by Michael Connelly
On
August 26, 2014 I posted an article on my blog titled “Homeless Vets to Remain
Homeless” in which I provided more details about the all-out assault by the
Federal government on the Constitutional rights of our military veterans. Toward
the end of the article I stated that at the United States Justice Foundation
(USJF) we were preparing four Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to
four Federal agencies. The agencies are the Veterans Administration (VA), the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
I prepared the language of the four
requests and forwarded them to one of our media partners to submit on their
letterhead in the hope that this would expedite the responses from the
agencies. What has happened since has been truly frightening. To begin with all
requests were sent by certified mail. The signed green cards were returned from
all four agencies confirming that they had received the requests.
Responses were received from all four
agencies basically saying that they would get back to us. However, in the case
of DHS they said they didn’t know the answers to the questions and referred us
to the FBI. It was becoming clear from the lack of response that we would need
to consider filing suit to get the information just like we had to do with the
original VA FOIA request months ago. In order to prepare for that possibility I
asked our media contact to send me all of the originals of the documents including
the returned receipts.
He went to his office on Saturday to
mail the info to me and the file where it was kept was completely empty. He
searched the office and everything is gone that would allow us to prove that
the agencies received the requests. In addition, the letters containing the
requests were deleted from his office computer. There was no sign of forced
entry and nothing else was missing from the office. This was obviously done by
professionals and the FOIA requests information was the sole target.
This whole thing is bizarre but we
will send out new requests. Obviously, this was done to try and intimidate us
and delay our filing of a suit to get the requested information. We hit a nerve
with something in one or more of the requests. It certainly generated an
attempt to sabotage our efforts to protect our veterans.
Below
are the bodies of the four requests and let me know if you think that anything
jumps out as dangerous enough to the administration and/or its supporters to
trigger this type of criminal reaction. (FLASH! As I am preparing this article
for posting I received notice that there was a second break in of the media
office on Monday night. Same MO, but this time it appears that while they were
looking for something there is nothing missing. However, the tech people are
double checking the computers.) The police are as baffled as are we.
Here
are the FOIA requests:
VA:
I
request that a copy of the following documents (or documents containing the
following information) be provided to me:
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents relating to the use of independent contractors to determine the
competency of veterans and/or active or reserve military personnel to handle
their own financial affairs.
All
documents, including contracts and/or other agreements with independent
contractors relating to the use of independent contractors to determine the
competency of veterans and/or active or reserve military personnel to handle
their own financial affairs.
All
documents relating to rules and/or regulations for independent contractors to
follow when considering the competency of veterans to handle their own
financial affairs.
All
documents relating to the compensation of independent contractors hired by the
VA to determine the competency of veterans to handle their own financial
affairs.
All
documents, including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents relating to the appointment of fiduciaries to handle the financial
affairs of veterans determined to be incompetent by the VA.
All
documents, including, but not limited to internal memos, emails, contracts, and
training manuals relating to the appointment of any current or former VA
employees to act as fiduciaries for veterans declared incompetent to handle
their own financial affairs.
FBI:
This
is a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
I
request that a copy of the following documents (or documents containing the
following information) be provided to me:
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents relating to the placing of military veterans on the National Instant
Criminal Background Check System (NICS) list who have been declared incompetent
to handle their own finances by the Veterans Administration.
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents relating to the removal of military veterans from the NICS list when
a VA declaration of incompetency has been reversed either administratively or
by court order.
All
documents including, but not limited to any memos or agreements between the FBI
and the VA regarding the placement and or removal of military veterans from the
NICS list.
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents regarding the assisting of veterans in getting their 2nd
Amendment rights back, and being removed from the NICS list.
DOD:
I
request that a copy of the following documents (or documents containing the
following information) be provided to me:
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents relating to the placing of military veterans or active military
personnel on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) list
who have been declared incompetent to handle their own finances by the
Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, or any independent
contractors hired by the DOD, or the Veterans Administration.
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents relating to the use of independent contractors to determine the
competency of veterans and/or active or reserve military personnel to handle
their own financial affairs.
All
documents, including contracts or other agreements with independent contractors
relating to the use of independent contractors to determine the competency of
veterans and/or active or reserve military personnel to handle their own
financial affairs.
All
documents relating to rules and regulations for independent contractors to
follow when considering the competency of veterans to handle their own
financial affairs. This specifically includes deadlines given for veterans to
respond to the independent contractors allegations of incompetence.
DHS:
I
request that a copy of the following documents (or documents containing the
following information) be provided to me:
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents regarding the placing of U.S. military veterans on the Department of
Homeland Security list of potential domestic terrorists.
All
documents including, but not limited to, internal memos, emails, and training
documents regarding the placing of military veterans on the National Instant
Criminal Background Check System (NICS) list, and the cannot fly list.
All
documents including, but not limited to, the legal or other criteria justifying
the placing of U.S. military veterans on the department of Homeland Security
list of potential domestic terrorists.
A
final note to my fellow veterans. If this keeps up, my buddy and I, who is also
a veteran may need someone to watch our six.
Michael
Connelly
