to obtain without guaranteeing the confidentiality of those who provide it. Sims v. CIA, 642 F.2d 562, 571 (D.C.Cir.1980) (Sims Z). To apply the exemption, “the first thing the trial court should do is define ‘the class or “kind” of information involved,’ ” to be followed by an assessment of the “likelihood that disclosure would undermine CIA access to information of that kind.” The emphasis throughout is on the “practical necessity of secrecy” (Sims I, 642 F.2d at 571), in order to distinguish legitimate claims from a desire for secrecy that “derive[s] principally from fear of a public outcry resulting from revelation of the details of [the CIA’s] past conduct.” Sims II, 709 F.2d at 101. Moreover, neither a promise of confidentiality to a particular informant, nor the fact that information was secured in the course of covert activity, is “dispositive of the question whether a given informant qualifies as an ‘intelligence source’ these facts are merely evidence to be considered by the trial court. Sims II, 709 F.2d at 98, 100-01. In ruling on an exemption 1 claim, the Court must conduct a de novo review to determine “whether unauthorized disclosure of the materials reasonably could be expected to cause the requisite harm.” Lesar v. United States Department of Justice, supra, 636 F.2d at 481. With respect to intelligence sources, the requisite harm would not reasonably be likely, and the exemption claim must fail, if “the scope of the term ‘intelligence source’ [is] too sweeping.” Id. at 482. For instance, the item could not include “the ordinary citizen with ordinary contacts abroad.” Id. B. At the request of the Court, the CIA has isolated 63 alleged sources it wishes to protect and has arranged the documents according to the source they purportedly identify. First. Seven of the individuals are described by the CIA as only potential or unwitting sources. Six of these people (identified as D(5), D(6), D(11), D(13), D(19), and D(20)) never became sources, that is, they never knowingly provided information to the agency. The seventh (D(18)) is described as “an unwitting CIA source,” having given one piece of information in 1957 to a CIA representative whom he mistook to be a State Department employee. The documents relating to these individuals are intra-agency memoranda discussing in one way or another, quite briefly, the individuals’ potential usefulness as sources. The rationale for protecting sources articulated in Sims — to keep valuable information flowing to the CIA that otherwise would not be communicated to it — has no applicability when information was not consciously provided to the CIA in the first place. Moreover, the government has provided no alternative rationale on which denial of the information to plaintiff could be based. Thus, the documents relating to these seven individuals may not be withheld on the basis of 50 U.S.C. § 403(d)(3) and 403g as incorporated in exemption (b)(3). For the same reason, the revelation of the names of individuals who were potential CIA sources would not be reasonably likely to harm the national security, within the meaning of exemption (b)(1), for presumably everyone may be considered a potential source. The deletions marked by a letter “D” must therefore be restored and released to plaintiff in documents 108, 383, 165, 9, 458, 483, and 420. Document 436 in group E(ll) (see Section VI infra) and documents in groups M(20) and M(22) (see section IX infra) also relate to potential or unwitting sources and must therefore also be released. Second. With respect to the remaining redactions which are based on source protection, the agency has followed a generally uninformative course of laying out its case. While the Dube in camera affidavit purports in a summary to provide grounds for the withholdings the CIA has made in the name of source protection, the reasons given are so general and conclusory as to be practically worthless. To be sure, the affidavit also provides a justification ostensibly tailored to each source, but most of the explanations are again distinctly unhelpful: when they are not merely referring the reader back to the general summary, they provide information that is of little use in evaluating either the practical necessity of secrecy or whether the deleted information would identify a source at all. The lack of specific justification is particularly troublesome since, as the Court elaborates upon infra, “[t]he 25-year period which has elapsed since the events discussed in these documents makes the CIA’s burden even heavier.” Memorandum, Nov. 19, 1981, at 6 n. 9. It is to be noted that the need to compensate for the government’s lack of concrete explanation required the Court to read and analyze every sentence in every document and to compare deletions with the full text versions. This was, of course, a time-consuming chore which the Court had hoped would be avoided by more complete CIA cooperation with the Court’s last Memorandum. Third. Almost without exception what are sought to be produced are past sources, most of whom gave information over 25 years ago and have had no dealings with the CIA since. Much substantive information — far more than mere names of sources and cryptonyms — has also been withheld under this category on the rationale that it might identify a source. Most of the documents refer to contacts that took place in the Dominican Republic between United States representatives stationed in that country and civilians and government officials who lived and worked there. The affidavits indicate no knowledge of these individuals’ current whereabouts or even whether they are alive or dead. Thus, an issue common to many of the withholdings is the effect of the passage of time on the Sims definition of “intelligence source” and on the propriety of the information’s continued classification. Obviously, if someone would not have qualified as an “intelligence source” 20 or 25 years ago, he would not so qualify now. Yet it does not follow that, if someone would have so qualified then — that is, if the information imparted was the type that would not have been conveyed but for a pledge of confidentiality — the information is still protected now. The government’s contrary position on this issue — that the passage of time makes no difference —has, indeed, been rejected by those courts which have presided over FOIA eases involving requests for documents as antiquated as these. See, e.g., Diamond v. FBI, 532 F.Supp. 216 (S.D.N.Y.1981), aff'd, 707 F.2d 75 (2d Cir.1983); Times Newspapers of Great Britain v. CIA, 539 F.Supp. 678, 683 (S.D.N.Y.1982); Dunaway v. Webster, 519 F.Supp. 1059 (N.D.Cal.1981). To the extent that courts have protected the identities of third parties, they did so under the primary exemption for investigatory records ((b)(7)), and only after examining the nature of the information withheld, the likelihood that disclosure would embarrass third parties still alive, and the public interest in disclosure. It may finally be noted with regard to this issue that Executive Order 12,065, which contains a presumption that revelation of a current or recent source causes damage to the national security, includes a contrary presumption with respect to records of the vintage involved in this case: that documents are to be declassified after 20 years. For the reasons stated, the Court rejects the general presumption argued for by the CIA — that revelation of any individual with whom it spoke to regarding the Galindez matter, no matter how long ago, would be likely to cause identifiable damage to the national defense or U.S. foreign policy. The question to be asked, therefore, and which the Court has considered, is whether any particular “source” would be likely to face retribution or embarrassment today such that he would have withheld the information had he known or suspected that the confidentiality promised him — if in fact it was promised — might expire after 25 years. Only where the answer is in the affirmative could disclosure be presumed to deter existing and potential sources from cooperating with the agency — the main “national security” reason being advanced. There certainly- are some sources who would still suffer embarrassment were their cooperation with the CIA 25 years ago to be revealed, and it would presumably follow that sources in like situations today might genuinely be deterred from cooperating if they thought they could count on confidentiality of only limited duration. For that reason, the Court gave the agency ample opportunity to point out such cases through three separate rounds of briefing in this case. More, in its own painstaking review of the documents, the Court has evaluated each source, and it has upheld nondisclosure where there appeared ■ to be any question that the individual, if he or she is still alive, might be embarrassed or harmed by revelation. In this effort, the Court has in the main followed the rationale of Executive Order 12,065, in that it has presumed that ah individual who imparted information to the CIA over 20 years ago is not a source whose revelation would damage national security today. That presumption has not been regarded conclusive, but its effect has been to place the burden of providing contrary reasons on the CIA. This is neither unfair nor illogical, for the CIA is in possession of the documents, has superior information, and has knowledge of what is contained in the in camera filings. C. On the basis of these tests, the Court upholds the. withholding of source names and other identifying information in a number of instances, particularly where the individual held a position in a foreign government other than the Dominican Republic, and may still be in public service in that country such that he might suffer embarrassment and this embarrassment might deter others in like circumstances from cooperating with the CIA. In a number of other cases, however, the Court is ordering revelation of the sources’ identities and therefore of information which the CIA has withheld on the ground that it might identify the sources. D. The Court finally notes that the public interest in airing the details of the Galindez matter is still considerable, and that this is not a case where the CIA was performing espionage or planning operations contrary to the interests of other countries, the revelation of which could be expected to invite hostile reaction from the governments of peoples of these countries. On the contrary, the CIA’s conduct, at least in gathering information in the Dominican Republic, was in the nature of an investigation into the disappearance of one American citizen and the death of another. But for the alleged involvement of Trujillo’s forces and Galindez’s ties to the Basque government, the CIA might not have been involved at all. Furthermore, the government with the most reason to react angrily to the disclosures — the Trujillo government — is now a relic of some 22 years. The specific rulings of the Court in regard to sources are contained in the Appendix to this Opinion. VI Investigations, Methods, Cover Collection 7 contains documents which the CIA claims to have edited in order to prevent revelation of specific CIA operations in foreign countries and methods the agency used then and in some cases continues to use now. Collection 8 includes documents that have been “sanitized” to protect the various covers of CIA agents. For both collections the CIA invokes both exemption (b)(1), since most of the material in' these documents was classified pursuant to Executive Order 12,065, and exemption (b)(3), incorporating the statutory responsibility of the CIA Director to protect “intelligence methods.” 50 U.S.C. §§ 403(d)(3), 403g. The agency has followed the same course in justifying the deletions in Collection 7 as it followed with regard to intelligence sources. There is a general summary containing abstract reasons for protecting information about operations, methods, and cover. There are also specific explanations for individual groupings of documents which relate to a common theme, e.g., a particular operation in a foreign country, a particular CIA intelligence capability, or a particular individual who assisted the agency in a more comprehensive fashion than the intelligence sources discussed supra. As a rule, these explanations are more detailed and persuasive than those which accompanied the intelligence source documents. Some of the information, in addition, pertains to intelligence operations of a more recent vintage than the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Accordingly, the Court upholds these deletions, including several of a highly sensitive character. However, the Court’s in camera review indicates that in some cases in this category the CIA has withheld information so basic and innocent that its release could not harm the national security or betray a CIA method. The FOIA exemptions, which are meant to be construed narrowly (Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820, 823 (D.C.Cir.1973)) do not protect against disclosure that CIA agents sometimes talk to individuals they believe may have useful information. Moreover, in some instances, a weak claim is asserted with respect to particularly noteworthy information — such as the suggestion that Galindez may not have perished at all but may have fled to- another country. There, the data is clearly not reasonably likely to cause harm to the national defense today, and it may be that the CIA is acting more out of a desire to prevent a politically unpalatable reaction than out of a legitimate judgment that secrecy is required. Similarly, the CIA has withheld sentences in a memorandum relating to the watching of a house in Europe to determine the comings and goings of its occupants. (400; § E(9)). There is no allegation that 27 years later this house is still under surveillance, and it cannot seriously be argued that confirmation of the fact that the CIA sometimes watches houses would be likely to cause identifiable damage to the national security. Accord Dun- away v. Webster, supra, 519 F.Supp. at 1070 (N.D.Cal.1981) (no protection for “methods of investigation which would ... leap to the mind of the simplest-minded intelligence agency”). The same is true of these “methods”: having contacts with foreign journalists (124, § E(6)), and viewing airplane passenger lists (F192, F194 § E(10)). Accordingly, the Court finds that the CIA has not carried its burden with respect to these and certain other deletions made in this category. A list of the Court’s rulings in this regard is found in the Appendix. The Court upholds all of the deletions made in the documents in Collection 8. These deletions are minor and appear to the Court to be specifically tailored to protect solely the cover of CIA officials and informants. To disclose this material would not only lead to identification of former CIA officials but it might also cast suspicion on anyone holding similar cover positions today. VII Employee Names, Internal Organization Data The Court previously held that “security markings, file numbers and names of employees” could properly be withheld under exemption (b)(3) as “fit[ting] squarely within the protection of 50 U.S.C. § 403g as information concerning the CIA’s ‘internal structure.’ ” Memorandum of November 16, 1981, at 7. The CIA has aggregated in Collection 14 documents whose deletions fall solely into this category, identified by the letter code “A.” The Court has reviewed the volume to ensure that the CIA has not been overinclusive in its deletions. It is apparent that with respect to the deletions marked with “A” the CIA has acted within the letter and spirit of FOIA; the deletions are minor, obscuring only individual words, letters and symbols that would reveal employee names and details of internal structure that are of little value to a layperson, but which might be useful to someone desirous of penetrating CIA methodology. Accordingly, all “A” deletions in Collection 14 are upheld. A distinct type of internal organization information, cryptonyms, may also be withheld from plaintiff pursuant to both exemption (b)(1) and exemption (b)(3). Such code words are of little value to plaintiff, yet they may afford hostile analysis to too great an insight into the CIA’s past actions and current methodology. See, e.g., Military Audit Project v. Casey, supra, 656 F.2d at 748. Cryptonyms have been replaced with the letter “C” in these documents. All of these deletions are upheld. VIII Investigatory Records The FBI has invoked exemption (b)(7)(C) and (b)(7)(D) to withhold FBI-generated material found in ten CIA documents. See note 5 supra. These exemptions allow an agency to withhold: investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such records would ... (C) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source Deletions in three documents are defended on the basis that they would unjustifiedly invade the privacy of third persons mentioned in the documents. The Court upholds the FBI’s deletion of the name of the individual referred to in document 6 (Collection 1) as “iden B.” The FBI cleared for release the information provided by this individual, recorded in document 7 (Collection 1), but it correctly points out that since the individual is cast as a possible liar and traitor to the Basque cause disclosure of his identity might cause him embarrassment and ridicule out of proportion to the value to plaintiff of obtaining his name. ' The FBI has not, however, carried its burden with respect to the individual named on page 2 of document 311 (Collection 12). The individual is not described, either favorably or unfavorably; it is merely reported in one sentence that his name appeared in an FBI report. The bare fact that an individual’s name appears in an FBI report in a case as wide-ranging as the Galindez investigation is not sufficiently injurious of his privacy to overcome FOIA’s presumption in favor of disclosure. The name must be released. The final (b)(7)(C) deletion is likewise unfounded. In document F189 (Collection 10), devoted to Stanley Ross, then New York publisher of El Diario, the FBI has withheld four paragraphs on the rationale that they concern specific events that occurred some 13 years prior to Ross’s prominence in the Galindez investigation. The problem with this stance is that the FBI cleared for release in the same document a paragraph containing a far more opprobrious item than any of the information contained in the deleted paragraphs. Given the prominence of Ross in the investigation and the extent of the disclosures already made regarding him by both the FBI and CIA, the FBI’s rationale is not credible and the material must be released. The FBI invokes exemption (b)(7)(D) to protect the names of three individuals who were interviewed by the agency, one for a purpose that is not clear from the relevant document (311), another to ascertain information about an individual being investigated (497, p. 2) and the third for the purpose of eliciting details about Murphy’s activities before he disappeared (232, 233, 238, 251, 254, 267) (Collection M). The information provided by the first two individuals was released, as was most of the information provided by the third (information which would reveal the latter’s identity was withheld). Although the Court might disagree with the agency’s decisions, the in camera affidavit is so detailed with respect to the deletions, noting the request for confidentiality by the third individual and the implied confidentiality accorded the other individuals, and the FBI has so clearly segregated all material with the agency regarded as nonconfidential, that the Court uphold the deletions based largely on the agency’s evident good faith. The final deletion, on page three of documents 497, is also upheld since it is apparent that release of the deleted information could chill cooperation with the FBI by a defined segment of American society. IX Miscellaneous The CIA has submitted two collections marked “miscellaneous.” (Collections 9 and 10). These collections include 24 groups of documents the deletions in which are justified primarily on national security grounds, but which the CIA, for reasons that are not altogether clear, chose not to include in the other compilations. The Dube affidavit does not attempt to explain why these documents could not be categorized; its one-paragraph general reference to the miscellaneous collections states simply that “[t]he rationale for the withholding of information from each of these documents is set forth in the comment for each of the groups____” Dube Affidavit at 28. The documents are not different in kind from the records included in the other collections, and the reasons given for non-disclosure are identical to those given elsewhere: the need to avoid confirming past liaisons with foreign intelligence services, to avoid exposure of confidential sources, former CIA employees, and former CIA stations, and to protect the privacy of individuals mentioned in the records. These documents may have been separately bound because no one reason for non-disclosure was dominant. Whatever the rationale, the Court has’ reviewed the “miscellaneous” documents in conjunction with the 24 group comments in the same manner that it has dealt with the other collections and in so doing has concluded that the CIA, leaving aside the deletions defended on privacy grounds, which are dealt with in Section II supra, has carried its burden with respect to the treatment accorded to a number of the documents, and all of them may be withheld. However, it has failed to carry its burden with respect to deletions justified on the basis that the deleted matter would confirm that the CIA conducted intelligence operations in the Dominican Republic in the late 1950’s since this fact has been disclosed by Congress and is publicly known within the meaning of Afshar v. Department of State, supra. See Section IV supra. Accordingly, information withheld on this rationale in several documents must be restored. In addition, in several documents the CIA improperly withheld biographical and descriptive information abo.ut individuals who figured in the Galindez investigation on the basis that the information was obtained from foreign intelligence services even when the deleted matter would not reveal this fact. The CIA also incorrectly used the confidential source exemption to shield the name of a potential source and other information in document F233 (M(20)); to protect the name of an individual who willingly gave information regarding Gerald Murphy to a U.S. official as reflected in a series of documents in group M(22) (F27, F79, F80, F83, F84, F372, F373, S-12, S-36), and to delete information in document F116 (M(ll)) about a rumor which the document indicates was known to several Dominican “army officers.” See generally Section V supra. The CIA finally improperly withheld matter in paragraphs 7(d — 1) through 7(d-4) in document 48 (M(3)) since these paragraphs merely describe and quote from a published article in a Latin American periodical; improperly withheld portions of document 467 (M(14)) that at best allude to a “method[ ] of investigation which would ..'. leap to the mind of the simplest-minded intelligence agency” (Dunaway v. Webster, supra, 519 F.Supp. at 1070); and improperly invoked exemption (b)(5), intended to protect intra-agency deliberations and advisory communications, to withhold several paragraphs of document S-13 (M(26)). X Adequacy of CIA's Search Plaintiffs complaint includes a claim that the CIA has not performed an adequate search for documents — specifically that it employed an overly narrow definition of the Galindez case in searching its files. The CIA has moved for summary judgment on this issue contending that it conducted a “reasonable” search even if some documents responsive to plaintiffs request were not uncovered thereby. Plaintiff opposes summary judgment, maintaining that a material question of fact exists as to the adequacy of the definition employed by the CIA, a claim he supports by mentioning specific events and people which, according to his independent research, logically should appear in documents released to him but which have not so appeared. Both sides are rhetorically rather vehement. Plaintiff asks the Court to order the CIA to reinspect the 23 files it has already searched, using a broader definition that would encompass documents containing references to these absent events and people. The CIA complains of “[plaintiff’s evolutionary,' mushrooming request over the last six years,” and describes plaintiffs position as resting on “bare suspicions that certain documents have been overlooked.” Motion for summary judgment at 3. The burden is on the CIA to “show beyond material doubt ... that it has conducted a search reasonably Calculated to uncover all relevant documents” by “document[ing] ... that it [has] taken all reasonable steps to find materials responsive to [plaintiff’s] request.” Weisburg v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, 705 F.2d 1344, 1351 (D.C.Cir.1983). One way for plaintiff to cast doubt on the agency’s claim of adequacy is to produce “evidence that relevant records have not been released,” id., which plaintiff has attempted to do, as noted above. Although the CIA declined to meet this factual assertion head on, the Court, having carefully reviewed each and every document, is able to state with considerable confidence that the documents themselves refute plaintiff’s assertion. The documents identified as a result of the CIA’s search do contain references to the particular events and people specifically mentioned by plaintiff. These references failed to reach plaintiff not because they are contained in documents that were never removed from the files, but on account of the deletions made by the CIA once records were identified. Since there is no other factual dispute over the adequacy of the search properly before the Court, the Court will grant the CIA’s motion for summary judgment on this claim. X Conclusion By a separate Order the Court grants plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment with respect to material that the CIA and FBI have improperly withheld (as set forth in this Opinion and in the Appendix) and it grants defendants’ motion for summary judgment with respect to material which properly falls within exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act as well as on the claim regarding the adequacy of the CIA’s search for documents. APPENDIX Section II Doc. # Page(s) (¶, line) A-l 479: properly withheld; information of the sort found in personnel files A-l 123: properly withheld; sexual information D(14) 435: improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest D(29) 98: improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest D(58) 181: properly withheld; medical information Doc. # Page(s) (¶, line) D(62) 97: statement pertaining to individual’s mother properly withheld; remaining “F” material improperly withheld because public interest outweighs private interest E(5) 497: 2, ¶1 improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest 2, ¶5 improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest E(8) 415: ¶1 properly withheld; sexual information ¶4, lines 1-5 improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest ¶4, lines 5-7; properly withheld; sexual information 426: 2, ¶5 improperly withheld; public interest outweights private interest E(ll) 436: 3, ¶1 improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest E(15) F197: 1, ¶2 improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest E(17) 373: 1,1A improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest 2, ¶2 last three words of second sentence properly withheld as medical information 2, ¶3 improperly withheld; public interest outweighs private interest 374: 3, TÍ12B properly withheld; personnel information 3, 1112D properly withheld; private information outweighs public interest Doc. # Page(s) (¶, line) M(5) F33: 1, improperly withheld; not “intimate” and public interest outweighs private interest M(6) F189: 2, 4, 9, improperly withheld; not “intimate” and public interest outweighs private interest M(7) F212: 1, 2, though medical information in part, improperly withheld since CIA released same information in preceding paragraph and public interest outweighs private interest M(8) F13: 1, improperly withheld; not “intimate” and public interest outweighs private interest M(19) 173: 1, 3, 4, “intimate”; private interest outweighs public interest Section III A. Judgment is granted for the government with respect to the following redactions: Collection 1: 2 all 8 1 (¶2,2nd sent.) 12 1 (Is 1, 5), 2 (¶6,2d sent.) 69 all 70 all 113 1 (¶2, lines 3-8; ¶3, lines 1-2; ¶4 lines 2-3), 2 (lines 1-8) 114 all 177 all 182 1 (¶1, lines 3-6) 260 all 262 all 266 1 (¶2, lines 2-3J 295 all 298 all 299 all 300 all 301 all 302 all 303 all 304 all 305 all 307 1, 2 (¶1 all; ¶2 lines 1, 3, 5, 6; ¶2, lines 1-5) 308 all 309 all 314 1 (¶3 all; 13b all; 13c all), (14, lines 3-10) 315 • 1 (12, lines 1-15, 16-20; 13 all), 2 (13 con’t all; lines 3-8; 14, lines 1- 2, 5-22, 24-25, 25-29, 15), 3 (16 all; 17, lines 3-11; 18, lines 1-2) 336 all 337 all 338 all but 11, lines 1-4 377 2 (If, lines 1-2; 13, lines 1-8, 10-12), 3 (last 17 words) 380 1 (11, line 7) F200 1 (11, 12 all; 13 all except lines 2- 3) F297 1 (11, lines 8-14; 12, lines 2-5,6-7) F312 2 (11, lines 1-14) F313 .1 (12, lines 9-13) F320 2 (second half of page except for top six lines) F349 1(13, lines 1-6) F350 2 (11, lines 1-13) F353 1 (12, lines 9-13,14) F376 1 (12, all but lines 1-3) S-10 all S-24 all Collections 12 and 13: 24, 32, 33, 35, 36, 41, 44,-46, 47, 50, 55, 72, 102, 122, 184, 186, 206, 225, 237, 243, 248, 256, 272, 273, 311, 339, 351, 356, 368, 369, 379, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 401, 402, 405, 406, 407, 414, 422, 423, 432, 438, 443, 446, 447, 451, 452, 454, 456, 464, 466, 488, 490, 499, 500, 503, FIO, FU, F19, F21, F28, F30, F42, F49, Fill, F121, F168, F226, F248, F249, F250, F251, F252, F253, F254, F261, F262, F271, F276, F318, F319, F328, F358 B. With regard to the following documents summary judgment is granted in part to plaintiff and in part to defendant CIA. In these documents, the CIA has met its burden with respect to some deletions, which might expose a link between the United States and a foreign intelligence service, but a number of the deletions are overinclusive, meaning that non-sensitive, segregable portions still exist. The Court orders the CIA to release the segregable portions as follows: 3 cover letter; questions on pages 1-6 and any answers that will not reveal identity of individual responding 4 1 (¶1, first 7 words; ¶2, all except the three names; ¶3, all except the three (different) names) 5 1 (¶1, first three sentences (report about FBI activity, which FBI has cleared for release); ¶2, all except last sentence and parenthetical) 6 1 (of list of eight identities referred to by euphemism in doc. #5, release Iden. A, E, F, G, H) 7 1 (VI, repla'de “D” deletions except for last sentence) • 10 1 (¶4, first 15 words except for 13th word (name); ¶5, first sentence except for first word, which is a cryptonym for source, second sentence except for words 11-17; 16 words 8-18) 11 1 (¶3, first 5 words) 13 2 (V4B, release all except for names and source cryptonyms) 15 1 (V5, release second of three sentences withheld by CIA) 16 1 (¶2, all except cryptonym) (name released by CIA in # 17) 17 1 (¶2, all except cryptonym) 19 1 (¶3, all except first word (cryptonym) (CIA released the name of the individual mentioned in doc. # 12) 20 1 (¶2, first two sentences) (referring to an article and to a meeting of a political group -- no sensitive information included) 51 1 (VI, first two sentences, first nine words of third sentence; ¶2, all except words 4r-13 in second sentence) 52 1 (VI, full sentence on 5th line, sentence beginning with “Since” on 6th line, parenthetical beginning on 9th line; ¶3, all) 53 1 (¶2, release all except first three words, 3rd sentence beginning with “Should," and personal name) 56 1 (V2, second sentence; ¶3, line 1,3rd sent, beginning with “to present”) 57 1 (V5, all) (CIA released fact that it contacted NYPD pn its own in doc. #294) 65 routing sheet, without names; 1 (VI, all; VA, all) 66 2 (¶3, all; ¶4, all) 67 1 all 68 1 (¶3,3rd sentence) 78 1, all except last two lines 79 1, all except ¶3 86 1, all except ¶3 90 1, all except ¶3 100 1 (12A, all except first 7 words of 5th sentence and name of subject) 109 1 (¶2, last sentence beginning with “it had been”) 120 1 (¶2, except for name; ¶3, except for name; ¶4, except for name) 123 1 (¶2, lines 1-4 (CIA already released name in #12); ¶4, all except subject’s name) 270 2 (¶6, all except first 6 words of line 4, cryptonyms, and name in 7th line); 3 (¶6, cont., all except last sentence) 290 1 (¶2, first sentence ending with “April.”) 291 1 (¶3, lines 1-6, 14-16); 2 (VII, all; ¶3, all; ¶4, all; ¶5, all; ¶6, all; ¶10, all) 294 2 (¶4, lines 3-7 (ending with “1956.”); ¶5, lines 1-3,5-7; ¶7, lines 1-3) 306 1 (¶5, all; ¶6, all); 2 (¶10, all except name in first line; ¶12, all except same name) 316 1 (last five lines) 317 1 (¶3, all) 494 1, 4 (¶8, all; ¶9, all); 5 (¶16, all; ¶17, all) 495 1 (¶2, all except last 14 words) 507 1 (V2(c), all); 2 (V5(d), all; 15(e)) F201 1 (12, all except CIA employees’ names) (FBI has apparently withdrawn its assertion of an exemption with respect to 11 because this document is not mentioned in the in camera affidavits) F354 1 (14, lines 8-9; 16, lines 4^-5); 3 (11, lines 3-7; 15, lines 2-5) F356 1 (12c, all) S-3 2 (If, all) S-20 2 (13, lines 1-4; 14, lines 1-2) C. The government has not carried its burden with respect to the deletions (other than A, B, and H), and summary judgment is granted to plaintiff with respect to the following: Collection 1: 29 1, all 91 1, all 92 1, all 105 1, all 110 1 & 2, all 140 1, all 257 1, all 259 1, all 419 2, all F25 cover letter and pages 1-7, all; FBI has withdrawn its deletions; two minor CIA deletions not justified F94 ' pages 1-7, all; identical report with identical deletions as F25 Collections 12 and 13: 26, 28, 30, 34, 62, 63, 71, 125, 129, 139, 157, 163, 191, 193, 194, 210, 212, 214, 215, 216, 218, 219, 227, 235, 268, 310, 318, 358, 364, 372, 388, 389, 411, 444, 448, 453, 455, 482, 487, 489, 506, F20, F32, F34, F35, F37, F106, F107, F108, F109, F147, F205, F243, F244, F245, F247, F255, F256, F257, F258, F259, F264, F265, F283, F360, F365. Section V Summary judgment is granted to the CIA and the FBI regarding the treatment the agencies have accorded the following documents: Collections 3, 4, 5, 6: In the following cases the CIA has failed to carry its burden to show that the individual was an intelligence source or that disclosure would harm the national security, and the withheld “D” material shall therefore be released: In the following documents the identity of the source is worthy of protection, but CIA has been overinclusive in its deletions, excerpting substantially more than could be used to identify the source. D(l) 223: release ¶3, ¶4 beginning with “source comment” and ending with “Jesus de Galindez case,” next sentence with first 5 words deleted 245: release except for source’s name in ¶3 and cryptonym in the last sentence 322: release except for 8 words following date in ¶2 323: replace first “D” with name 334: release except for source’s cryptonym 335: release in full; no mention of source’s name D(15) F237: information which would identify source may be withheld F118: release ¶1 on page 2 except for source’s name D(26) 421: release ¶1 except for first word; release ¶2 except for first 10 words D(29) 98: release ¶2, ¶3, ¶4, ¶7 starting with 4th word on line 2 D(46) 211: source name may be protected but names of other two persons should be released 222: source name may be protected but names of other two persons should be released F365: source name may be protected but names of other two persons should be released Section VI Collections 7 and 8: These materials shall be treated as follows: E(l) 174: one of four paragraphs released; remaining deletions upheld E(2) 38: all deletions upheld F361: all deletions upheld E(3) 461: all deletions upheld F115: all deletions upheld 462: all deletions upheld 470: all deletions upheld 471: all deletions upheld 473: all deletions upheld F125: all deletions upheld E(4) 112: all deletions upheld E(5) 497: release 1 (¶2, all); 2 (Is 2,3,4 all) 498: release is 3, 4, 5, 6 with cryptonyms deleted E(6) 119: release except for ¶1, last word on line 3, first word on line 4, last 5 words on line 9; ¶2 may withhold first 2 words on line 5; ¶3 may withhold last two words on line 5; ¶4 may withhold fourth word on line 2 124: release except for first four words in paragraph E(7) 181: deletions upheld 229: deletions upheld 416: deletions upheld E(8) 126: deletions upheld 150: deletions upheld 158: deletions upheld 415: deletions upheld except for privacy information 426: deletions upheld except for privacy information E(9) 400: release E(10) F192: release except for name of individual who made documents available F194: release except for name of individual who made documents available E(ll) 436: release E(12) 207: deletions upheld E(13) F306: deletions upheld F307: deletions upheld E(14) F3: deletions upheld F5: deletions upheld F6: deletions upheld F89: deletions upheld F314: deletions upheld E(15) F145: deletions upheld F146: deletions upheld F197: deletions upheld E(16) 201: deletions upheld 211: deletions upheld F324: deletions upheld E(17) 312: deletions upheld 373: deletions upheld 374: deletions upheld F335: deletions upheld E(18) S-14: deletions upheld S-15: release S-16: deletions upheld S-18: deletions upheld S-19: deletions upheld S-21: deletions upheld S-22: release E(19) dealt with in footnote in text - deletions upheld . Before his disappearance, Galindez published several articles denouncing Trujillo in Latin American periodicals. His Ph.D. dissertation, in manuscript form at the time of his disappearance and published several months later, was entitled, "The Era of Trujillo." Trujillo was assassinated in 1961 by Dominicans opposed to his regime. . Not all public attention was focused on Galindez's role as critic of Trujillo. In 1961 columnist Drew Pearson reported an allegation that Galindez had been paid $1 million by the CIA to op