Freedom of
Information Act Request -
5 U.S.C. § 552 As
Amended By Public Law No. 110-175, 121 Stat. 2524.
Sponsor for Citizens
Community Watch - Public Safety Workgroup
03/17/2010 05:28:08 PM
White House
Office of Administration
E-mail us to join this team
effort!
Happy Sunshine Week! It's Sunshine Week, a pretty big thing in our
FOIA community.
News Item: March 17, 2010: Washington, D.C. - Today, CREW and
transparency-advocates wrote to Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn
(R-TX), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
expressing support for the proposed Faster FOIA Act.
CLICK HERE
News Item:
FOIA requester and AARP contract employee harassed by employer.
CLICK HERE
News Item:
SPAM from
David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President
CLICK HERE
News Item:
Snitch@whitehouse.gov
sees Americans turning themselves in!
CLICK HERE
Civil
Action No. 09-1621-EGS - Plaintiffs
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. and
the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education seek declaratory and injunctive
relief.
Background News Item:
May 20, 2009:
The White House
Office of Administration is not subject to the
Freedom of Information Act, the DC U.S. Court of
Appeals
found (PDF)
The
OA, established in 1977, provides support
services to the president including financial
management, information technology and research
support.
The
decision upholds a district court’s
finding that the OA is not an agency
and therefore does not have to
comply with FOIA. Its explanation:
The OA performs support functions
and "lacks substantial independent
authority."
The case
was filed in 2007 by
Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washingtonafter White House e-mail
system problems resulted in the loss
of millions of e-mail messages.
Despite the ruling, CREW and several
other transparency organizations
have asked (PDF) the Obama
administration to require the OA to
continue filling FOIA requests.
Fox
is continuing to ask the White
House about how people who never
requested communication received
e-mails on health care and other
topics. So far, it's slow-going.
But not for lack of effort. As
you can see, this blog is now
drowning in comments on this
topic. The Fox staff is plowing
through the comments and is
trying to approve them as
rapidly as possible. The network
apologies, through me and this
post, for delays in posting
comments.
I have
made it
clear to
Gibbs -
through
repeated
e-mail
correspondence
- that
the
e-mails
are his
to
review
for a
reasonable
period
of time
to
determine
how they
landed
on the
White
House
"list"
he
himself
first
referenced.
Gibbs
has
declined
to
respond.
In a
related
development,
Fox on
Friday
[8/14/09]
filed a
Freedom
of
Information
request
to
obtain
the full
e-mail
distribution
list for
the
Axelrod
health
care
e-mail
and all
internal
White
House
e-mails
about
the
list's
creation.
Read
full
story
and add
you
comments
HERE ON
FOX News
More on FOIA and our Team Member's
questions:
Feedback from Fox and
Team Members:
I want to know if any federal employees received the spam
mail. Once an e-mail goes out, it can be re-sent, forwarded,
etc. I'm interested to prove Major Garrett's claim. The only
way we can do that is if he shows us the e-mails HE
received. I'm wondering if there isn't a back door way to
find out.
And I only challenge Garrett in the same spirit as one might
challenge a reporter working for a network other than Fox.
People who would support Garrett (because it's Fox News and
they're conservative) might be the first to bash a Campbell
Brown (because she's on CNN so she must be a liberal).
If we're going to talk about fairness, let's challenge
the people we might agree with as equally as the people with
whom we might disagree.
I realize challenging the people we agree with can be
difficult because it means we're challenging ourselves, but
if we wanna find out where the buck really stops, the first
step is conceding that we should always be asking question,
whether of ourselves or anyone else --no exceptions.
DON'T BE
DISTRACTED or DETERRED
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
The Office of Administration, whose sole function is to advise and assist
the President, and which has no substantial independent authority, is
not subject to FOIA and related authorities. However, this information
has been maintained due to the
Presidential Records Act.
Often we react to the first thing we read and give up.
DON'T!Click on the image to read the entire FOIA Guidelines
for the White House. You will find, for example, statements like
this:
"Given the small number of FOIA requests that OA receives each year, existing
procedures are entirely adequate to process all requests in a timely
manner. If a requester seeks documents that may take OA longer than the
prescribed 20 days to process, the OA FOIA Officer sends the requester
an interim letter, informing the requester of the receipt of the request
and of OA intent to provide the information in a timely manner, as
circumstances permit. When OA has no responsive documents, the FOIA
Officer advises requestors concerning alternative government entities
that may possess responsive documents. In cases where the requested
information is exempt from disclosure under one or more FOIA exceptions,
OA provides requestors with an explanation as to why the information is
exempt from disclosure."
Executive Order 13392 of December 14, 2005
Improving Agency Disclosure of Information
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to ensure
appropriate agency disclosure of information, and consistent with the goals of
section 552 of title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
CLICK HERE FOR FULL TEXT
PRESS YOUR RIGHTS or risk
losing them!
FOIA REQUEST
Office of Administration
FOIA Officer
725 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20503
Dear FOIA Officer:
The White House website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/
is quoted as follows:
“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out
there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care.
These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or
through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them
here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email
or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems
fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”
This is a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request authorized by 5
U.S.C. § 552 As amended by Public Law No. 110-175, 121 Stat. 2524.
PLEASE confirm receipt of this request via email to webmaster@crimewatch.us
or via FAX at (916) 444-0935
Supply the statutory authority, guidelines for implementation,
policy or any Presidential Executive Order covering the flag@whitehouse.gov
request on the White House website.
How
many such emails have been received at flag@whitehouse.gov?
Supply the name, business contact
information, and title/position of the people in charge of going
through these emails, as well as the staffing organizational chart
of the people going through these emails.
From
what budget is this activity paid for and the dollar amounts?
Supply any record that lays out policy or directives for all
activities from the time these emails are received, replied to,
archived or placed in a database.
What,
if any, database(s) are these emails or their sender’s addresses
saved to?
If the people assigned to go through these emails, are employed by
an outside agency, I also request a list of what agency they are
employed by, as well as the contractual amount you are paying the
outside agency.
I request a twelve (12) random samples (properly redacted) of the
emails addressed to flag@whitehouse.gov
and any reply the White House may have sent.
I understand there may be costs associated with making copies of the
documents and records I have requested. I am willing to pay those costs.
Respectfully,
Dave Jenest, Webmaster/VP Operations
Community Watch Webmaster/Director http://crimewatch.us
1818 H Street Unit 1
Sacramento, CA 95811-2146
(916) 448-2619 Phone
(916) 444-0935 Fax
UPDATE: Thursday,
September 3, 2009
COMMUNITY POLICING ACTIVISTS TO FILE OR JOIN
LAWSUIT
OVER WHITE VIOLATION of Title 5 USC 552 and 552(a)
Sacramento, California - Thursday, September 3, 2009
Concerned over the the failure of the Office of Administration (White
House) to acknowledge receipt of or comply with The Freedom of
Information Act, Sponsors of Citizens Community Watch announced their
plans to seek legal remedy in the courts.
In a letter to Fox News Legal Department, Director of the group wrote:
The Office of Administration FOIA
officer has failed to acknowledge or comply with the law. I
believe there is a mutual interest here, should the White House
honor your request while denying ordinary citizens. On the other
hand, their conduct in failing to acknowledge or even deny our
request, may be of value to Fox. Our FOIA request predates the
Fox News FOIA by about a week. We have also been in contact with
the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. to see
if our FOIA request whose timing is ripe, would be of any value
in their lawsuit: Civil Action No. 09-1621-EGS.
Please understand, we are NOT seeking any involvement in a news
story and have no desire to be interviewed. Our sole interest
here is compliance with public law and prevailing Presidential
Executive Orders supporting American's right to question
government. Any assistance we can be to Fox News or visa versa
is with that intent.
///end
As expected, silence on all fronts within the Administration. More
to report soon.
