DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS QUANTICO VIRGINIA HQ OSI/XILI Attn: FOIA Section 27130 Telegraph Rd Quantico VA 22134 Mr. John Greenewald, Jr. 27305 W. Live Oak Rd. Suite #1203 Castaic CA 91384
[email protected] Dear Mr. Greenewald, Jr, This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, dated 16 December 2019 which has been assigned tracking number 2020-02087-F. Information from OSI criminal investigative records are exempt from release under the Privacy Act, Title 5 United States Code (USC) Section 552a (j)(2). In order to provide you the maximum amount of releasable information, we are processing your request under the FOIA. Since portions of the information requested are also exempt from disclosure under the FOIA, we have inserted the exemptions below in the attached document(s). a. Exemption (b)(6) permits the withholding of all information about individuals in personnel and medical files and similar files when the disclosure of such information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. b. Exemption (b)(7)(C) provides protection for personal information in law enforcement records the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The authority for the exemptions used can be found in 5 U.S.C. 552, DoDM 5400.07, Freedom of Information Act Program, and DoD 5400.7-R_AFMAN 33-302. You can also access information on the Air Force FOIA program via the Air Force FOIA page at http://www.foia.af.mil/. If you interpret my response as not fully complying with your request, you may appeal this decision with the Secretary of the Air Force by email to
[email protected]; mail to OSI/XILI, ATTN: FOIA Office, 27130 Telegraph Rd, Quantico, VA 22134; or fax to (571) 305-8229 no later than 90 calendar days from the date of this letter. Include your reason(s) for reconsideration and attach a copy of this letter. You may also contact the Air Force FOIA Public Liaison Officer, Ms. Anh Trinh, concerning this final response at AF FOIA Public Liaison Office (SAF/CN), 1800 Air Force Pentagon, Washington, DC 20330-1800,
[email protected] or (703) 614-8500. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at
[email protected]; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1- ROXANNE M. JENSEN Chief, Information Release Branch Attachment: Cy of Redacted Document(s) FilE NUMBER AFOSIINVESTIGATIVE COMMUNICATION fROM: AFOSI Detac hment 334 DATE OF TRANSMITTAL TO: Office oflhe SecreTary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon 1165 Air Force Pentagon, Room 5EI037 Washington. force O ffice ofSpeeiallnvestigations Detachment 334, Case#: 3290517356125, December 2017. 12/17, Unautoorized Disclosure of Potentially C lassified DOD Videos . REfERENCES ITEII(S) CHECKED ARE APPLICABLE TO ABOVE SUBJECT 1. INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN INITIATED AND REPORTS WILL BE FORWAROED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I./' 2. THIS MATTER IS PENDING ./' CLOSED 3 . REQUEST REPORT OF ACTION TAKEN (AFR 124-'4) I./' 4. NOTE RESTRICTIVE LEGENDS ON FRONT OF THE ATTACHMENT(S) 5 . REQUEST INSTRUCTIONS AS TO DISPOSITION OF EVIDENCE LISTED BELOW I./' 6. ATTACHEO IS FORWARDED fOR INFORMATION ../ ACTION 7. INVESTIGATIONISUMMARYATTACHED 8. REQUEST STATUS OF THIS MATTER ANDIOR DATE REPORT MAV BE EXPECTED 9. REFER ATTACHED TO INTERESTED COMMANDER fOR INfORMATION OR ACTION IF NOT PREVKJUSl Y REPORTED YMEN ATTACHMENT(SI IS/ARE REMOVED. THE CLASSifICATION OF THISCQRRESPONOENCE Wlll8E RETAINED DOWNGRADED TO CANCELED CASE AGENT: (U) SA FX BACKGROUND, I AfOSI Detachment (Det) 334 Pentagon. Washington, DC. (Gil I GGO) This investigation was initiated on 22 Dec 17 following the 16 Dec 17 releas e ofa video of two F-18 Hornets ~bje" (UFO) '0 'he Now Yo'" Times new, , The 'ideo in nam,d "Gimb'." was was ,if,hopmDO' i ." "i"d p,;ono ,h",'..,. of' 1 '_'_' news , ......... _. '-t"o .. I rogram. w Ie locuse researe Issues on nt enttle Flying Objects. (BIll gGc) Pr ior 10 SUBJECT's departure from the DoD in October 2017. he submined a request to have three classified videos downgraded via a DO Form 1910 "CLEARANCE REQUEST FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE INFORMATION." to Civf D)(6); (b)(7)(C) !Defense Office of Republication and Security Review, Pentagon, Washington. D.C. The v ideos were "GoFast," "Gimble," and "FUR," all three videos were classified ........ The downgrade request was submitted on 9 Aug 17. but there was no indication the request was ever gramed . (Agent Note: The DD Form 1910 was Ihe form provided, but was not a form used for the declassification process. The DO 19 10 is used for the public release of 0 00 information.) The request for release there was no indication the v ideos would be release to any fleWS media OUllet. The reason for publicalion was listed as, '"Not Applicable. Not for publication. Research and analysis ONLY and info sharing with othe~. USG la.niu partners f(lr the purposes of developing a database 10 help identify. analyze. and ultimately defeat UAS threals." I~)(~); _ ISIa""led he would not have approved the videos for release to Ihe media. AdditionaJJy.[b)(6); rever received " "fi,m'''iooj the videos were declassified. COPIES TO: J -USD(I) REMARKS (CDfllil1uecf) 181 i QQ') On 9 Mar I g. AFOSI Detachment 334 (OET), Pentagon, Washington. DC. received confirmation from Civ roM); (bX?C) I U,naulhorized Disclosure Office. 155? Crystal ~ity Driv~. Arlington. VA the .v~d~os released by SU.BJECT to the media were detennmed to be 611 i Q 3 O. !FX6); ~ubmltted the videos to CI~X6). (bX XC) IDlvlslon , . Center - Aircraft Division. Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD, who in tum s ubmitted the videos -,~.'<riOi:he"Railiiriiiid-' Deputy Security Manager, FA-18 Program Office. Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD. who senlthe I EO_IR IPT office. The resu lt was "No se nsitive symbology or O(her items ofconcem." (H:: 2 1 I) On 12 Mar: 8, DET 334 conducted an the videos did nO( go through tt.e proper channels to obtain their declass ification, a lthough the not undergo the formal declassification process just because they released to there was no indication the videos were classified in the first I I 00% of all F- I vtdeos go . office for "",,,--_-, lassification and public: release,FbX ); I stated the videos which SUBJECT released never went thro ugh his office. fbX~);. explained there were no identifying features on the videos to determine when or where Ihe videos came from in order to find out who would ha ve originally classified them. This made it difficult to find the exact videopiX6); !explained individual units kept of their footage, but did not keep every video, Some videos were ke t for trainin uses and so me for situations such as SUBJECT's public release of unauthorized video X7XE) (" 'TT 10) On 13 Apr I gfbX~);,_ ~ontacted S ''''X;6;)';~;X;7X;C~)::::;-an-d~C<l-n~fi~'nn-e~d-'h~.-t-.:ft-,,-e-r-n-d~"-ct~1"-g-a-n-o-m=-"~ia~,Jclassification review. th e three videos obtained by SUBJECT were confirmed to be UNCLASSIFIED., X~);_ stated the Unauthorized Disclosure Progrtlm Management Office considered the matter closed. CONCLUSION, AFOSI Det 334 considers this matter closed and will forward the appropriate documentation to the Under Secretary of Defense Intelligence. Pentagon, Washington DC for action. AFOSt FORM 158. 01 SEPTEMBER 1984 (Continuation Sheet) (IMTV3) T h e B lack Vault The Black Vault is the larges t o n l ine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) document clearinghouse in the world. The research efforts here are responsible for the declassification of hundreds of thousands of pages released by the U.S. Government & Military. Discover the Truth a t : h t tp://www.theblackvault.com This document is made av a i l a b l e through the declassification efforts and research of John Greenewald, Jr., creator of: