re: "State Department refuses to release documents about jihadist on CIA's kill or capture list, citing his right to privacy"

Robert at Jihad Watch ("dedicated to bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts") asked a decent-enough question:

"Why is the Obama State Department worried about the privacy rights of this Islamic jihadist who has repeatedly inspired and masterminded plots to kill large numbers of Americans?"

And even posts the answer, in an excerpted passage:

"The Department of State, Passport Services has reviewed your request
and has given full consideration to the reasons provided. However, we have determined that your request must be denied. This denial is pursuant to subsection (b)(6) of the Freedom of Information Act. The release of this information to you would be an invasion of personal privacy of another person, without written authorization from that person."

Triple-A is now, thankfully, deceased, so the Privacy Act exclusion would no longer apply. Prior to his demise, however, even the fellow citizens we don't like are still entitled to their privacy rights.

This doesn't mean that law enforcement and other government agencies couldn't access that information for lawful purposes; that's part of the Privacy Act as well.

8/27

FN - 8th State Department Employee Pleads Guilty to Passport Snooping

From my archive of press clippings:

Fox News


8th State Department Employee Pleads Guilty to Passport Snooping

Updated November 09, 2009

AP

Four of seven defendants to cop a plea so far for violating the Privacy Act were sentenced to a year's probation, while the others have not yet been sentenced.

WASHINGTON -- A veteran State Department worker pleaded guilty Monday to illegally viewing passport files of celebrities, the eighth current or former employee of the agency to admit to snooping.

Read the whole article here.

TN-S - Woman sure she exists; government agencies don't acknowledge her

From my archive of press clippings:

The News-Sentinal

Woman sure she exists; government agencies don't acknowledge her

Mon. Jul. 28, 2008 - 10:21 am EDT

By Ashley Smith of The News-Sentinel

Her name is Ula Geraldine Banks. She was born July 6, 1974. She has brown hair and brown eyes. But ask her to prove it, and she can't. According to the United States, Germany and the rest of the world, she doesn't exist.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Yet Thursday morning there she was, sitting in her living room, staring at photocopies of her German and American birth certificates."

"Banks was born on a U.S. Army base in Würzburg, Germany, to Roy and Linda Banks, both U.S. citizens."

The U.S. Army garrison in Wuerzburg, Germany, closed in the last year or two.

"The problem started in 2002 when she lost her driver's license in her then-boyfriend's van.

When she went to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for a replacement, she was told the photocopies of her German birth certificate and Certification of Birth Abroad — which she had used many times in the past because her mother had lost the originals when she was young — did not contain a government seal and were no longer acceptable.

Other documents, including her Social Security card, were not enough.

According to the Indiana Administrative Code, “only original documents or certified facsimiles from the issuing agency will be accepted."

That's the rule in most places, without a government seal they're just photocopies. Having once worked at Kinko's Copies (back before FedEx bought them), I would assert that photocopies aren't hard to fiddle.

"Her calls to the State Department - keeper of these records - yielded an unexpected response, Banks said.

“They say I don't exist.”

State Department officials did not return calls seeking comment."

And without a privacy waiver from Ms. Banks, they may not release information about her or her case/situation. It's not just a good idea, it's the law: The Privacy Act of 1970. Read it, learn it, live it.

"When she tried to contact Germany for proof, she found that the hospital where she was born had been destroyed."

While the hospital itself almost certainly did maintain records, the Geburtsurkunde she actually needs would have been recorded at a nearby town hall or other registry. So it sounds like she hasn't asked the right German yet.

&

"When a U.S. citizen is born overseas, the child is issued a birth certificate from that country as well as from the U.S. - once the parents provide an official record of the child's foreign birth, evidence of the parents' citizenship, evidence of marriage (if applicable) and affidavits of the parents' residence and physical presence in the U.S.

If that record is lost, a request can be made to the U.S. State Department, with a copy of the requester's valid photo ID.

There is a $30 processing fee."

If it hasn't already been done, my advice is to have the passport records people check her mother's passport file for a record of her birth, and if that doesn't work, to check her father's passport file.