FBI rejects appeal for additional records on President Bush

John Byrne

An appeal to obtain more of President George W. Bush's FBI "file" by a San Francisco-based activist and blogger was rejected by the agency Sept. 6, RAW STORY can reveal.

The request was made by Michael Petrelis, a gay activist and blogger who received 20 pages on the president from the FBI in April, but was denied access to a broader set of records.

In denying the appeal, the Justice Department's co-director of the Office of Information and Privacy said the agency had "properly withheld" documents which "related solely to internal agency practices" or which in being part of a "law enforcement" investigation "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of third parties."

Petrelis notes that much of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)'s FBI "file" was released in advance of the 2004 presidential election, much of it relating to his protests of the Vietnam War.

"We knew what was in John Kerry's voluminous FBI files starting with his anti-war activities in the 60s and 70s, but we did not have comparable FBI files in the public square being debated on George Bush," Petrelis remarked.

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson told RAW STORY in April that some information on sitting presidents would be hard to release.

"There's some information that can be divulged about a sitting president," Bresson said. "It's limited in scope... There's a lot of sensitivities and then you have his privacy rights as a citizen are the same as anybody else."

He noted that the FBI does not keep "files" per se on individuals, but rather holds an aggregation of information relating to specific cases.

Steve Aftergood, Director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, says he isn't surprised the FBI뭩 release was meager.

"In order to get a substantive release, the subject of the request has to grant a [privacy] waiver," Aftergood said. "One wouldn't expect any kind of personal details unless a privacy waiver has been granted."

Petrelis says he is seeking a Freedom of Information Act attorney to help him get more of the President's records.

"I need a good FOIA lawyer," he said. "I feel I've done what I can as a blogger activist trying to use FOIA to get information about our president that should already be out in the public square."

"Since 9/11, the press has given Bush and company a free ride," he asserted, "and as part of that, the press hasn't gained access to his FBI file. And that's wrong."

Debbie Beatty, who works in the Historical and Executive Review Unit at the FBI and spoke for the FOIA office, told RAW STORY in April that to her knowledge, no other media organization has requested Bush's file.

"Not that I'm aware of," Beatty said. "I supervise all incoming mail."

The Justice Department's rejection of Petrelis' appeal follows


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