Richard Guthrie's BATF Files

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

INTELFILES has obtained more than 90 pages of documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms concerning Richard Guthrie, a white supremacist bank robber who may have been linked to the Oklahoma City bombing.

The files, linked below in PDF format, detail the ATF's investigation into the so-called Midwest Bank Robbers, aka the Aryan Republican Army.

More information on Guthrie -- and documents for the use of researchers -- can be found in the previous INTELWIRE article "The Trentadue Files."

A comprehensive summary of the case can be found in In Bad Company, a 2001 book by criminology professor Mark S. Hamm.

Please cite INTELWIRE if reporting from these documents.

INTELWIRE has several pending FOIA requests related to terrorist activities on U.S. soil. The FBI and other U.S. agencies have chosen to reject INTELWIRE's fee waiver requests. Some of these requests run into several hundred dollars. Donations to offset the cost of these efforts are appreciated.

The full documents are listed below. All redactions were made by the ATF and may be the subject of future appeals. The contents of these documents include ATF reports on the bank robberies themselves, movements of the gang and communication with the FBI regarding the suspects, as well as news clippings related to the stories. A detailed index is being prepared and will be posted on INTELWIRE in early 2006.

guthrie-batf-1.pdf
guthrie-batf-2.pdf
guthrie-batf-3.pdf
guthrie-batf-4.pdf
guthrie-batf-5.pdf
guthrie-batf-6.pdf
guthrie-batf-7.pdf
guthrie-batf-8.pdf

Labels: INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Richard-Lee-Guthrie

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CIA: Nizari Assassin Cult Is Classified Topic Due To National Security

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

All documents dealing with the 11th-century Assassin cult have been deemed classified by the CIA due to national security concerns, according to an Agency spokesman.

The classification was disclosed in a Dec. 15, 2005 letter (link to document), sent in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by INTELWIRE requesting any and all documents dealing with the Nizari Ismailis, more popularly known as the Assassins, and the cult's founder, Hassan i-Sabbah.

The letter cited a FOIA loophole which allows the agency to withhold documents because they are "properly classified pursuant to an executive order" by the president "in the interest of national defense or foreign policy." (link to text of exemptions)

The letter also claimed that the disclosure of such documents would compromise "intelligence sources and methods."

The specific exemptions cited are most often used in response to requests that would identify specific employees of the Agency. In such cases, the CIA refuses to confirm or deny that the requested documents exist, in order to prevent FOIA requesters from discovering -- even by implication -- whether a specific individual is employed by the CIA.

In keeping with the cited exemptions, the CIA refused to confirm or deny whether documents regarding the Assassin cult actually exist.

However, other requests by INTELWIRE for comparable material of primarily historical interest have been refused with an explanation that the documents could not be found, or a stipulation that the topic of the request is not relevant to the CIA's mission.

None of INTELWIRE's comparable historical requests were refused on the basis of the national security interest or disclosure of intelligence sources and methods exemptions.

J.M. Berger of INTELWIRE has written a four-part analysis, on behalf of the Rotten Library, which examines known parallels and even possible historical connections between al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups and the Nizari (link to index of stories).

INTELWIRE will file an administrative appeal of the FOIA refusal. The results of that appeal will be posted when they become available.

Labels: INTELWIRE-Exclusive

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink