| Tensions have flared between career bureaucrats and political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security’s Freedom of Information Act fulfillment operation, according to agency emails and other documents obtained during a probe by a top House investigative committee that will come to a head at a hearing on Thursday. The documents, and interviews conducted by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, paint appointees and bureaucrats as at odds with one another, with a senior appointee even calling one worker “a lunatic.” The new documents, which are part of an inquiry into political meddling in the FOIA division, don’t appear to show outright wrong-doing at the agency. But during the course of the investigation, California Repblican Rep. Darrell Issa has alleged that political meddling at the agency has led to delays in responding to requests, and could violate a law that forbids “arbitrarily or capriciously” withholding information through FOIA. One example of the sniping is detailed in emails and documents obtained by POLITICO. In a 2009 email, Amy Shlossmann, Secretary Janet Napolitano’s deputy chief of staff, called a FOIA employee “a lunatic” and instructed her staff to attend a presentation by a career employee “if nothing else, for the comic relief.” William Holzerland, the career employee charged with teaching the political appointees about FOIA, said Mary Ellen Callahan, the chief privacy officer at DHS, was “kicking me under the table, saying move [the presentation] along” because Sholssman was “bored and looking at her BlackBerry.” Issa, in a statement to POLITICO, said “political appointments are supposed to infuse federal agencies with leaders and advocates for the President’s key initiatives.” “This clearly isn’t happening at DHS where political appointees are throwing up roadblock after roadblock against efforts to open up government,” Issa said. “Given the president’s rhetoric on transparency and FOIA, it’s incredibly dysfunctional that the political appointees at DHS have such hostile attitudes to career FOIA professionals and President Obama’s directive on FOIA.” The Associated Press reported Monday that it obtained emails where DHS FOIA officers called political vetting of requests as “crazy” and “bananas,” for creating extreme delays. The AP reported that Callahan wanted to change the process, which allegedly had her giving fulfilled FOIA requests to political aides. The Associated Press has also reported that it took months to obtain agency emails related to the Christmas Day bomber in 2009. The news service said the number of emails DHS produced didn’t add up, something the agency denies. Much of this will come to a head Thursday, when Callahan testifies in front of Issa’s committee. The investigation represents Issa’s first, and most direct, inquiry into the Obama administration. Callahan has told aides on the committee that there were “competing priorities of the front office,” which is sometimes made aware of FOIA requests so it can respond to lawmakers and others “versus the kind of singular focus of the FOIA office … to process the FOIAs.” Shlossman, likewise, in testimony to Issa’s committee staff in March, said that the relationship between political appointees and career employees “to this point and the exchanges that we had I don’t think you could describe as productive.” A DHS source said that the June 2009 meeting took place before new procedures were put in place to work out some kinks with the FOIA process. Furthermore, DHS acknowledges tension within the agency, but notes they have cut the FOIA backlog by 84 percent. A spokesman for DHS, Matthew Chandler said that fewer than one percent of FOIA requests were flagged for review by an appointee. Those that were, were done so to ensure the agency was prepared to answer questions from the press and Congress and so department attorneys had relevant information for ongoing cases. “When the Obama administration took office in January 2009, the new leadership at the Department of Homeland Security was faced with a FOIA process that had resulted in the worst backlog in the U.S. government,” DHS spokesman Matthew Chandler said. “In order to expedite the processing of requests and reduce the backlog, DHS officials took steps to increase accountability and transparency.” Chandler also that the relationship between the two wings was particularly important because some requests involved documents from the Bush-era DHS. “This was especially relevant as they pertained to documents generated during the previous administration,” he said. “In no case did this process inhibit documents from release under FOIA and only attorneys and other FOIA professionals determined the substance of redactions.” |
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