FBI releases small part of Vice President's FBI records, withholds 89 percent of files

John Byrne
Published: Tuesday June 6, 2006

Won't release any of Cheney's FBI security reviews

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has refused to turn over 89 percent of Vice President Dick Cheney's FBI records in response to a request for the records under the Freedom of Information Act.

In all, the bureau has released 112 of 1061 pages reviewed during a two-year investigation following a request by San Francisco blogger Michael Petrelis. Petrelis filed the request prior to the 2004 election. Portions of nearly all pages released have been redacted.

The release does not foreclose the possibility that the FBI may turn over more files in the future. But it remains striking -- an aide to the FBI Freedom of Information Act office told RAW STORY in February that 783 pages had been approved for release; it appears now that many of the pages were blocked from release by the department's declassification office, which is required to review all of the pages before releasing them (Read our February article here).

As a whole, the documents released do not shed substantial light on the workings of government or of Cheney's dealings with security and the law.

The first of the files relate to Cheney's FBI field review when he was appointed to serve in the Nixon White House. The request, made by Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs John Ehrlichman, was filed Aug. 28, 1969. Ehrlichman later became famous for his creation of the "Plumbers," the group at the center of the Nixon Watergate scandal. The Nixon adviser resigned in 1973 and served 18 months in prison for obstruction of justice.

The FBI declined to release the results of any of the Vice President's FBI field reviews, conducted repeatedly since 1969 for various federal appointments under several Republican Administrations. The records show that such investigations occurred in 1969, 1974 and 1989.

None of the records show any negative information uncovered about Cheney. They do however include basic information on a lawsuit filed for Freedom of Information records in 1991, when Cheney was Secretary of Defense.

According to a 1989 memorandum, "No character/efficiency ratings were shown and there was no derogatory information in his records."

RAW STORY is printing 20 of the released pages. Additional pages are available upon inquiry, though none shed significant light on Cheney's political career.

The FBI is not compelled to turn over many of the Vice President's files due to exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act. According to a letter from the bureau, records were withheld for various reasons, including: 1) that some files are classified and could jeopardize national security 2) that some files are related to the internal personnel rules and regulations of a federal agency 3) that some memorandums would only be made available through litigation 4) that some files would violate personal or medical privacy of the Vice President and 5) that some files could reasonably be interpreted as violating the confidentiality of a confidential source that provided information to the agency on a confidential basis.

Petrelis made the Freedom of Information Act request in 2004 along with a request for files relating to President George W. Bush. He requested that the files be expedited in Sept. 2004, a month before the presidential election, citing the fact that myriad pages of Sen. John Kerry’s (D-MA) FBI files had already been released. He received 20 pages on President George W. Bush in April 2005.

Read Petrelis' blog here.

READ CHENEY'S FBI FILES AND THE FBI RESPONSE HERE