The DEA undertook a detailed analysis of the effect of the Freedom of Information Act on DEA’s investigative operations. Since 1977, reports had been received from various DEA field offices suggesting that the Freedom of Information Act was adversely affecting various types of DEA investigations. Nearly all of these reports indicated that the Freedom of Information Act-related effect on criminal investigations, on DEA’s relations with the private sector, and on the relationship between DEA and state and local police departments was primarily the result of the inability of the Federal government to offer credible assurances of confidentiality.

The Freedom of Information Act was enacted in 1966 to allow any person to request any record from a Federal agency. The statute, however, included nine exemptions which were intended to serve the protectable interests of the Federal government, private financial interests, and individual privacy rights. In 1974, the law was significantly amended to require Federal agencies to comply with strict procedures in the administrative handling of Freedom of Information Act requests and to make available certain previously exempt information relating to national defense and foreign policy as well as Federal law enforcement operations.

As currently written, the Freedom of Information Act allows Federal law enforcement agencies to withhold information if it is part of an investigative record compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that its disclosure would:

* Interfere with enforcement proceedings.

* Deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial Juris- diction.

* Constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

* Disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source.

* Disclose investigative techniques and procedures.

* Endanger the life or physicsd safety of law enforcement personnel.

However, reports received from DEA field offices suggested that the law was having a detrimental effect on enforcement efforts. DEA then initiated a study to measure the impact of the Freedom of Information Act to the agency’s overall enforcement efforts.

DEA Agents participating in the study clearly indicated that information disclosures made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act are adversely affecting their investigative efforts. Agents reported that intelligence information is not nearly so forthcoming as similar information prior to the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act.