New York, NY, February 1, 2005 … Concerned that the Central Intelligence Agency has refused to declassify thousands of documents on Nazi war criminals, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on the agency to make public all relevant classified records as required by law.

"Sixty years after the end of the war, the time has come to make this information available," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "With the number of survivors and witnesses diminishing by the day, and the reality that the Holocaust is fading into the pages of history and memory, we should not have to wait any longer.

"What's so puzzling about this is the agency has already released a significant number of documents.  Why the change of heart now not to finish the process?" added Mr. Foxman.  "What is there still left that some feel needs to be hidden?  The expediency and the errors of the past are not a reflection of the intelligence community today.  One finds it difficult to understand why the leadership today is protecting the truth."

In a letter to CIA Director Porter J. Goss, ADL called for the immediate release of the classified files as mandated by the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act.  Under the 1998 law, hundreds of thousands of pages of FBI, CIA, and U.S. Army intelligence records related to Nazi and World War II war crimes and perpetrators have been declassified and opened to the public.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.