Dear Ms. Clark, I have considered your request that we remove Army publications from the Federation of American Scientists web site. For the reasons below, I have decided not to comply. You indicate that we have posted Army documents "illegally." That is not true. The posted documents are "works of the United States Government" under 17 U.S.C. 101. Such items cannot be copyrighted, as explained in 17 U.S.C. 105. Nor to my knowledge is there any other law that would prohibit posting of such documents on a public or private web site. You threaten unspecified "further action" if we do not comply with Army regulations governing distribution of records marked "For Official Use Only." But the Federation of American Scientists, a non-governmental organization, is not a component of the U.S. Army and is not subject to internal Army regulations, including regulations on FOUO documents. Accordingly, our publications are not illegal nor in violation of any applicable regulation. I recognize that the Army has a legitimate interest in ensuring that its online publications are authentic and up to date. I have therefore added a disclaimer to our Army doctrine web page, indicating that ours is not an official U.S. Army web site. I have also provided direct links to the five official web sites. http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/index.html I believe this addresses the substance of your concerns, if not the details. ______________________________ Steven Aftergood Project on Government Secrecy Federation of American Scientists web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html email: saftergood@fas.org voice: (202) 454-4691 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PDF Version From: Electronic Publications (APD) [mailto:EPUBS@hqda.army.mil] Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 9:38 AM To: Aftergood, Steven Subject: Army Publications (UNCLASSIFIED) Importance: High Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE You have Army Publications hosted on your website illegally, there are only 5 Official Army Publications Sites. You are not one of them, you can link to our publications, but you cannot host them. AR 530-1 is a FOUO publication, it is not intended for Public release. Please remove this publication immediately or further action will be taken. Thank You, Cheryl Clark HQDA/OAA/SOA Army Publishing Directorate, Electronic Library Section Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE