LPDOC: 4 Directions - Withheld Documents

 

 
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Leonard Peltier

#89637-132

USP-Lewisburg

US Penitentiary

PO Box 1000

Lewisburg, PA 17837-1000

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FOIA and Documents Still Withheld by the U.S. Government

First, we ask that you sign the online petition for the release of all documents concerning the Peltier case.

We also ask you to write a letter to the congressional committees responsible for the administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) throughout the federal government.

Sample Letter

Honorable Diane Feinstein, Chairman

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security

Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510

(Insert Date)

Dear Senator Feinstein:

Leonard Peltier is a prominent Native American activist who is currently imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Leonard Peltier has been incarcerated for over 30 years as a result of a shoot-out at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (South Dakota) on June 26, 1975, that resulted in the deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a young Native American man.

Currently, Leonard Peltier's attorneys are attempting to secure his files from the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). FOIA requests have been made on Mr. Pelter's behalf to FBI Headquarters and its field offices around the country. 

There have been numerous unnecessary delays in the handling of the FOIA requests submitted on Mr. Peltier's behalf. For example, some FBI field offices have said that the scope of the inquiries outstrips their capacity to process the documents and referred the requests to FBI headquarters; the FBI Legal Attaché in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, has not responded to Leonard Peltier's request of January 9, 2002; and FBI Field Offices in Albany, Pittsburgh, Portland, and San Francisco claim that their files relating to Mr. Peltier have all been destroyed, some as early as September 1976.

I-along with Amnesty International and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights-urge that congressional hearings be held on the handling of Leonard Peltier's FOIA requests. The FBI must be required to divulge the exact number of documents it maintains on Leonard Peltier and the Field Offices that maintain these records; the total number of documents regarding this case that have been destroyed, as well as the date and authority under which records were destroyed; and whether or not any records dealing with Leonard Peltier have been transferred to any other agencies, as well as pertinent details of those transfers. 

More importantly, these documents-that are over 25 years old and historically significant-must be released. In 2002, Congressman Barney Frank arranged for the release of 30,000 documents for this very reason. However, tens of thousands more documents remain to be released. Previously released documents showed repeated instances of FBI misconduct and forced the government prosecutor to admit that the government does not know who shot their agents. The remaining documents may contain new evidence that may exonerate Leonard Peltier. These remaining documents must be released to the public without delay.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Signature

Also send a copy of your correspondence to each of the following members of Congress.

Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Chairman

Committee on the Judiciary

U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Honorable Henry A. Waxman, Chairman

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

U.S. House of Representatives

2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC  20515

Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman

Committee on the Judiciary

U.S. Senate

224 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC  20510

Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman, Chairman

Committee on Homeland Security

 and Governmental Affairs

U.S. Senate

340 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC  20510

ALERT! Letters to members of Congress are needed from residents of AK, AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, PR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, and WI. FBI Field Offices in these states continue to withhold documents related to the Peltier case. Refer to the below table. Adapt the above sample letter to write to your members of Congress. Refer to the specific field offices in your state and the number of documents being withheld by each office.

 

Field Office

No. of Pages

Alabama

 

Birmingham, AL

200

Mobile, AL

400

Subtotal

600

Alaska

 

Anchorage, AK

80

Arizona

 

Phoenix, AZ

1,268

Arkansas

 

Little Rock, AR

200

California

 

Los Angeles, CA

2,300

Sacramento, CA

2,550

San Diego, CA

723

San Francisco, CA

3,700

Subtotal

9,273

Colorado

 

Denver, CO

2,671

District of Columbia

 

Washington, DC

1,000

Florida

 

Miami, FL

200

Tampa, FL

330

Subtotal

530

Georgia

 

Atlanta, GA

535

Hawaii

 

Honolulu, HI

410

Illinois

 

Chicago, IL

2,525

Springfield, IL

374

Subtotal

2,899

Indiana

 

Indianapolis, IN

275

Kentucky

 

Louisville, KY

20

Maryland

 

Baltimore, MD

30

Massachusetts

 

Boston, MA

1,088

Michigan

 

Detroit, MI

40

Minnesota

 

Minneapolis, MN

90,000

Update:  77,149 pages were reviewed; 66,594 pages (in full or in part) were released; 10,555 pages are still being withheld in their entirety.

Mississippi

 

Jackson, MS

350

Missouri

 

Kansas City, MO

431

Saint Louis, MO

2,020

Subtotal

2,451

Nebraska

 

Omaha, NE

2,861

Nevada

 

Las Vegas, NV

954

New Mexico

 

Albuquerque, NM

3,550

New York

 

Albany, NY

64

New York, NY

File is "missing"

Subtotal

64+

North Carolina

 

Charlotte, NC

50

Ohio

 

Cincinnati, OH

19

Cleveland, OH

711

Subtotal

730

Oklahoma

 

Oklahoma City, OK

2,075

Oregon

 

Portland, OR

15,264

Pennsylvania

 

Philadelphia, PA

465

Pittsburgh, PA

400

Subtotal

865

Puerto Rico

 

San Juan, PR

200

South Carolina

 

Columbia, SC

200

Tennessee

 

Knoxville, TN

400

Memphis, TN

221

Subtotal

621

Texas

 

Dallas, TX

700

El Paso, TX

37

Houston, TX

300

San Antonio, TX

77

Subtotal

1,114

Utah

 

Salt Lake City, UT

1,500

Virginia

 

Norfolk, VA

400

Richmond, VA

82

Subtotal

482

Washington

 

Seattle, WA

3,200

Wisconsin

 

Milwaukee, WI

9,654

TOTAL

157,843+

Copyright 2008 Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee. Page Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 July 2008 04:47 PM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.