Declaration Of Alesia Y. Williams.pdf

I am the Chief of the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") and Declassification Services Office for the Defense Intelligence Agency ("DIA"), which is part of the Department of Defense ("DOD"). I have served as the Chief of the FOIA and Declassification Services Office since June 2014.

2. As Chief of the FOIA and Declassification Services Office, I have been designated by the DIA Director as a declassification authority pursuant to Executive Order 13526 § 3.1. This authority extends to all information that is classified by, originated by, or that is otherwise under the declassification purview of DIA.

3. In the course of my official duties at DIA, I have become personally familiar with the FOIA request submitted by Alexander Abdo of the American Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU").

4. DIA's mission is to collect, analyze, and provide intelligence on the military capabilities of foreign military forces to the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other DOD components.

5. By letter dated May 13, 2013, Mr. Abdo submitted a FOIA request to DIA for records pertaining to Executive Order 12,333, C.F.R 200 (1981 Comp.) ("E.O. 12,333").

6. On June 6, 2013, DIA's FOIA Office sent a letter to Mr. Abdo confirming receipt of his FOIA request and informing Mr. Abdo that his request had been placed in DIA's queue and would be worked in the order the request was received.

7. On November 6, 2013, DIA's FOIA Office sent another letter to Mr. Abdo updating him on the status of his FOIA request and informing Mr. Abdo that his request fell within DIA's "Complex Track" for FOIA processing.

8. By letter dated November 8, 2013, Mr. Abdo informed DIA that the twenty-day statutory time period had elapsed without DIA's production of responsive records.

9. On December 30, 2013, the ACLU filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York claiming that Mr. Abdo had not received any substantive response from DIA regarding his May 13, 2013, FOIA request.

10. In response to Mr. Abdo's FOIA request, the DIA FOIA Office consulted with the DIA Office of the General Counsel (DIA OGC) to determine which DIA offices or elements were likely to maintain documents responsive to his request.

11. Through this process, DIA identified ten documents responsive to Mr. Abdo's request. Each document was forwarded to the DIA FOIA Office for review and response to the requester.

12. On September 22, 2014, DIA released, through counsel, ten documents to plaintiff, which were numbered V-1 through V-10.