Free Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:97-cv-00579-MCW

Document 144

Filed 09/14/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS SGS-92-X003, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 97-579C (Judge Williams)

DEFENDANT'S STATUS REPORT REGARDING ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS In accordance with the Court's order, dated July 2, 2007, we respectfully submit this status report to inform the Court that we have discovered additional relevant documents in this case, including Sensitive Activities Review Committee ("SARC") minutes from two SARC meetings. These SARC minutes are attached to this status report. As explained in the attached declaration of Ms. Pattie Hoffman, the additional documents were discovered in files that were long-forgotten and not known to contain documents relevant to the Princess case. When Ms. Hoffman (formerly, the secretary for Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") Administrator Constantine) came across these files while cleaning up a dormant "classified documents" file drawer, she immediately notified DEA legal counsel. When agency counsel obtained these documents, he forwarded the SARC committee minutes to Government counsel in this case and we immediately forwarded them to counsel for the Princess, Mr. Avery. We have subsequently secured Ms. Hoffman's declaration, explaining the circumstances of her discovering the documents,1 and examined the other documents in the "classified" file

Under the circumstances described in the delcaration, the discovery of these documents does not suggest that our previous, exhaustive searches for responsive discovery were, in any way, deficient. They were found in the custody of an individual who had previously searched

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Case 1:97-cv-00579-MCW

Document 144

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discovered by Ms. Hoffman to determine what may be provided to Mr. Avery. All of the documents in that file, except one, are now considered to be unclassified and we have provided them to Mr. Avery. The one document that remains classified is currently under classification review, but it does not discuss any promises of payment to the Princess. Upon the anticipated declassification of the remaining document, we will immediately provide it to Mr. Avery. We also note that, in accordance with the Court's July 9, 2007 order, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("the FBI") has obtained from storage its case file upon the Princess's kidnaping. The FBI is presently reviewing this file to determine whether the documents therein should remain classified. We will notify the Court when this review is complete. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General s/ Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director s/ J. Reid Prouty J. REID PROUTY Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel (202) 305-7586 Fax (202) 514-7969 Attorneys for Defendant

September 14, 2007

for them but had not recognized that they might be found in the no-longer-utilized file drawer. 2

Case 1:97-cv-00579-MCW

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Filed 09/14/2007

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Atchs: A. Declaration of Pattie Hoffman B. SARC minutes from August 25, 1994 and March 30, 1995

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