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FBI secret police FAQ#1

This has gotten forwarded to many groups, and I have been overwhelmed 
by the response.  Here are the answers to several of the most frequently 
asked questions, so that I don't have to answer so many private messages.

 1) Why ask for the FBI records?
 2) Why were the records kept secret?
 3) How to ask for FOIA records?

====

At the Columbus IETF meeting in March 1993, a couple of PPP working group 
members told me that the FBI had come and questioned them for a "treason" 
investigation.  My own parents had been contacted (the agent left a card).  
According to neighbors, my residence had been staked out for weeks.  As 
a consultant, I travel a lot, so they were disappointed.

Also, the IRS started a 7 (now 8) year investigation of my tax records, 
citing a criminal investigation.  This is still ongoing today -- it 
takes years to work through the courts.  I have "substantially 
prevailed" on every issue in these cases.

Through the grapevine, John Gilmore (whom I had not yet met) told 
Phil Karn that I ought to request my records through the Freedom of 
Information and Privacy Acts.  I requested the records from both the 
FBI and IRS.  After several years of repeated requests, and a refusal 
to provide those records under Discovery during the court cases, the 
IRS gave me some of my records last June, and the FBI apparently was 
examining their records at about the same time (May).  In both cases, 
they only filled part of the requests.

====

The folder title page says:

  Subject: William Allen Simpson
  File: Classified File Number

The FBI cover sheets read as follows (special typed paragraph):

  "The enclosed documents responsive to your request are exempt from 
  disclosure in their entirety pursuant to the Privacy Act, Title 5, 
  United States Code, Section 552(a), subsection (j)(2).  However, 
  these records have been processed pursuant to the Freedom of 
  Information Act, Title 5, United States Code, Section 552, thereby 
  affording you the greatest degree of access authorized by both laws."

subsection (j)(2) reads:

  "material reporting investigative efforts pertaining to the 
  enforcement of criminal law including efforts to prevent, control, 
  or reduce crime or apprehend criminals;"

As explained by others:

  G-3: Assuming a .mil-like hierarchy, G3 would be Operations -- G1 is 
  Personnel and Admin, G2 is Intel and Security, G4 is Logistics.  

  OADR: Originating Agency's Determination Required, which means the 
  FBI didn't generate that information, some other agency did, and 
  they're the ones who get to make classification determinations 
  regarding it. 

I understand these indications to mean that the various agencies are 
hiding behind one another, probably requested by the "security" part 
of an organization of the "operations" part, the very source of the 
file is secret -- and that they interpret the law to mean that this 
material is forever secret, by simply claiming that this is an 
enforcement of criminal law, even though no criminal acts were 
ever discovered.

I've started to scan in the documents.  You can view the first two 
pages that they've given me (clearly not the real first two pages, 
as these pages reference earlier dates), at the "Proceedings of the 
Institute for Obscure Studies": http://potifos.com/was/

(Hopefully, this will not get my freindly lawyer in too much trouble.)

====

The initial roadblocks in submitting a FOIPA request turned out to be 
(1) finding where to submit it, and (2) giving them lots of personal 
identification.  They want it to be notarized, include a social security 
number, and be accompanied by a copy of a photographic identification, 
such as driver's licence.  AFAIK, none of this is required by the statute, 
but both FBI and IRS kept returning my requests.

I laboriously found the FBI offices that I used, in the local phone 
books, and from the rejection letters.  Glen L. Roberts, editor of 
Full Disclosure, has a good list on-line.  I wish I'd known about it 
when I started:  http://www.glr.com/fbiform.txt

The FOIPA statute requires that they answer within 20 days.  In my case, 
each time a year or so had gone by, they sent me a letter asking whether 
I still wanted the information.

Here's what my FBI request looked like.  Replace with your information. 
Don't forget to get each copy notarized as you send them out....


Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Request

Director, Attention FOIPA
FBI Headquarters
J Edgar Hoover Bldg  
9th St & Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20535

Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Attention FOIPA
P O Box 2118
Detroit MI 48231

Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Attention FOIPA
200 E Liberty
Ann Arbor MI 48104
313-995-1310

Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Attention FOIPA
P O Box 14195
Lansing MI 48901
517-487-1850

Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Attention FOIPA
2 Northfield Plaza
Troy MI 


Pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts,
5 USC 552, I am requesting copies of all information maintained by this
agency in the past 38 years that pertain to myself as described below:

Full Name:      William Allen Simpson
Also Known As:  Bill Simpson

Current Address: ---

Social Security No.: ---

Date and Place of Birth: ---

Other pertinent locations:    

    Ann Arbor, Michigan
    East Lansing, Michigan
    Lansing, Michigan
    Okemos, Michigan
    Waterford, Michigan
    


Date:____________   Signature:_______________________________________________


Subscribed and sworn to before me, this ____ day of ________________________,
of the year ____________.

Signature of Notary: ________________________________________________________

My commission expires: ____________
Follow-Ups: