The Donald Rumsfeld “Snowflake” Collection

This collection comprises of more than 60,000 pages of records often referred to as “snowflakes.” These are generally one-page memos, written by former Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Donald Rumsfeld, asking questions or issuing instructions to his staff during his tenure as SecDef.

The Black Vault filed FOIA request 13-F-0376 back in the beginning of 2013, which was later amended to only include a small time frame due to fee reasons. Since then, it remained “processing.”  During the same time, the National Security Archive, which deserves the credit for the below release, had filed a FOIA lawsuit to get the “snowflake” records released, in full, from what appears to be all timeframes.

My FOIA request has remained open for more than eight years, and only recently (July of 2021), the Department of Defense asked me to withdraw the request since the records released under this lawsuit may fulfill my request. What is unclear, is if it actually would. Although I respectfully declined to “withdraw” my request, but rather, asked that a final determination is issued since I waited this long for one; the below archive is a digital representation of what was released in the lawsuit initiated by the National Security Archive. Again, a sincere thanks to them for getting this material released.

The DoD, although has the material digitized, does not have it clearly linked (or linked at all) on their FOIA reading room. This was acknowledged by the DoD to The Black Vault, and will be fixed some time in the future.

For ease of downloading, a .zip file was created, and is offered along with the individual downloads of all the releases.

Document Archive

.zip File of Sixteen releases linked below [60,662, 5.51GB]

• First Release (2001) (PDF | 26,586 KB)
• Second Release (2001) (PDF | 45,533 KB)
• Third Release Bates 2967-3678 (PDF | 140,854 KB)
• Third Release Bates 3679-4390 (PDF | 139,429 KB)
• Third Release Bates 4391-5028 (PDF | 27,794 KB)
• Third Release Bates 5092-5812 (PDF | 34,894 KB)
• Third Release Bates 5815-6505 (PDF | 113,103 KB)
• Third Release Bates 6506-7196 (PDF | 125,355 KB)
• Fourth Release Bates 7197-8012 (PDF | 27,656 KB)
• Fourth Release Bates 8013-8829 (PDF | 30,050 KB)
• Fourth Release Bates 8830-9499 (PDF | 25,188 KB)
• Fourth Release Bates 9500-10169 (PDF | 24,015 KB)
• Fourth Release Bates 10170-10839 (PDF | 27,865 KB)
• Fourth Release Bates 10840-11239 (PDF | 15,813 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 11240-11511 (PDF | 16,914 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 11512-12022 (PDF | 21,477 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 12023-12533 (PDF | 20,991 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 12534-13041 (PDF | 23,561 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 13042-13549 (PDF | 18,084 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 13550-14058 (PDF | 21,694 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 14059-14702 (PDF | 29,921 KB)
• Fifth Release Bates 14703-15348 (PDF | 28,802 KB
• Sixth Release Bates 15349-15748 (PDF | 10,596 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 15749-16172 (PDF | 13,443 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 16173-16573 (PDF | 17,998 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 16574-16974 (PDF | 13,295 KB)
• Sixth  Release Bates 16975-17375 (PDF | 12,034 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 17376-17776 (PDF | 10,804 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 17777-18176 (PDF | 9,459 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 18177-18576 (PDF | 12,554 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 18577-18976 (PDF | 9,969 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 18977-19377 (PDF | 12,667 KB)
• Sixth Release Bates 19378-19491 (PDF | 2,851 KB)
• Seventh Release Bates 15378-20517 (PDF | 69,640 KB)
• Seventh Release Bates 20518-21519 (PDF | 75,826 KB)
• Seventh Release Bates 21520-22522 (PDF | 73,149 KB)
• Seventh Release Bates 22523-23522 (PDF | 88,177 KB)
• Seventh Release Bates 23523-23530 (PDF | 1,307 KB)
• Eighth Release Bates 23531-24530 (PDF | 80,100 KB)
• Eighth Release Bates 24531-25616 (PDF | 93,288 KB)
• Eighth Release Bates 25617-26616 (PDF | 77,408 KB)
• Eighth Release Bates 26617-27534 (PDF | 78,514 KB)
• Ninth Release Bates 27535-28534 (PDF | 95,834 KB)
• Ninth Release Bates 28535-29534 (PDF | 85,352 KB)
• Ninth Release Bates 29535-30534 (PDF | 80,286 KB)
• Ninth Release Bates 30535-31534 (PDF | 79,081 KB)
• Ninth Release Bates 31535-31910 (PDF | 27,331 KB)
• Tenth Release Bates 31911-32910 (PDF | 55,491 KB)
• Tenth Release Bates 32911-33910 (PDF | 46,643 KB)
• Tenth Release Bates 33911-34910 (PDF | 53,697 KB)
• Tenth Release Bates 34911-35910 (PDF | 52,896 KB)
• Tenth Release Bates 35911-36053 (PDF | 8,626 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 36054-36553 (PDF | 78,082 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 36554-37053 (PDF | 76,722 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 37054-37553 (PDF | 87,516 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 37554-38053 (PDF | 83,102 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 38054-38553 (PDF | 78,527 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 38554-39053 (PDF | 80,217 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 39054-39553 (PDF | 82,645 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 39554-40003 (PDF | 92,461 KB)
• Eleventh Release Bates 40004-40254 (PDF | 40,736 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 40255-40754 (PDF | 76,866 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 40755-41254 (PDF | 99,394 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 41255-41754 (PDF | 86,314 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 41755-42254 (PDF | 90,766 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 42255-42754 (PDF | 85,542 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 42755-43254 (PDF | 90,496 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 43255-43754 (PDF | 79,635 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 43755-44254 (PDF | 75,849 KB)
• Twelfth Release Bates 44255-44365 (PDF | 21,725 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 44366-44865 (PDF | 80,916 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 44866-45365 (PDF | 77,538 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 45366-45865 (PDF | 77,866 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 45866-46365 (PDF | 83,230 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 46366-46865 (PDF | 80,181 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 46866-47365 (PDF | 95,525 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 47366-47865 (PDF | 83,993 KB)
• Thirteenth Release Bates 47866-48365 (PDF | 83,238 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 48366-48865 (PDF | 74,673 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 48866-49365 (PDF | 74,193 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 49366-49865 (PDF | 81,603 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 49866-50365 (PDF | 82,085 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 50366-50865 (PDF | 79,838 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 50866-51365 (PDF | 74,468 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 51366-51865 (PDF | 74,421 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 51866-52365 (PDF | 72,982 KB)
• Fourteenth Release Bates 52366-52409 (PDF | 7,577 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 52410-52909 (PDF | 74,408 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 52910-53409 (PDF | 86,831 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 53410-53909 (PDF | 83,845 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 53910-54409 (PDF | 77,625 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 54410-54909 (PDF | 74,712 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 54910-55409 (PDF | 78,735 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 55410-55909 (PDF | 75,559 KB)
• Fifteenth Release Bates 55910-56412 (PDF | 84,302 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 56413-56912 (PDF | 76,882 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 56913-57412 (PDF | 74,657 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 57413-57912 (PDF | 81,960 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 57913-58412 (PDF | 84,057 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 58413-58912 (PDF | 77,324 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 58913-59412 (PDF | 87,287 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 59413-59912 (PDF | 78,384 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 59913-60412 (PDF | 68,660 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 60413-60912 (PDF | 82,597 KB)
• Sixteenth Release Bates 60913-61122 (PDF | 30,718 KB)

 

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