Petrelis Files

April 26, 2005

Dear Friends:

In early July 2004 I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the agency's files on President George W. Bush and I expected two things to happen.

One, someone would step forward and tell me that another activist had already filed such a request for the FBI's file on Bush.

Or two, a friend would point out a mainstream news story about a reporter's request to obtain the file.

Neither thing happened, which surprised me because I thought surely during Bush's presidency up until that point, an effort would have been made to pressure the FBI into releasing whatever documents they could, without compromising Bush's privacy or national security.

It was easy enough to locate news accounts, blog entries and assorted other information on the web about the thousands of pages from Sen. John Kerry's FBI files, both as an individual against the Vietnam war and as a leader in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War protest group, but Googling for Bush's FBI dossier produced nothing of substance.

How it could it be that during the most important election of the past half century, the supposed liberal media could devote resources, ink and airtime to the FBI files of only one of the two major contenders for the White House, and totally ignore what the agency may have on the other candidate?

To their shame, no mainstream news outlet, liberal or conservative, bothered to investigate what the FBI has in its archives on Bush or efforts to obtain his file.

Only a handful of alternative outlets wrote about my FOIA request for the Bush file. Two gay newspapers, the San Francisco Bay Times and the Dallas Voice, along with RawStory.com and Annoy.com, ran stories about his file. That's been it so far in terms of news coverage and I thought the FBI, if it ever saw fit to release any of its files on Bush to me, would do so only after he was out of the Oval Office.

I am pleased to write I was wrong.

The FBI in mid April sent me a letter explaining that it had reviewed twenty pages on Bush and they were being released to me.

In the twenty pages is information about an email threat against the president, threatening packages sent to him, letters from the U.S. Secret Service to the FBI forensic laboratory request DNA analyses and the lab's replies.

That's it, nothing more, claims the FBI. There's nothing in their correspondence to me indicating any additional pages or documents were withheld.

Does the FBI really expect me to believe that it has only twenty pages in its files on Bush? How could it be, I wonder, given his four years as president and six years as governor of Texas, not to mention the clearances he would have needed from the FBI to walk into the White House when his father was first vice president and then president, that the agency would have less than two dozen pages to release in response to a FOIA request?

There has to be more, much more, in the FBI archives on Bush, which is why I have filed an appeal to the FBI to again search its files for records on Bush, including the archives of all FBI offices in Texas.

While I wait for the FBI to process and respond to my appeal, I hope the liberal media will look into this matter and report on the incredibly slim number of pages the FBI has released from Bush's file.

In order to help reporters with this story, I've put the twenty pages from the FBI into a PDF, which is available at http://rawstory.rawprint.com/0405/bush_fbi_1 and also at http://annoy.com/editorials/doc.html?DocumentID=100707 .

I can't fathom how anyone, much less any serious reporter looking for a good story, could read those twenty pages and say the FBI has released all it has on Bush and the agency has fully complied with my FOIA request.

If I, as a single blogger activist, can force the FBI to release anything from its vaults on Bush through FOIA, imagine what an intrepid reporter, with lawyers and other resources at his or her disposal, could pry loose from the FBI.

It's time for the press to investigate and report on Bush's FBI file.

Regards,
Michael Petrelis


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[This letter was snail mailed to DC.]

April 25, 2005

Director
Office of Information and Privacy
U.S. Department of Justice
Flag Building, Suite 570
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Re: Freedom of Information Appeal, FOIPA No. 1001866-00


Dear Sir or Madam:

I have received the twenty pages of documents on President George W. Bush sent to me earlier this month from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

However, I am appealing your decision to release only twenty pages of the FBI's dossier on President Bush because I believe the Department of Justice has not been fully responsive to my Freedom of Information Act request for all of his FBI file.

Frankly, I can't accept that the FBI has only twenty pages of files on President Bush.

In my original FOIA request of July 3, 2004, I ask for the FBI's entire file on President Bush and it is my belief that the agency has more than twenty pages on him in the archives.

I don't think the FBI has adequately searched its voluminous records at headquarters in Washington, DC, and all of the field offices in Texas, especially for the years when George W. Bush was governor of the state.

Therefore, I formally request that the FBI again search all of its archives, including records held at all FBI offices in Texas, for more documents on George W. Bush and that all of the documents and files located be released to me under the provisions of FOIA.

I am requesting the President Bush FBI files for personal use and the documents will not be used for commercial purposes.

A prompt reply is requested.

Sincerely,
Michael Petrelis
132 Clinton Park, #1
San Francisco, CA 94103