If he obtained these through FOIA he should have an itemized listing in addition to the documents, supplied by the FBI (or whichever agency supplied the photocopies). Also, because of the FOIA process through which photocopies are released, the originals (or at least the releasable portions) are now declassified and obtaining new copies should be possible within 6-8 weeks.
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If the FOIA document originals that are requested are paper, there is no electronic copy made as the review and copy process occurs, mostly because of time and budget issues, but also because of archival issues such as: You would be creating a potentially-different 'original' due to possible data corruption, the need for data migration every decade or so in order to keep up with changing equipment, and, quite frankly from the agency's POV, there is no need for an e-copy.
And, anything is possible, but breaking into FBI records would take a deep contact with specific access to them, who would be willing to put a career and jail time on the line for them. Possible but not probable.
Are electronic files made as the docs are first copied?
Below is some info from fbi.gov. It is unclear to me whether ALL responses are deposited in the 'Reading Room', or just those they deem to be of possible interest to others.
The task of responding to these Freedom of Information-Privacy Acts (FOIPA) requests became a very large one indeed. Some single requests have resulted in the processing of thousands of pages of records. In very simple terms, when a request is received it is logged into a computer and assigned a number for tracking purposes; it is acknowledged; an indices search is conducted to determine if the FBI has responsive records; and the file(s) is located and reviewed to determine if it is fact "ident" or the correct file.Once a file has been identified as being responsive to a request, it is photocopied, and the work copy is reviewed by an analyst to determine if any portions should be withheld from the requester under any various exemptions permitted by the FOIPA. The analyst uses a colored marker to delete any exempt material, writes in the margins the particular exemption cited, and has the work copy re-copied using a photocopier with a special filter. The portions that appeared in translucent color on the work copy are black on the release copy. The release copy is mailed to the requester upon receipt of payment of fees, if applicable.
This labor intensive process has been repeated thousands of times since 1975. In the past twenty plus years, the FBI has handled over 300,000 requests and over six million pages of FBI documents have been released to the public in paper format. Currently, an automated document processing system is under development that will replace the "marker pen" method and allow for documents to be released in electronic format.
For the FOIPA Section web page, we have selected several FBI cases which may be of interest to the public. These documents also appear in paper form in our traditional reading room in Washington, D.C. As time and resources permit, additional cases will be created in electronic format and placed on the web site for public viewing.
http://foia.fbi.gov/index.html
They have converted many files to PDF format and they are available on the FBI site for viewing. I've gone through some of these. A single subject may have many PDF files (usually about 100-150 pages max), and they may or may not be in any logical or chronological order. It is time consuming, for sure. Here are links to the digitally available docs and the Reading room docs:
While they had nothing on VVAW, they did have PDF files for some other anti-war and communist organizations, e.g. American Friends Services Commitee (AFSC), Clergy & Layman Concerned (CALC), etc. I looked through some of them (I probably scanned a few thousand pages). AFSC had some info on the Paris meetings (no sign of VVAW or Kerry). Based on reading CALC files, I would put Melvin Laird on the list of possible VVAW "Hit target" candidates. (Nothing specific, but he was mentioned often).