SURC Deception

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

JCS's Strategic Planning Seminar 17-21 April 1972, Vol. I and II as described in the following link.

https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Deception.pdf
In April 1972, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sponsored a week-long Strategic
Planning Seminar concentrating on the question of deception. Seminar
presentations by participating U.S. Government departments and
agencies, and by the Syracuse University Research Corporation (SURC)
under contract to the Advanced Research Projects Agency, have been
summarized in JCS's Strategic Planning Seminar 17-21 April 1972, Vol. I
(SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM). They appear in full in a 525-page
Volume II which is TOP SECRET/ NO FOREIGN DISSEM.

I am requesting any studies published as part of this contract.

I have FOIA'd OSD/JCS and NARA unsuccessfully for relevant. Their guidance is below in case it is helpful.

I received the following guidance from the OSD/JS FOIA office.
OSD/JS GUIDANCE:
"DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION DIVISION 1155 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1155 Ref: 24-F-1590 September 5, 2024 Mr. Brian Mills MuckRock News, DEPT MR172822 263 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115 Dear Mr. Mills: This is a final response to your September 3, 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, a copy of which is enclosed for your convenience. The Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff (OSD/JS) FOIA office received your request on September 4, 2024, and assigned it FOIA case number 24-F-1590. We ask that you use this number when referring to your request. This FOIA office only processes requests for OSD/JS. There is no central FOIA processing point for records for the entire Department of Defense (DoD). FOIA processing is decentralized and delegated to those officials of the Military Departments and various DoD Components who generate and/or maintain the records being sought or reviewed. Although it is possible that the records you have requested were once maintained by the OSD/JS, due to the age of the records, if they still exist, they would be maintained at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), who operates their own FOIA program. NARA is the independent Federal agency that helps to preserve and care for records of historical value. For your convenience, contact information for the NARA office is provided below: The National Archives at College Park Office of General Counsel 8601 Adelphi Road NGC, Room 3110 College Park, MD 20740-6001 foia@nara.gov This action closes your request with this office, and there are no assessable fees associated with this response. If you have any questions or concerns about the foregoing or about the processing of your request, please do not hesitate to contact the Action Officer assigned to your request, Meghann Burgess, at meghann.l.burgess.ctr@mail.mil or 571-372-0437."

I received the following guidance from the National Archives FOIA office.
NARA GUIDANCE:
We searched series among the Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
(Record Group 218) which potentially could include copies of the volumes,
but we were unable to locate them. We searched under the designations in
the 500s in the filing scheme used at the time which deal with planning.
In particular, we searched central files of the Office of the Director of
the Joint Staff’s Joint Secretariat from 1972 under various levels of
access restrictions – A1 Entry 1-BB; A1 Entry 1-DD; A1 Entry 1-GG; and A1
Entry 1-II. We also consulted P-05D Entry 9, Joint History Office (JHO);
Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (OCJCS) Records;
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS); Admiral Moorer Diaries, July
1970-July 1974.
The citation also notes that the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
may have been involved. By April 1972, it was the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA). We do have records from ARPA and DARPA,
often in accessions among the Records of the Office of the Secretary of
Defense (Record Group 330). However, to conduct a search, we would need to
know what element within ARPA or DARPA was involved. If you know which
office may have contributed to the work on the volumes, please let us know.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Brian Mills

My initial request was badly worded but I am also requesting any studies (reports, analyses, etc.) generated as a result of ARPA's contract with SURC. I waive my request for the Joint Chiefs of Staff planning seminar documents.