Petrelis Files

David Webb of the Dallas Voice has written an excellent story about both my efforts to get Bush's FBI file and the efforts of the Dallas Morning News to also pry loose information about Bush from the FBI. If you want to read what the FBI recently released to me, you can find those slim pages at http://annoy.com/sectionless/Bush-FBI-File.PDF and also at http://rawstory.rawprint.com/0405/bush_fbi_1 .

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http://dallasvoice.com/articles/dispArticle.cfm?Article_ID=6026

May 6, 2005
The Dallas Voice

Bush’s slim FBI file lets down gay activist who wanted more

FBI spokesman says many people request copies of President Bush’s file but most information available about a living president is restricted

By David Webb
E-mail: webb@dallasvoice.com

San Francisco activist Michael Petrelis’ quest for President Bush’s FBI file was finally successful, but it has only left him thirsting for more information.

Petrelis, who filed the request eight months ago under the Freedom of Information Act, obtained 20 pages of information about the sitting president last month. The information was limited to scant details of the FBI’s investigation of a few threats against the president.

“At first I was happy because I didn’t think I would ever get anything from the FBI,” said Petrelis, who investigates a wide range of issues and posts the information on his blog site. “But when I saw the slim, slim number of pages, I was disappointed.”

Petrelis said he expected to find information about the president’s visits to the White House when his father, the senior George Bush, was the vice-president and later the president. Information about President Bush’s years as governor of Texas should also be in the files, he said.

“The most interesting thing to me about the file was what was missing,” Petrelis said.

After he received the information Petrelis immediately appealed to the FBI to release its entire file on President Bush.

“I think that as an American I need to know everything about the president that the FBI can release, because he is going to be the president for four more years,” Petrelis said.

Petrelis said that he had searched for information about President Bush’s FBI file on the Internet, and that he was unable to locate any reference to it by media outlets in Texas or any other parts of the country. That surprised him, he said.

“I have done 30 or 40 Web searches to try to find where the Dallas Morning News or any other reporters in Texas had ever requested his file,” Petrelis said. “I’ve never been able to find any proof on the Web that someone else has requested it.”

Petrelis said he believes that if a major metropolitan daily sought the FBI file, the federal agency would reveal much more.

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

But Robert W. Mong Jr., editor of The Dallas Morning News, said Petrelis’ contention that the media had failed to pursue available information about President Bush is “ill-informed.” The newspaper undertook exhaustive investigation of the president dating back to when he announced plans to run for governor of the state, he said.

“We filed for tons of things,” Mong said. “It’s just inconceivable to me that we didn’t ask for an FBI file.”

Mong said it would be unlikely that every other major newspaper in the country had not sought information from the FBI about President Bush.

Paul Bresson, a spokesman for the FBI, said Petrelis has likely received everything from the FBI about President Bush that anyone could.

“There is only a limited amount of information under the Freedom of Information laws that we are able to provide at this time about a living and current president,” Bresson said.

Bresson said that more information would probably be available if Petrelis had the president’s consent for it to be released or if the president had died. The Privacy Act prohibits the release of much information, and the FBI would not release anything that provides details about techniques or sources, he said.

“For most people who are alive and they don’t provide consent, there’s absolutely no information we can release,” Bresson said. “In this case, because he’s a public figure and he’s the president of the United States, there is a limited amount of information that can be released.”

Bresson said that the FBI has processed numerous requests for information about President Bush.

“He’s not the only one to get the information,” Bresson said. “It’s pretty typical when you have a president or someone of high stature that we would get multiple requests for information.

Bresson said that he could not say for sure whether any of the requests for Bush’s FBI file had been made by members of the media.

“I would think that would be the case,” Bresson said.

Bresson said that the FBI always receives requests for information about politicians and other celebrities when they die because privacy ceases to be an issue. Those requests often come from the media, he said.

Petrelis, who spent 72 days in the San Francisco County Jail in 2001 for harassing public officials who objected to his abrasive style of activism, acknowledges that he has his own “rather impressive FBI file.”

Petrelis has said that after his arrest he learned to go about his activism less aggressively.