Final Report of the Nazi War Crimes & Japanese
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Nazi War Crimes & Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group Final Report to the United States Congress April 2007 Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group Final Report to the United States Congress Published April 2007 1-880875-30-6 “In a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.” — Albert Camus iv IWG Membership Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, Chair Thomas H. Baer, Public Member Richard Ben-Veniste, Public Member Elizabeth Holtzman, Public Member Historian of the Department of State The Secretary of Defense The Attorney General Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Security Council Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Nationa5lrchives ~~ \T,I "I, I I I"" April 2007 I am pleased to present to Congress. Ihe AdnllniSlr:lllon, and the Amcncan [JeOplc Ihe Final Report of the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Rcrords Interagency Working Group (IWG). The lWG has no\\ successfully completed the work mandated by the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act (P.L. 105-246) and the Japanese Imperial Government DisdoSUTC Act (PL 106·567). Over 8.5 million pages of records relaH:d 10 Japanese and Nazi "'ar crimes have been identifIed among Federal Go\emmelll records and opened to the pubhc. including certam types of records nevcr before released. such as CIA operational Iiles. The groundbrcaking release of Lhcse ft:cords In no way threatens lhe Malio,,'s sccurily. Rather, it has enhanced public confidence III government lranspari:ncy. In ord.:r 10 aVOId further delay of the release of Ihls report. members of Ihe lWG did nOI seek unanimous agreement on a single "officiaJ" version of Ihelr declassificauon effort. Inslead. this report presents the larger Issues Ihat arose while affording participants an opportunIty to present personal or tnS\l1ullonal perspecllvCS on issues important to them and to those whom Ihey represent. These appear 1n a separate chapter allhe end ofthe report. It is my sincere hope that this rcport will produce 111 Congr~'Ss. the Admll1istnltlon, and the pubhc a greater appreClallOn oflhe enormous human and [mancial resources required to declassify important U.s. Government records and makc them publicly available in a timely manner. Moreover. I have no doubl that in the years ahead Ihese records---.-and this report "ill be used 10 the fullest capacity by researchers throughout the", orld. !l11_[,L,r_ ALLEN WEINSTEIN Arehivist ofthe United States vi IWG Steven Hamilton (Archives Specialist) Allen Weinstein (Chair, 2006-2007) Miriam Kleiman (Researcher) Stewart Aly, Department of Defense Sean Morris (Researcher) Edward Arnold, Department of the Army Richard Myers (Senior Archivist) Susan Arnold, National Security Agency Whitney Noland (Researcher) Thomas Baer, Public Member Michael Petersen (Researcher) Steve Baker, FBI Jack Saunders (Contract Specialist) Richard Ben-Veniste, Public Member Robert Skwirot (Researcher) Christina Bromwell, Department of Defense Eric Van Slander (Researcher) Paul Claussen, Department of State David Van Tassel (Staff Director) John E. Collingwood, FBI Richard Corriveau, National Security Agency Historical Staff Brian Downing, Department of State Richard Breitman, American University Wayne Dunaway, National Security Agency Edward Drea, Center of Military History (retired) Steven Garfinkel (Acting Chair, 2000-2006), NARA Norman Goda, Ohio University David Holmes, CIA James Lide, History Associates Incorporated Elizabeth Holtzman, Public Member Marlene Mayo, University of Maryland, College Park William Hooton, FBI Timothy Naftali, University of Virginia Eleni Kalisch, FBI Robert Wolfe, NARA Carol Keeley, FBI Daqing Yang, George Washington University Michael Kurtz (Acting Chair, 1999-2000), NARA Harold J. Kwalwasser, Department of Defense Consultants Michael Leahy, Citizenship and Immigration Services Patricia Bogen (Administrative Assistant) William Leary, National Security Council Giuliana Bullard (Public Relations) Shelly Lopez-Potter, Department of the Navy J. Edwin Dietel (Auditor) David Marwell, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Kirk Lubbes (Contract Management) David Patterson, Department of State John Pereira (Auditor) Steven Raho, Department of the Army Kris Rusch (Editor) Steven Rogers, Department of Justice Raymond Schmidt (Reviewer) Elaine Rogic, Department of the Army Larry Taylor (Executive Director) Eli Rosenbaum, Department of Justice Lisa Scalatine, Department of the Navy Historical Advisory Panel Paul Shapiro, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Gerhard Weinberg (Chair), University of North Carolina, William Slany, Department of State Chapel Hill Marc Susser, Department of State Rebecca Boehling, University of Maryland, Baltimore Andrew Swicegood, Department of the Army County Elizabeth B. White, Department of Justice James Critchfield, Central Intelligence Agency (deceased) (CIA members names withheld) Carol Gluck, Columbia University Robert Hanyok, National Security Agency IWG Staff at NARA Peter Hayes, Northwestern University Greg Bradsher (Senior Archivist) Linda Goetz Holmes, Independent Scholar Paul Brown (Researcher) Christopher Simpson, American University William Cunliffe (Senior Archivist) Ronald Zweig, New York University vii Table of Contents Preface . .xi Abbreviations and Acronyms . .xvi 1 . Introduction . .1 2 . The Nature of War Crimes Records . .5 Previously Available War Crimes Records . .5 Nazi War Crimes Records . .5 Japanese War Crimes Records . 7 Intelligence Records and Foreign Government Information . 8 3 . Background of the Acts . .11 U S. Government Use of Axis Criminals and their Collaborators . .11 Searching for Axis Criminals in the United States . 14 Tracing Stolen Assets . 18 Japan Under Scrutiny . 20 Passage of the Statutes . .21 4 . Overview of the IWG and its Functions . .25 IWG Personnel . .25 Staff . .26 Historians . .26 The Historical Advisory Panel . .26 IWG Audit Team . .26 Statutory Functions of the IWG . .26 Locating Records . .27 Reviewing Records for Relevance . .30 Declassifying Relevant Records . .31 Overseeing Agency Implementation of the Disclosure Acts . .38 Releasing Declassified Records to the Public . .39 Making Documents Publicly Accessible . .40 Costs . 41 5 . Agency Implementation of the Acts . .43 Central Intelligence Agency . 45 Department of Defense – Air Force . 51 Department of Defense – Army . .52 Department of Defense – National Security Agency . .57 Department of Defense – Navy . .59 Department of Justice – Criminal and Civil Divisions . .60 Department of Justice – Immigration and Naturalization Service (U S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) . 61 Department of Justice – OSI . 62 Department of Justice – U S. Pardon Attorney . 64 Department of State . 65 Department of the Treasury . .68 Federal Bureau of Investigation . .69 National Archives And Records Administration . .72 Other Agencies . .75 viii 6 . Findings and Policy Recommendations . .77 7 . Perspectives . .81 Thomas H . Baer . .83 Richard Ben-Veniste . .85 Elizabeth Holtzman . .90 Eli M . Rosenbaum . .95 CIA . 99 Marc J . Susser . 101 Appendices Appendix 1 . IWG Members, Staff, and Consultants . .107 Appendix 2 . Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act (P L. 105-246) . 109 Appendix 3 . Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act (P L. 106-567) . 112 Appendix 4 . Honoring the Life of Stan Moskowitz . 115 Appendix 5 . Previously Opened War Crimes Related Documents . 116 Appendix 6 . The Tasking Orders . 117 Appendix 7 . Memorandum on Relevancy, 26 July 2001 . 122 Appendix 8 . Guidance to Agencies on Foreign Government Information . 127 Appendix 9 . Guidance on Privacy . ..