Join us in the reading room..Find out what's new, read the dirty linen (for some reason we've called some of it "The Family Jewels" 
)...check out our new look, our top searches! and frequently asked questions
FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Electronic Reading Room
The CIA has established this site to provide the public with an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents. Because of CIA's need to comply with the national security laws of the United States, some documents or parts of documents cannot be released to the public. In particular, the CIA, like other U.S. intelligence agencies, has the responsibility to protect intelligence sources and methods from disclosure. However, a substantial amount of CIA information has been and/or can be released following review. See "
Your Rights" for further details on the various methods of obtaining this information.
What's New at FOIA?
Site last updated: June 26, 2007
CIA Releases Two Significant Collections of Historical Documents
Two significant collections of previously classified historical documents are now available in the CIA's FOIA Electronic Reading Room.
The first collection, widely known as the
"Family Jewels," consists of almost 700 pages of responses from CIA employees to a 1973 directive from Director of Central Intelligence James Schlesinger asking them to report activities they thought might be inconsistent with the Agency's charter.
The second collection, the
CAESAR-POLO-ESAU papers, consists of 147 documents and 11,000 pages of in-depth analysis and research from 1953 to 1973. The CAESAR and POLO papers studied Soviet and Chinese leadership hierarchies, respectively, and the ESAU papers were developed by analysts to inform CIA assessments on Sino-Soviet relations.
Top Searches!
The Frequently Requested Records section now shows May's
Top 25 Most Requested Documents and
April & May's Top 25 Search Phrases.
New Look!
On May 14, the CIA unveiled its newly-designed Web site. The FOIA Electronic Reading Room has likewise updated its look to match. Organization of the FOIA site is still the same, so all of your favorite sections and bookmarks should still be the same. More on the new site design may be read
here.
Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Report Now Available
The latest Annual Report may now be downloaded in
Microsoft Word,
Acrobat (PDF), and
Plain text formats.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conveniently located in the left navigation bar is a collection of
Frequently Asked Questions about this site and procedures.
Improving Agency Disclosure of Information
Plan and Report of the Central Intelligence Agency Submitted to the Attorney General of the United States and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget In Compliance with Executive Order 13392.
This report is the response of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to Section 2(b) of Executive Order 13392 which requires the Chief Freedom of Information Act Officer of each federal agency subject to the FOIA to develop an "agency-specific plan to ensure that the agency's administration of the FOIA is in accordance with applicable law and the policies set forth in section 1 of this Order." PDF format, 410k.
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