(
(Washington,
DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that
investigates and prosecutes government corruption, said today that the U.S. Navy
Personnel Command, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request,
has refused to release additional documents on the naval service of Senator John
Kerry. The Navy’s response the Judicial Watch’s FOIA request
contained a biographical data sheet on Kerry, two citations and one certificate
for the Silver Star medal, two citations and one certificate for the Bronze Star
medal, and three sets of orders and certificates for the Purple
Heart. In an irregular response to a government records
request, the Navy’s letter referred Judicial Watch to the Kerry campaign
Internet site for “Numerous responsive U.S. Navy service record documents, as
well as service record documents not subject to disclosure requirements under
the FOIA . . .”
Questions concerning when the Navy
conducted a FOIA review and legal review of Kerry’s records were answered “No
comment” by Navy Personnel Command FOIA Officer Dave German, during a telephone
interview today with Judicial Watch Director of Investigations and Research
Chris Farrell. Navy Public Affairs Officer Mike McClellan
monitored the telephone interview. In a subsequent e-mail to
Mr. Farrell, Mr. German wrote, “We have withheld thirty-one (31) pages of
documents from the responsive military personnel service record as we were not
provided a release authorization.”
Judicial Watch also sought Senator
Kerry’s Discharge Certificate (DD Form 256N) from the U.S. Navy under the
provisions of the FOIA. Mr. German stated that the U.S. Navy
issues the DD Form 256N to the discharged service member, but does not maintain
an official copy of the certificate in the service member’s record.
A copy of Senator Kerry’s DD Form 256N discharge certificate was not
available on his campaign Internet site as of this writing.
“It will be difficult to obtain
these hidden documents if John Kerry continues to refuse to authorize their
release. In the hundreds of open records FOIA requests
Judicial Watch has made to the government, I can point to no instance where we
were referred to a political campaign Internet site in the response,” stated
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
The
Navy’s FOIA response is available on the Internet by clicking
here.
