 |
U.S. Department of State
Office of the Spokesman
Press Statement |
Press Statement by James B. Foley, Deputy Spokesman
June 30, 1999
Chile Declassification Project
Today the Department of State, the Central Intelligence
Agency, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Archives
are releasing newly declassified and other documents related to
events in Chile from 1973-78. These documents are part of a voluntary
review of U.S. Government files related to human rights abuses,
terrorism, and other acts of political violence prior to and during
the Pinochet era in Chile. National Security Council staff are
coordinating this interagency effort on behalf of the President.
Virtually all of the documents in the initial release
cover the period from 1973-78, which corresponds to the period
of the most flagrant human rights abuses in Chile. The process
of review continues, and additional documents from 1973-78 will
be released later this year, along with documents dated 1968-1973.
In a subsequent phase, agencies will review and release documents
dated 1979-91.
This initial release consists of over 5,800 documents,
including approximately 5,000 from the Department of State, 490
from the CIA, 200 from the National Archives, 100 from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and 60 from the Department of Defense.
A limited number of documents have not been released at this time,
primarily because they relate to an ongoing Justice Department
investigation of the murder of Ronni Moffitt and Orlando Letelier.
Information also has been withheld from some of the released documents
to protect the privacy of individuals, sensitive law enforcement
information, and intelligence sources and methods, or to prevent
serious harm to ongoing diplomatic activities of the United States.
A complete set of the released documents is available
for public review at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
They also are being released simultaneously in Chile. Documents
being released by the Department of State are accessible on the
Internet. Documents released
by other agencies will also be available at that internet address
by the middle of July.
[end of document]
|