27 May 2015

Agency Release Panel, c/o

Michael Lavergne
Information and Privacy Coordinator
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington DC 20505
Reference: F-2015-01266
Dear Mr. Lavergne:
This letter is to appeal the response of 15 April neither confirming nor denying the existence of records of
CIA contact with or briefing of the members of a delegation from the National Council of the Churches of
Christ which visited Moscow in March 1956.
The 1949 CIA Act, as amended, and the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, provide for the
protection of intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure. Invoking these protections
is moot, and the existence of the records, along with the records themselves, should be declassified and
released, as:
1) The intelligence sources are all deceased. No active CIA operation could be endangered through the
release of information about these men:
Decatur Ward Nichols, died January 24, 2005.
Henry Knox Sherrill, died May 11, 1980.
Eugene Carson Blake, died July 31, 1985.
Charles Parlin, died November 15, 1981.
Walter Van Kirk, died July 6, 1956.
Herbert Gezork, died October 1984.
Roswell Barnes, died December 21, 1990.
Franklin Clark Fry, died June 6, 1968.
Paul B. Anderson, died June 26, 1985.
2) The chief targets of the intelligence collection in question are deceased. No active CIA operation could
be endangered through the release of information about these men:
Metropolitan Nikolai, died December 13, 1961.
Patriarch Alexei, died April 17, 1970.
3) An unclassified 2013 report of an evaluation required by the 2010 Reducing Over-Classification Act
indicates that Agency staff routinely misapply derivative classifications:
Seventy-five percent of the sampled reports had inaccuracies in the declassification instructions
in the classification block. Discrepancies included: use of a 50-year declassification date when there was
no sensitive human source information to justify the extended period of classification;
This statement suggests that a routine 50-year classification of records to protect sensitive human sources
is common practice. Given that 59 years have elapsed since March 1956, prior administrative practice
suggests that records pertinent to my request should be declassified and released.

3) The method in question contacting and cultivating religious figures as sources of foreign intelligence
has been acknowledged by the CIA for the past 40 years.
The final report of the Church Committee in 1975 described CIA contact with clergy: The number of
American clergy or misionaries [sic] used by the CIA has been small. The CIA has informed the
Committee of a total of 14 covert arrangements which involved direct operational use of 21 individuals.
[http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs94th/94755_I.pdf p.202]
In 1996, Rodney I Page, deputy secretary general of the NCCC, testified before Congress that even
suspected CIA use of religious workers as intelligence assets undermined the workers credibility, and
placed their lives in danger. He added that it was widely known that the CIA operated under a general ban
on such use of religious workers and clergy, but could authorize exceptions to the ban. The substance of
CIA methodology is known.
[http://archive.org/stream/ciasuseofjournal00unit/ciasuseofjournal00unit_djvu.txt]
Thank you for your attention, and please contact me directly with any further questions.
Sincerely,

David Staniunas