Lt. General Robert Neller and Admiral William McRaven

NELLER and McRAVEN TIGHT LIPS DON’T SINK SHIPS AND NEITHER WILL THEY TELL YOU WHERE OSAMA SLEEPS WITH THE FISHES

JUDICIAL WATCH REFUSED INFO ON OSAMA BIN LADEN DEATH IN 2011 FOIA REQUEST

By Guy Dwyer for CPW News Service

The new Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corp who was selected over six four-star generals was announced today, July 1, 2015 in Washington D.C. by Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Some reporters were told that he  would not be answering questions about why his predecessor really resigned nor about a rumored Chuck Hagel book titled Why I Really Resigned My Job As Defense Secretary.

 

Lt. General Robert Neller is best remembered for his role as a co-defender of the actions taken by the U.S. military to bury Osama Bin Laden’s body at sea standing together with JSOC’s Admiral William McRaven, now the Chancellor of the University of Texas and the subject of Jeremy Scahill’s film Dirty Wars .

“With the Marine Corp as part of the USN, it’s understandable that the six Marine four-stars may feel passed over for Neller, but Neller is a neat and tight lipped leader.  Judicial Watch thought that the nation should have, in an age of DNA analysis and crime scene investigation that leads the world, more than some yet unproven facial recognition software analysis of a face that has been misshapen by lead bullets flying at Mach 3 and they say they confirmed the DNA, so show us!” said Orville T. Smithers of the Crime Scene Investigators for Proper Identification of Corpses in Denver, Colorado.

“We have the ability to do a DNA analysis of Osama’s tissue samples and in as much as his older brother Salem, an excellent jet pilot, flew an ultra-light airplane into  a high power line near Admiral McRaven’s boyhood home of San Antonio, Texas only two and half hours from where Salem had purchased the Houston Gulf Manor Airport, we should have done that with a credible autopsy team.  That Houston airport is where the NASA astronauts parked their private planes, but which was demolished after 911.    With the ultralight event later reported by CBS reporter Lowell Bergman as having been Salem’s BAC-111, a British Air jet instead of the borrowed nylon and tubing toy that flew like a drone into into the high voltage line and someone should have known that those Judicial Watch folks would be sticking a pointed stick into this dog pile,” said Smithers.   Salem Bin Laden and the Saudi royal family banker, Khalid Bin Mafouz, had bought the Houston airport with the help of George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard roommate, James R. Bath.

Smithers believes that hair follicles from the members of the Bin Laden family that was ushered quickly out of the country following 911 could have accurately identified Osama beyond a shadow of a doubt.  Smithers noted that no retraction of Lowell Bergman's story, believed from his role in the historic outing of big tobacco's long-standing bamboozle of the American public  through the denial of the health risks of tobacco, the film The Insider, was surely a reliable news source.  "Well, I'm still waiting for that retraction," said Smithers.

Smithers said that he was sure that there was some issue with Osama's body when he read a May 2, 2011,  6:40 a.m.,  story about the wood chipper used to dispose of his corpse on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson that was published even before the official release of the USS Vinson's role in what Smither's said "should have been a policing action that avoided the destruction of crime scene evidence.  We now live in a world where the push toward a military police state is quickly approaching Germany of the 1930's or of Augusto Pinoche's Chilian affairs or those of Anastosia Samoza, the business partner of Neal Blue and his brother in the Honduras banana business, later on," said Smithers noting that Neal Blue and his brother make the Predator and Reaper drones that fire depleted uranium shells also sourced by the Blue's uranium interests.

Meanwhile, readers of Emma Sky’s The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq about the fiasco that has become  the Iraqi civil war are encouraging Ms. Sky to quickly publish Unraveled Again: How the Invasion of Iran Will Fray Like Iraq But Keep the Munitions Makers and Oil Companies Happy.

The following is from Judicial Watch’s legal brief on their attempt to obtain solid evidence of Bin Laden’s identification:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA)

JUDICIAL WATCH, INC.,  Civil Action No.

Plaintiff, ) 1:11-cv-00890-JEB)

v. ) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, and )

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, Defendants. )

 

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, defendants U.S. Department of Defense and the Central

Intelligence Agency respectfully move the Court for summary judgment in their favor, as there is

no genuine issue of material fact precluding judgment in their favor. The reasons for defendants’

motion are set forth in the accompanying Memorandum of Law and attachments thereto.

Respectfully Submitted,

TONY WEST

Assistant Attorney General

IAN H. GERSHENGORN

Deputy Assistant Attorney General

JOSEPH H. HUNT

Director, Federal Programs Branch

RONALD C. MACHEN JR.

United States Attorney

/s/ Marcia Berman

ELIZABETH J. SHAPIRO (D.C. Bar No. 418925)

MARCIA BERMAN ((PA Bar No. 66168)

United States Department of Justice

Case 1:11-cv-00890-JEB Document 14 Filed 09/26/11 Page 1 of 29

Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch

20 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Room 7132

Washington, D.C. 20530

Tel.: (202) 514-2205

Fax: (202) 616-8470

Email: elizabeth.shapiro@usdoj.gov

marcia.berman@usdoj.gov

Attorneys for Defendants.

2

Case 1:11-cv-00890-JEB Document 14 Filed 09/26/11 Page 2 of 29

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

)

JUDICIAL WATCH, INC., )

Civil Action No.

Plaintiff, ) 1:11-cv-00890-JEB v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, and CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, Defendants. )

 

MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

INTRODUCTION

In this Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) case, plaintiff Judicial Watch, Inc. seeks

public disclosure of photographs and/or video recordings taken of Osama bin Laden during or

after the May 1, 2011 raid in Pakistan that resulted in bin Laden’s death. The Central

Intelligence Agency (“CIA”) located fifty-two responsive records but is withholding them in

their entirety pursuant to FOIA Exemption 1, which protects classified information from

disclosure, and Exemption 3, which incorporates other nondisclosure statutes. The CIA, the

Department of Defense (“DoD”), and indeed, the President, have all correctly determined that

images of Osama bin Laden after he was killed by United States forces must not be publicly

disclosed in the interest of national security. Among other reasons, the danger is simply too

great that dissemination of these images would inflame anti-American sentiments and provoke

violent attacks on the United States or its citizens abroad.

 

Case 1:11-cv-00890-JEB Document 14 Filed 09/26/11 Page 5 of 29

II. Plaintiff’s FOIA Requests and Lawsuit.

On May 2, 2011, Judicial Watch sent a request to the CIA and DoD under the FOIA

seeking “all photographs and/or video recordings of Osama (Usama) Bin Laden taken during

and/or after the U.S. military operation in Pakistan on or about May 1, 2011.” Declaration of

John Bennett, Director, National Clandestine Service (“NCS”), Central Intelligence Agency, at ¶

5 and Exhibit A (“Bennett decl.”); Declaration of William T. Kammer at ¶ 3 and Exhibit 1

(“Kammer decl.”). The agencies both provided interim responses stating that it was unlikely that

they would be able to provide substantive responses within the 20-day statutory time period

under FOIA. Bennett decl. at ¶ 7 and Exhibit B; Kammer decl. at ¶ 3 and Exhibit 2. On May 13,

2011, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against DoD seeking release of the requested records.

Subsequently, Judicial Watch amended its complaint to add the CIA as a defendant. The

defendant agencies answered the amended complaint on June 28, 2011.

III. Defendants’ Responses to Plaintiff’s FOIA Requests.

Following receipt of the plaintiff’s FOIA request, the CIA and DoD conducted searches

for responsive records. Both agencies thoroughly searched the components that were most likely

to have responsive records related to the May 1, 2011 operation. Bennett decl. at ¶ 10; Kammer

decl. at ¶¶ 4-8. DoD located no responsive records. Kammer decl. at ¶¶ 5, 7, 8. The CIA,

however, located a total of fifty-two unique responsive records. Bennett decl. at ¶ 11. These

records contain images of Osama bin Laden’s body after he was killed. Many are graphic and

gruesome, as they depict the fatal bullet wound to bin Laden’s head. Id. Some of the images

were taken inside the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden was killed. Other

images were taken as bin Laden’s body was transported from the Abbottabad compound to the

4

Case 1:11-cv-00890-JEB Document 14 Filed 09/26/11 Page 6 of 29

location where he was buried at sea. Id. Several images depict the preparation of Osama bin

Laden’s body for the burial as well as the burial itself. Id. Additionally, some of the images

were taken so that the CIA could conduct a facial recognition analysis in order to confirm that

the body was that of Osama bin Laden. The CIA’s facial recognition technology, which is

 

highly classified, compares unique facial features, such as bone structure, age spots, hair growth

patterns, and the size and shape of the eyes, ears, and nose, as well as the relative positioning of

facial features. Id. The CIA compared historic photographs of Osama bin Laden with some of

the responsive photographs and concluded with high confidence that the deceased individual was

in fact Osama bin Laden. Id.

The CIA withheld the fifty-two responsive records in their entirety pursuant to FOIA

Exemptions 1 and 3. 5 U.S.C. §§ 552(b)(1), (3); Bennett decl. at ¶¶ 13-34. The CIA

specifically determined that no reasonably segregable, non-exempt portions of the responsive

records could be released. Bennett decl. at ¶ 35. The withholdings are fully supported by

declarations submitted by (1) John Bennett, Director, National Clandestine Service, Central

Intelligence Agency; (2) Admiral William H. McRaven, Commander, United States Special

Operations Command; (3) Lieutenant General Robert B. Neller, Director of Operations, J-3, on

the Joint Staff at the Pentagon; and (4) William T. Kammer, Chief, Office of Freedom of

Information Division, Executive Services Directorate, Washington Headquarters Service, a

Component of DoD. DoD submits Admiral McRaven’s declaration in a classified form,

pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) (providing for in camera review) and case law authorizing

an agency to submit a classified declaration to augment its explanation of the harm to national

security where such explanation cannot be made on the public record. See., e.g., Hayden v. NSA,

5

Case 1:11-cv-00890-JEB Document 14 Filed 09/26/11 Page 7 of 29

608 F.2d 1381, 1384 (D.C. Cir. 1979); Public Education Center v. DoD, 905 F. Supp. 19, 22

(D.D.C. 1995). A redacted version of the classified declaration is appended to this

memorandum.