WASHINGTON, Feb 8: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has agreed to release documents related to its ties to former Nazi and SS officials during the Cold War, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The CIA reversed its stance on the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998, the Times said.

The Central Intelligence Agency had argued that the law required disclosure only of records related to war crimes, not war criminals, and did not apply to information about the agency's post-war dealings with former Nazis, the newspaper said. But, under pressure from Congress, the CIA sent an e-mail on Friday to a government working group reviewing such records that documents "concerning acts performed by Nazi war criminals, to include members of the SS, on behalf of CIA" are subject to the law, the daily reported.

The CIA also said for the first time it would "acknowledge any relationship" between the CIA and SS members, regardless of whether there was any information specifically tying them to war crimes, the Times said.

Senator Mike DeWine, and other members of the working group, told the Times it was unclear whether the agency would agree to release all the documents sought by the panel. But in its e-mail the Central Intelligence Agency said it "will only protect information in relevant documents from release when damage to the interests of the United States from such a release can be shown."

The CIA scheduled a meeting to release new records to the panel, the newspaper said.

The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had sent a letter to CIA chief Porter Goss protesting the agency's refusal to release the documents.

The letter was signed by more than 150 Americans, including former government officials, historians and journalists.

"Full disclosure by the CIA of all documents pertaining to US dealings with Nazi war criminals is not only required by law. It will also help America face up to the consequences and lessons of a troubling chapter in our nation's history," the Wyman Institute's letter said. -AFP