Central Intelligence Agency Washington D C 20505 11 April 2019 Mr John P Fitzpatrick Senior Director Records Access and Information Security Management National Security Council Executive Office of the President Washington DC 20506 Dear Mr Fitzpatrick Per President Barack Obama's direction on 4 January 2017 see attached the Central Intelligence Agency CIA completed its search for and review of CIA records related to human rights abuses committed during the Argentine military dictatorship between 1975 and 1984 CIA utilized search strategies tailored to its specific missions and record-keeping systems that were determined likely to surface relevant materials in our record holdings including searches of electronic and hard copy files in classified and unclassified systems CIA reviewed 918 relevant records totaling 16 403 pages of material During its review of these records CIA protected information from public release in instances where the disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the national security in accordance with Executive Order 13526 Classified National Security Information where otherwise authorized by applicable law such as intelligence sources and methods and internal CIA information as required by section 102A i of the National Security Act of 1947 as amended and section 6 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 as amended or where disclosure of the information would constitute a unwarranted invasion of personal privacy As a result of these efforts CIA approved for release 124 records in full and 691 records in part and denied 103 records in their entirety CIA is prepared to publically release those records approved for release in full and in part on 11 April 2019 Sincerely Milton R Downs Enclosure CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY - ARGENTINA DECLASSIFICATION PROJECT NARRATIVE This narrative provides a detailed summary of actions undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency CIA in response to a Presidential Tasking via the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council NSC on 13 June 2016 The Presidential Task directed various Executive branch dep utments and agencies to search for records related to human rights abuses committed in Argentina between 1 January 1975 and 31 December 1984 and to review those records for potential declassification and public release As described below CIA developed for this effort a search and review strategy designed to identify declassify and release to the public responsive information to the greatest extent possible consistent with applicable law Records determined to be responsive were reviewed for public access using standards established in Section 3 of Executive Order E O 13526 Classified National Security Information and common public release standards agreed to by all p uticipating agencies Search Methodology CIA se u·ched for responsive records utilizing the date range and the 19-page list of search terms that the NSC provided to agencies CIA also employed logical variants of the provided search terms to ensure that the search identified all responsive records CIA searched all electronic databases and paper records likely to contain responsive records The Directorate of Operations responsible for the clandestine collection of foreign intelligence from human sources covert action and paramilitary operations the Directorate of Analysis responsible for analyzing interpreting and forecasting foreign intelligence issues and world events of importance to the United States and producing finished intelligence reports for dissemination to US Government policymalcers the Office of the Director of CIA the Office of Congressional Affairs Office of Public Affairs and the Office of General Counsel were the CIA directorates and offices reasonably likely to possess records responsive to the Presidential Task Since CIA's records are decentralized and compartmented records management specialists in each of these directorates and offices identified the specific databases and files that were likely to contain responsive records Among the systems databases searched were those that contain previously-released records indices of archived records and records from various CIA components and offices In addition CIA conducted manual searches of relevant archived paper records that were likely to contain responsive material CIA included as responsive all records pertaining to human rights abuses in Argentina during the relevant time period The searches en-ed on the side of inclusiveness and yielded 1 395 records initially determined responsive to the Presidential Tasking Duplicate Records and Best Available Copies During both the search and review phases CIA sought to identify all duplicate records to reduce the number of times a single record appeared within the final collection of responsive records Duplicates were removed The responsive records included in the collection represent the best available copies For example due to the age of some records the only available copies located in CIA' s electronic files contain redactions made manually on the paper records prior to digitization Review Methodology CIA reviewed all records located during the search phase of this project Analysts studied each record to detemJine if it was responsive and not duplicated elsewhere in the collection After review 918 records were deemed responsive and cover a wide range of topics related to human rights abuses in Argentina during the relevant time period including the activities of left-wing terrorists coup attempts and political instability and arrests of Argentine and foreign nationals by nJilitary and security forces outside the law CIA performed a tine-by-line word-for-word review of each responsive record to identify all information suitable for public release In addition CIA reviewed responsive records a niinimum of six times using different reviewers of increasing seniority to ensure consistency Thirty-five records were referred to other US Goverrunent agencies for review of their equities '· Previously-Released Information CIA consulted various sources including certain public websites to confirm whether information had been previously officially released by the US Government When CIA confirmed that CIA or other agencies previously released information CIA released the same infonnation in this collection In addition CIA reviewed responsive records that had been previously publicly released to deternJine whether additional information from those records could be released Information Exempted from Disclosure CIA withheld responsive information only in the following circumstances 1 Where the information could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the national security in accordance with Section 3 3 of E O 13526 or 2 Where otherwise authorized by applicable law such as intelligence sources and methods and internal CIA information as required by section 102A i of the National Security Act of 1947 as amended 50 U S C § 3024 i l and section 6 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 as amended 50 U S C § 3507 or 3 Where the disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy in accordance with the protections afforded to certain personal information through section 6 2 d of E O 13526 In addition information within responsive records that was not deemed responsive to the Presidential Task was redacted as Non-Responsive 2 Conclusion As a result of CIA's effo1ts which involved approximately 40 officers and approximately 12 000 hours spent CIA identified 918 responsive records-totaling approximately 16 403 pages of material-relating to human rights abuses in Argentina during the period specified After the review of those records CIA declassified and approved for public release 124 records without redactions and 691 records with ce1tain information withheld for the reasons set forth above totaling 15 471 pages CIA denied 103 records in their entirety on the basis of their continued classification and or statutory protection Questions regarding ClA's search and review should be directed to the CIA Office of Public Affairs at https www cia gov index html# 3