Assassination Archives & Research Ctr. v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) CIA performed adequate search for certain records concerning the Kennedy assassination and it was not required to search its operational files merely because plaintiff speculated that certain individuals should have been targets of government investigations; further rejecting plaintiff’s argument that CIA’s failure to find more material, as well as plaintiff’s perceived importance of those records, undermined the adequacy of agency’s search efforts; and (2) although CIA’s use of Exemption 1 to withhold records over 50 years old was questionable, CIA properly relied on Exemption 3 in conjunction with the National Security Act and the Central Intelligence Agency Act; (3)(a) CIA met its burden to segregate and release non-exempt material; (b) CIA was not required to initiate a new search of the classified records retrieved from former President Trump, who plaintiff asserted “had expressed strong interest” in the subject; (c) plaintiff was not entitled to discovery merely because CIA initially denied having received plaintiff’s request; (d) if plaintiff seeks original (and perhaps more legible) FBI records, as opposed to the “blemished” records the CIA located in its files and referred to FBI, it must submit a request to the FBI.
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