The Democratic National Committee formally has asked the Pentagon for reams of correspondence between military agencies and nine potential Republican presidential candidates, a clear indication that Democrats are building opposition-research files on specific 2012 contenders even before the midterm elections.
An internal Army e-mail obtained by ABC News indicates that the DNC has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for “any and all records of communication” between Army departments and agencies and each of the nine Republicans — all of whom are widely mentioned as possible challengers to President Obama.
The agencies are asked to respond to the request by this Friday, just four days before Election Day.
……The nine Republicans that Democrats are seeking information on are former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska; former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.; Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss.; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.; Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.; Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind.; Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La.
……The DNC’s request is intriguing for its timing as well as for the singling out of nine particular Republicans who are expected to vie for the GOP presidential nomination.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclusive-democrats-pentagon-information-potential-obama-challengers/story?id=11985974
Obama’s enemies list continues to grow.
The FOIA was designed to make available information that should be a matter of public record. Both sides use it.
What kind of information would the DNC be looking for? These kinds of communications are usually official—not personal—in nature. The likely goal is to ferret out “dirt”. Correspondence involving things like defense spending, national security, the war effort, and veteran’s issues are the norm.
Why would the DoD have records on politicians, outside of normal emails? Since when is a Defense agency permitted to be used as a private election/campaign source of information?
The DOD’s primary function is to protect and defend the United States against enemies, and not necessarily the ones deemed so by Obama.
The mission of the DOD:
The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country. The department’s headquarters is at the Pentagon.
The mission of Defense.gov is to support the overall mission of the Department of Defense by providing official, timely and accurate information about defense policies, organizations, functions and operations. Also, Defense.gov is the single, unified starting point for finding military information online.
This mission is consistent with the DoD Principles of Information, which outline the Department’s policy for providing information to military members, DoD civilians, military family members, the American public, the Congress, and the news media. The information you find here is cleared for public release in accordance with applicable DoD policies.
http://www.defense.gov/about/#mission
The Principles of Information:
“It is Department of Defense policy to make available timely and accurate information so that the public, the Congress, and the news media may assess and understand the facts about national security and defense strategy. Requests for information from organizations and private citizens shall be answered quickly. In carrying out that DoD policy, the following principles of information shall apply:
“Information shall be made fully and readily available, consistent with statutory requirements, unless its release is precluded by national security constraints or valid statutory mandates or exceptions. The Freedom of Information Act will be supported in both letter and spirit.
“A free flow of general and military information shall be made available, without censorship or propaganda, to the men and women of the Armed Forces and their dependents.
“Information will not be classified or otherwise withheld to protect the Government from criticism or embarrassment.
“Information shall be withheld when disclosure would adversely affect national security, threaten the safety or privacy of U.S. Government personnel or their families, violate the privacy of the citizens of the United States, or be contrary to law.
“The Department of Defense’s obligation to provide the public with information on DoD major programs may require detailed Public Affairs (PA) planning and coordination in the Department of Defense and with the other Government Agencies. Such activity is to expedite the flow of information to the public; propaganda has no place in DoD public affairs programs.”
http://www.defense.gov/admin/prininfo.html
It’s pretty cut and dry. I wonder if the DNC will publish what they’re given, so that everyone can see what they were looking for. Maybe the Republicans can reciprocate by requesting everything the DOD has on the miscreants currently in power; Obama, Holder, Sunstein, Holdren, Browner, McChesney, Lloyd, Jennings, Emanuel, and Jarrett, just to name some.
After all, it’s called freedom of information.
Related post:
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/obama-and-the-company-he-keeps/