Republican complaints about the use of aliases and secret e-mail accounts by Obama Administration officials suddenly gained new attention on Monday, as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sent President Obama a letter demanding that the White House be more open to journalists and Congress alike.
"Four years ago you pledged to usher in a new era of government transparency," McCain wrote to the President in a letter. "Since then, however, your administration has habitually circumvented congressional oversight."
The allegations of e-mail aliases, secret e-mails and more are not news to many more conservative voters and web sites, which have been tracking questions about the e-mail policy of the Obama Administration - but McCain's letter raised it to a new level in the Congress, as he brought up a series of questions:
+ The use of the name "Richard Windsor" by former EPA chief Lisa Jackson for an e-mail account that she used to communicate with people outside the agency.
+ Labor Secretary nominee Thomas Perez, whose choice has been held up in part by questions about how he used his personal email account to conduct Justice Department business.
+ A recent report by the Associated Press in which a series of agencies refused to reveal secret e-mail addresses used by top officials, frustrating efforts to file Freedom of Information Act requests.
Here is the letter sent by McCain:
Dear Mr. President:
The Associated Press (AP) recently revealed that top administration officials at various government agencies have created – and used – secret e-mail accounts for activities relating to government business. Furthermore, these agencies reportedly failed to disclose the contents of those accounts pursuant to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and Congressional requests for documents, as well as archiving requirements under the Federal Records Act.
The AP identified secret e-mail addresses, not disclosed to the public, used by top officials at numerous agencies, including the Labor Department and the Health and Human Services Department (HHS). During the AP investigation, both agencies made it extremely difficult for the news organization to obtain the public records from such alternate accounts. Initially, HHS refused to release Secretary Sebelius's three e-mail addresses and the Labor Department went so far as to demand over $1 million to provide the e-mails and other relevant information. Many other agencies have yet to turn over lists of e-mail addresses of agency officials, as requested by the AP.
On Tuesday, June 4th, White House spokesman Jay Carney casually confirmed that the use of secret e-mail accounts is a common practice in your administration. Mr. Carney claimed that agencies do provide messages from these accounts in response to FOIA requests, but the AP reported that it only found a single instance where an e-mail from a secret address was disclosed.
Four years ago you pledged to usher in a new era of government transparency. Since then, however, your administration has habitually circumvented congressional oversight. Congress cannot perform its constitutionally-mandated duty to report to the people what their government is doing while your administration creates secret alternate communications networks. If your administration continues to undermine congressional oversight, the political accountability of the executive branch will be severely weakened.
Unfortunately, that danger has been growing over the last several years. Recently, news surfaced that former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson created an alias e-mail account under the name "Richard Windsor" to communicate with people in and outside the agency, including the private sector. When public groups began to think that they were corresponding with a person named Richard Windsor, EPA officials failed to correct the misperception.
Additionally, Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas Perez allegedly used his personal e-mail account almost 1,200 times since 2009 to conduct government business. Last March, these e-mails were subpoenaed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. However, Mr. Perez has only turned over 34 of the 1,200 e-mails.
Mr. Perez's case is not the only time your administration has avoided disclosing subpoenaed information. During the Fast and Furious investigation, Attorney General Eric Holder was cited for contempt when he refused to turn over subpoenaed documents. To this date, he has turned over only a small fraction of requested internal documents. Your administration's disdain towards congressional authority and its failure to disclose public records feeds into its adversarial relationship with Congress and fuels public distrust in government.
Mr. President, in your first week in office you wrote to your cabinet with regards to the open-records law and affirmed that in the "face of doubt, openness prevails." However, four years later, your administration has revealed that in the face of doubt, transparency fails.
In order to address these concerns, please provide answers to the following questions by July 1, 2013:
1. FOIA is designed to give Americans the right to access information from the federal government. How are citizens able to effectively utilize the FOIA process when government officials create and use secret e-mail accounts to conduct activities related to government business?
2. Given that many agencies resisted and delayed the AP requests for public information, how are your administration's practices in compliance with FOIA? Additionally, how does its use of secret e-mail accounts comport with the requirements of the Federal Records Act?
3. Given the administration's apparently widespread use of secret email accounts to conduct activities related to official government business, how can the heads of federal agencies ensure, and (where required) certify, that (1) a search for all documents responsive to a given request by Congress, law enforcement or a FOIA requestor has been completed and (2) all responsive documents have in fact been produced?
4. How widespread is the use of secret e-mail accounts within your administration? What internal guidance, if any, addressed the use of secret email accounts by government officials to conduct activities relating to official government business? Under what circumstances do you otherwise approve of the use of such accounts for these purposes?
5. What steps is your administration taking to ensure that top officials' secret e-mail accounts used to conduct government business are subject to scrutiny by the public?
6. Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used an e-mail address under the name "Richard Windsor" to conduct government business. At times, e-mail recipients were led to believe that they were in contact with a person at the EPA named Richard Windsor, but EPA officials did nothing to correct this misperception. Under what circumstances would it be appropriate for administration officials or employees to use pseudonymous e-mail accounts to conduct activities related to government business?
7. Your administration has long purported to be a proponent of government transparency. How does the use of secret e-mail accounts align with the pledges you and your administration have made to increase transparency?
8. Given that Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez allegedly communicated government business through a personal e-mail account, on what basis does your administration condone Mr. Perez's unwillingness to turn over these e-mails to the public even after the e-mails were subpoenaed several months ago?
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
John McCain
The Perez questions are an interesting issue, since his nomination remains in limbo in the full Senate, with the President's choice refusing to comply with a bipartisan subpoena issued by a House committee.
Democrats had hoped to bring up his nomination before the full Senate this month, but so far, nothing has been scheduled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
McCain made his request for information from his post as the top Republican on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a panel that has done a great deal of investigatory work in recent years - with a very bipartisan flavor.
That panel most recently held a hearing on the tax strategies of Apple, which drew a large amount of attention.
It was unclear if McCain's letter would lead to a public hearing on e-mail policy.
