![]() Whose Files Are Now Declassified? The CIA and the IWG have tackled the most prominent individuals first: Adolf Hitler, Klaus Barbie, Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Heinrich Mueller, and Kurt Waldheim. ![]() Although the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a predecessor of the CIA, CIA name files often do not contain relevant OSS records, many of which are among the holdings of the National Archives. In some cases CIA records contain documents originating with other American agencies, but the CIA file is not a complete collection of all American records (or even all CIA records) on the individual. Documents in the file may include published materials, declassified documents available elsewhere, interrogations, confidential reports from agents or informants, internal communications about these individuals, and CIA analytical reports. What is a CIA name file? Each name file is a collection of diverse information on an individual. These redactions are generally very narrow, and in the view of the IWG's historians the resulting documents are clear enough to be used for historical analysis. The CIA has permitted cleared members of the IWG staff and staff historians to review these redactions. Some still sensitive information has been redacted in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. Absent the Disclosure Act, it is highly unlikely that many of these records would have been declassified and opened for many years. ![]() The CIA's release of these records is welcome and newsworthy. The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG) ultimately expects to receive several hundred Nazi-related files from the CIA. One additional CIA file discussed here (the Hitler file) was opened in December 2000. Nineteen CIA "name files" being opened today represent the first significant products of this search within CIA records. In other cases a CIA file on an individual contains evidence about criminal activity by others. The Central Intelligence Agency has now located and declassified files on a substantial number of individuals suspected of involvement in criminal activity for the Nazi regime or its allies and satellites. A second target of this law was information about any individuals with Nazi pasts who may have been used as intelligence sources and protected against prosecution after World War II. The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998 initiated a search for information in classified American government records about the Holocaust and other war crimes committed by Nazi Germany or its allies. Richard Breitman, Professor of History,Īmerican University, IWG Director of Historical Research Records of the Central Intelligence Agency (RG 263) April, 2001 By Dr.
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