THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 13, 2000
STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY
A final release of declassified documents that shed light on human
rights abuses, terrorism, and other acts of political violence in Chile
during and prior to the Pinochet era, requested by the National Security
Council, was scheduled to take place on September 14. The National
Security Advisor has decided to delay that release temporarily in order to
complete a further review of certain documents related to U.S. covert
action in Chile.
The purpose of the delay is to ensure that at the end of this process,
we can be confident that we have made the fullest possible disclosure of
documents, consistent with our obligation to protect legitimate national
security concerns, as the President directed.
We expect the delay to last no more than a few weeks. We will announce
the newly rescheduled release date as soon as possible.