Associated Press wrote:
For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive, according to nearly 1,000 pages of internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.
[...]
[I]n July 2009, Homeland Security introduced a directive requiring a wide range of information to be vetted by political appointees for "awareness purposes," no matter who requested it.
Career employees were ordered to provide Secretary Janet Napolitano's political staff with information about the people who asked for records - such as where they lived, whether they were private citizens or reporters - and about the organizations where they worked.
If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican.
[...]
A department spokesman, Sean Smith, says the mandatory reviews by political appointees never blocked disclosure of records that otherwise would have been released. "No information deemed releasable by the FOIA office or general counsel was withheld, and responsive documents were neither abridged nor edited," said Smith, who was among the political staffers who could review and approve records for release.
E-mails obtained by AP do not show political appointees at Homeland Security stopping records from coming out. Instead they point to acute political sensitivities that slowed the process, a probing curiosity about the people and organizations making the request for records, and considerable confusion.
[...]
The White House said it had no role formulating the rule at Homeland Security and requests for records generally were not forwarded there for approval. "They only need to go thru front office awareness review, not wh (White House)," wrote Mary Ellen Callahan, the department's top chief privacy officer and FOIA official.
[...]
Internally, Homeland Security was adamant that Napolitano's political advisers were merely reviewing materials before they were distributed, not making the call on whether they should come out. "To be clear, this is a review not an approval," Callahan wrote.
Yet many e-mails directed Homeland Security employees never to release information under FOIA without approval by political appointees.
"It is imperative that these requests are not released prior to the front office reviewing both the letter and the records," Papoi wrote in an e-mail to the agency's officers responsible for administering the law.
[...]
[I]n July 2009, Homeland Security introduced a directive requiring a wide range of information to be vetted by political appointees for "awareness purposes," no matter who requested it.
Career employees were ordered to provide Secretary Janet Napolitano's political staff with information about the people who asked for records - such as where they lived, whether they were private citizens or reporters - and about the organizations where they worked.
If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican.
[...]
A department spokesman, Sean Smith, says the mandatory reviews by political appointees never blocked disclosure of records that otherwise would have been released. "No information deemed releasable by the FOIA office or general counsel was withheld, and responsive documents were neither abridged nor edited," said Smith, who was among the political staffers who could review and approve records for release.
E-mails obtained by AP do not show political appointees at Homeland Security stopping records from coming out. Instead they point to acute political sensitivities that slowed the process, a probing curiosity about the people and organizations making the request for records, and considerable confusion.
[...]
The White House said it had no role formulating the rule at Homeland Security and requests for records generally were not forwarded there for approval. "They only need to go thru front office awareness review, not wh (White House)," wrote Mary Ellen Callahan, the department's top chief privacy officer and FOIA official.
[...]
Internally, Homeland Security was adamant that Napolitano's political advisers were merely reviewing materials before they were distributed, not making the call on whether they should come out. "To be clear, this is a review not an approval," Callahan wrote.
Yet many e-mails directed Homeland Security employees never to release information under FOIA without approval by political appointees.
"It is imperative that these requests are not released prior to the front office reviewing both the letter and the records," Papoi wrote in an e-mail to the agency's officers responsible for administering the law.
The idea of screening these requests before release on political grounds is inexcusable. Someone's head should roll for this.
