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NEON AZIMUTH #2 - U.S. government documents - July 17, 1994
___________________________________________________________

This issue of the NEON AZIMUTH focuses on my own specialty area -- how and
where to find U.S. government and military documents. You can find documents
at depository libraries, purchase them, or try to obtain them under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). I have either read or obtained thousands
of pages of documents. The "leaks" that I have seen that have revealed a lot
about how the U.S. military actually operates.


First stop - a good library
___________________________
Given the size of the national security system in the U.S., the number of
documents that is produced is staggering. With the exception of Vice
President Gore's "National Performance Review", you won't find government
documents at your local mall bookstore. I recommend that you start your
search through government documents at a federal documents depository
library. These are typically located at large university libraries. Examples
of federal document depositories include the University of Nevada at Las
Vegas (UNLV) and San Diego State University, CA. Along with federal documents,
these places also include state & local government documents. While the
stacks will contain a number of publications, you should also be aware that
there are more documents that exist only on microfiche.

Government documents use an alphabetical cataloging system. The catalog number
starts with a letter, followed by a combination of letters and digits. (Note:
the document cataloging system is different from the similar Library of
Congress system). Some of the more useful categories are:
  D - Department of Defense documents
  E - Department of Energy documents (such as nuclear policy)
  PrEx - Office of the President (includes the CIA)
  Y - Congressional documents. For example, Y 4 Ar  is used by the House
      Armed Services Committee.
Usually, there are charts on the walls of the stack area listing various
cataloging numbers. You can find out a lot just by browsing through documents.
You will probably also want to talk to the reference librarian who can help
you find what you are searching for.

There are also resources available on the Internet for dealing with government
documents. There is an electronic catalog available of documents produced
by the Government Printing Office (GPO). This electronic catalog is provided
by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL). To use this catalog,
telnet to pac.carl.org (IP address 192.54.81.18) or carl.lib.asu.edu
(IP address 129.219.10.8). Login as carl -- the preferred terminal emulation
is vt100. For example, if you wanted to find the Congressional hearing held
on the Navy's failed A-12 Stealth aircraft, you could find the report at
your local document depository with the following entry (from CARL):

AUTHOR(s):       United States.  Congress.  House.  Committee on Government
                   Operations.  Legislation and National Security
                   Subcommittee.
TITLE(s):        Oversight hearing on the A-12 Navy aircraft :  hearings
                   before the Legislation and National Security Subcommittee
                   of the Committee on Government Operations, House of
                   Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, first
                   session, April 11 and July 24, 1991.
                 iii, 276 p. :  ill. ;  24 cm.
                 Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.
                 Includes bibliographical references.
                 Item 1016-A, 1016-B (MF); class:yl/cat:jb CORRECTED CARDS
OTHER ENTRIES:   United States.  Navy  Procurement.
                 A-12 (Jet attack plane)
                 Attack planes  United States.
CALL #: Y 4.G 74/7:N 22/6          LIBRARY:         DPL CU US
<the CALL # is where you will find this document on the shelf or on microfiche>

Another Internet resource is mailing list GOVDOC-L, which is read by a number
of librarians. To subscribe, send an electronic mail message to:
  [e-mail]
In the body of the message, include this line:
  subscribe GOVDOC-L
You will receive information on how to send messages to the mailing list,
and how to use the server at psuvm.psu.edu to search back issues of GOVDOC-L.


Buying documents
________________
The 2 main sources of documents for sale are the U.S. Government Printing
Office (GPO), and the National Technical Information Service (NTIS, part of the
Department of Commerce). GPO has an inventory of thousands of documents,
while NTIS has millions of obscure government documents available, because they
normally print copies from microfiche. Both GPO and NTIS sell by mail order
to the United States and foreign countries.

The Superintendent of Documents at GPO issues the Monthly Catalog ("MoCat"
to the librarian) of GPO titles released. Some of the publications can
be purchased directly through the Superintendent of Documents, and some
have to be requested from various government agencies. GPO also issues
a series of Subject Bibliographies on various topics such as "Space" or
"National Security", that highlight various GPO offerings. In large cities,
such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, GPO operates bookstores that
carry a number of GPO titles.

It is more difficult to find materials through NTIS, but the results are
quite worthwhile. I have obtained such exotic items as an Air Force technical
report on building a powerful, portable EMP generator (37.5 kilojoule pulses),
the National Security Agency "COMSEC supplement", which describes cryptographic
procedures for defense contractors, and several NASA design documents for
hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft, through NTIS. (Readers who are unfamiliar
with EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) weapons might want to consult the book
"Information Warfare" by Winn Schwartau, 1994). It should also be noted that
NTIS is not merely a source for military information, but a vast storehouse
of scientific & engineering information that sells both documents and
computer software, from government research projects.

There are several commercial database providers, such as BRS (phone: (800)
456-7248 and [phone]) or DIALOG (phone: [phone]), that I have used
to locate NTIS items. You can also request searches and assistance through NTIS
directly, by phoning [phone] or by writing to:
  Department of Commerce
  National Technical Information Service
  Springfield, VA  22161
  USA
Ask for their free "Catalog of Products and Services" and PR-360-3 (U.S. NTIS
prices) or PR-360-4 (foreign NTIS prices). The catalog also lists foreign sales
agents for NTIS materials.

NTIS also offers online access (but not database searching) and gateway access
to a number of government bulletin boards, through Internet and dial-up modem to
a bulletin board system they operate called Fedworld. Internet users can telnet
to fedworld.gov (IP address 192.239.92.201). Dial-up asynchronous modem access
is available by calling [phone]. Speeds up to 9600 bps are supported,
and you should set your communications software for 8 data bits, no parity,
and 1 stop bit (8N1). New users should sign-on as "new". There are a couple
of files in the file area I recommend downloading, as a start to learning how to
use NTIS resources. Download P&SCAT.TXT (the ASCII text of the "Catalog of
Products and Services" mentioned above) or P&SCAT.ZIP (PKZIPped version) and
NTIS.LST (a list of NTIS files).


The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
_____________________________________
FOIA allows you to request documents directly from government agencies,
including classified materials. Please be aware that to effectively use the
Freedom of Information Act, you should be prepared to do some legal research.
In the past year, I have learned (through experience) how to deal with various
FOIA offices in the defense establishment.

Background: the U.S. has different parts of the federal law. There is the
United State Code (U.S.C.) that contains laws created by Congress, the Code of
Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), which are regulations issued by various
Executive branch agencies, such as the Department of Defense or the Central
Intelligence Agency, the Constitution, and Executive Orders and Directives
issued by the President. To provide a means of holding Executive branch
agencies, such as the Department of Defense, accountable to the American
public, Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act in 1966. Significant
amendments were added in 1974, and also the Privacy Act was passed in 1974,
giving people the right to see the files the government maintains on them.
In 1982, President Reagan issued Executive Order 12356, which tried to
rigidly control "national security information". It did away with President
Carter's "balancing" test that required that classified information be
released if it served the public interest and increased knowledge of how the
U.S. government operated (see E.O. 12065). At the present time, President
Clinton is studying changing the repressive Executive Order that Reagan released,
but there has been no official release of a new Executive Order so far.

If you wish to read the Freedom of Information Act, it is Title 5 of the
United States Code, Section 552. The citation that lawyers use is
5 U.S.C. s552, where the "s" represents the section mark character, a kind
of mutated letter "S". (For instance, Macintosh word processing software allows
you to enter this character by typing option-6). It was left to individual
agencies to set FOIA procedures, which are generally described in Title 32
of the Code of Federal Regulations (32 C.F.R.) for military components. I
strongly urge that you at least read the appropriate sections of the C.F.R.
listed below, before filing FOIA requests with a particular agency. This will
give you information as to the fees charged or waived, procedures for you to
follow, where to write, etc. I have provided a list of addresses of national
security components below and the sections of C.F.R., which you should read
before filing a FOIA request.

The biggest key to requesting documents under the FOIA is to specify as much
information that will help locate the records that you seek. Example:
You probably will get the response "no records were found" if you ask the
Air Force for information on the latest Stealth aircraft. On the other hand,
if you ask for a descriptive summary of Program Element 0401316F, code-named
SENIOR CITIZEN, you will get a surly denial of your request because the material
is classified. (See below for FOIA appeals information).

The FOIA process involves filing a request, either having your request
granted or denied, filing an administrative appeal if necessary, and if
that doesn't work, filing a legal suit in Federal district court. Typically,
an agency will specify how much information it will give you for free, for
example stating that there are no fees for less than 100 pages that are copied,
or less than 2 hours search time for a document. Foreign readers should be aware
that there may be substantial fees charged to them by the U.S. government.

You should be aware that if you request classified information, most government
agencies will deny your request under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(1), which allows them to
exempt "properly classified" material from release. Never take "No!" for an
answer if someone denies your FOIA request for classified material!! Because
FOIA appeals are a complex subject, they won't be covered in much detail here.
Basically, you will need to do legal research for your appeal. Try to find
anything you can go after the agency with, such as failure to follow its own
written procedures, violations of federal law, or federal court cases where the
agency's policy has been repudiated. For example, you may see the phrase "your
request was denied because there are no reasonably segregable portions of the
document you have requested." In fact, there have been federal court cases where
the courts have ruled that even classified documents can not be "denied by
document". (i.e., Ray v. Turner, 587 F.2d 1187, 1197 (D.C. Cir. 1978)). A
particularly unpleasant thing you can do to the bureaucrats who denied your
FOIA request is to file a mandatory declassification review request for the
denied document, under authority of Section 3.4(a) of Executive Order 12356.
(Note: this can only by done by U.S. citizens or people with permanent resident
alien status (having a "green card" in the U.S.)). The procedures for doing this
to any part of the Department of Defense are specified in 32 C.F.R. 159a.26.

There are additional sources of information on FOIA. The American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) has produced a small book called "Your Right to
Government Information". If you write to me, I may be able to provide some
free assistance on FOIA matters. Please keep in mind that I am an engineer,
not a lawyer, though. A good reference if you want to pursue the legal aspects
of FOIA is the guide used by Department of Justice lawyers, "Freedom of
Information Act Guide and Privacy Act Overview". This is issued once a year -
my copy is the September 1993 edition. It is available for $21.00 (US) or
$26.25 (foreign), stock number 027-000-01351-1, from:
  U.S. Government Printing Office
  Superintendent of Documents
  Mail Stop: SSOP
  Washington, DC  20402-9328
  USA
<Checks should be made payable to "Superintendent of Documents">

Also, I have some materials on FOIA available by anonymous Internet FTP on host
ftp.shell.portal.com in the directory /pub/trader/FOIA . This directory
includes items like the "Citizen's Guide to FOIA", issued by the U.S. Congress.


Sample FOIA request letter
__________________________
                                                               <date>

<FOIA contact>
<military agency>
<address line 1>
<address line 2>

    This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552. You
are also subject to Department of Defense FOIA regulations, as defined in
32 C.F.R. 285 and 286, and <military agency> FOIA regulations, as defined
in <appropriate part of C.F.R.>.

    Under the Freedom of Information Act, I request a copy of <describe what
you are after>.

    Your attention is called to <appropriate sub-sections of C.F.R.> which
require that you provide all reasonably segregable parts of the requested
documents. I request that excised material be "blacked out" rather than "whited
out" or cut out. If these documents are denied in whole or in part, please
specify which exemptions are claimed for each passage or whole document denied,
and a detailed factual justification for any denials. For classified material
that is denied, please include the following information:
o  any special handling requirements, such as LIMDIS (Limited Dissemination).
o  identity of the classifier.
o  date or event for automatic declassification, classification review, or
   downgrading of classification level.
o  if applicable, the reason for extended classification.

    Since release of this information is in the public interest, I request a
waiver of fees because <specify a good public interest reason>. However, I am
willing to pay up to <your fee limit> in FOIA fees to fulfill this request.


                                                   Sincerely,

                                                   <signature>

                                                   <your name>
                                                   <address line 1>
                                                   <address line 2>

<also, you should mark the lower left corner of your envelope with the
 phrase FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST>


FOIA office addresses and applicable parts of the C.F.R.
________________________________________________________
The following is a partial list of agencies that are components of the
Department of Defense (DOD), and thus are subject to DOD FOIA regulations in
32 C.F.R. 285 and 286. Some components of the DOD, such as the Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA) are handled directly by the DOD FOIA office. These
addresses are for headquarters of the agencies -- you should write to the
Commanding Officer of a particular military installation if you know where a
record is located.

I have also listed applicable parts of the C.F.R., such as 32 C.F.R. 806
for the Air Force. To find things in the Code of Federal Regulations, there
will be a separate volume called "CFR Index and Finding Aids", next to the
C.F.R. in your library. You should also check the "List of CFR Sections
Affected" to see if a recent regulation on FOIA has been created or changed.
If there is a new regulation, the section of the Federal Register where it
can be found will also be listed.

<Air Force - 32 C.F.R. 806>
Secretary of the Air Force
SAF/AAIS (FOIA)
1620 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC  20330-1620

<Army - 32 C.F.R. 518>
Chief, Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Division
U.S. Army Information Systems Command - Pentagon
Washington, DC  20310-3010

<Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) - 32 C.F.R. 287>
Defense Information Systems Agency
Attention: Code ADA
701 S. Courthouse Road
Arlington, VA  22204-2199

<Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) - 32 C.F.R. 292>
Defense Intelligence Agency
ATTN: DSP-1A (FOIA)
Washington, DC  20340-3299

<Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) - 32 C.F.R. 293>
Director, Public Affairs
Defense Mapping Agency
8613 Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA  22031-2137

<Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) - 32 C.F.R. 291>
Public Affairs Officer
Defense Nuclear Agency
Attention: FOIA
6801 Telegraph Road
Alexandria, VA  20324-1700

<Department of Defense FOIA office - OASD(PA)>
Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Directorate for Freedom of Information and Security Review
Room 2C757
1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC  20301-1400

<Marine Corps - 32 C.F.R. 701 ?>
Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Office
Code MI-3
HQMC, Room 4327
Washington, DC  20308-0001

<National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) - 32 C.F.R. 296>
Director
External Relations
National Reconnaissance Office
1040 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1040

<National Security Agency (NSA) - 32 C.F.R. 299>
National Security Agency
Chief, Information Policy Division
ATTN: Q-43
Ft. George G. Meade, MD  20755-6000

<Navy - 32 C.F.R. 701>
Chief of Naval Operations
(code OP-09B30)
Department of the Navy
The Pentagon
Washington, DC  20350-2000


Some additional FOIA offices outside of the Department of Defense are:

<Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - 32 C.F.R. 1900>
<mandatory declassification requests to the CIA should cite 32 C.F.R. 1900.35>
<NOTE: in addition to claiming exemptions under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(1), the CIA
 can claim exemptions under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(3), and cite specific laws
 forbidding their agency from releasing information on intelligence sources and
 methods, such as 50 U.S.C. 403(d)(3) and 50 U.S.C. 403g>
Information and Privacy Coordinator
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC  20505

<Department of Energy (DOE) FOIA office - 10 C.F.R. 1004>
<mandatory declassification requests to DOE should cite 10 C.F.R. 1045.6>
<NOTE: in addition to claiming exemptions under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(1), DOE
 can claim exemptions under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(3), and cite specific laws
 forbidding their agency from releasing information, such as the Atomic
 Energy Act of 1954 (as amended) 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq>
Headquarters
FOIA Officer, Department of Energy
Washington, DC  20585
<Department of Energy (DOE) Nevada operations>
Nevada Operations Office
FOIA Officer, Department of Energy
P.O. Box 98518
Las Vegas, NV  89193-8518

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul McGinnis / [e-mail] / [e-mail]
                [e-mail] / [e-mail]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Project NEON AZIMUTH
__________________________

NEON AZIMUTH is the code-name of a project I've created to provide information
on the "sources and methods" that can be used to learn about secret U.S.
military programs. I realize the risk I am taking by publicizing this
information -- the U.S. government could decide to close off these sources. Why
am I providing this information? The American taxpayers have a right to know
where their money is being spent, and the "sources and methods" given in
NEON AZIMUTH can help locate secret U.S. military programs.

Subscription requests for NEON AZIMUTH and comments on the material can be sent
to me by electronic mail to:
  [e-mail]
Or, if you have printed material you would like me to post, you can send
it by postal mail to:
  Paul McGinnis
  P.O. Box 28084
  Santa Ana, CA  92799
  USA

Anonymous FTP access to files dealing with excessive military secrecy
is available from Internet host ftp.shell.portal.com (IP address
156.151.3.4) in the /pub/trader directory. Read the 00readme files for
descriptions of the files.

Back issues of NEON AZIMUTH are available from host ftp.shell.portal.com in
the directory:
  /pub/trader/secrecy/neon-azimuth

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If you have really sensitive material you want to pass on to me, here is my
PGP public encryption key:

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Version: 2.6

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