The Obama administration cat-and-mouse game, also known as filing freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, has hit a brick wall with the Central Intelligence Agency with WMR’s request for “copies of all records generated between January 1, 1947 and May 5, 2016, concerning the Central Intelligence Agency’s employment of or contacts with Rafael Bienvenidos Cruz, Sr., the Cuban-born grandfather of Texas Senator Ted Cruz.”
We also requested all similar records generated between January 1, 1956, and May 5, 2016, concerning the CIA’s relationships with Rafael Bienvenidos Cruz y Diaz, Jr., the Cuban-born father of Ted Cruz.
The agency has not only rejected WMR’s request for expedited processing of the request for not demonstrating “a compelling need” but has used Privacy Act requirements to stymie our FOIA request on Ted Cruz’s father’s past association with the CIA.
The CIA has responded that requests on living [emphasis in original] third parties to provide a signed affidavit or declaration from the third parties waiving all or some of their privacy rights.
In the case of Ted Cruz’s father, who is still alive, it is highly doubtful that he will waive any of his privacy rights in order that any CIA records of his association with the agency in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Cuba, or Canada be released to the public.
