The Most Transparent Administration Evah has yet another example of doublespeak and opacity uncovered by the Associated Press.  A lengthy investigation shows that the Department of Homeland Security investigated people making Freedom of Information Act requests for their politics, and delaying legally mandated disclosures based on political considerations.  The demands for information included the party affiliation of those making the requests, a policy that came from the top:

For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive, according to nearly 1,000 pages of internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press. …

Career employees were ordered to provide Secretary Janet Napolitano’s political staff with information about the people who asked for records — such as where they lived, whether they were private citizens or reporters — and about the organizations where they worked.

If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican.

I’ll take a wild guess that the process was not expedited for requests coming from Republicans.

This policy stopped after DHS became aware that the AP was pursuing the story, but it’s appalling nonetheless.  One career employee got reprimanded simply for referring a reporter to a public Coast Guard website for open-source information without first checking with the political politburo working for Napolitano.  The policy demanded approval before release from the political appointees, who apparently often exercised a “pocket veto” on the requests by simply never responding.  The materials that required such approval included anything relating to a White House policy priority, “controversial or sensitive” topics — and anything requested by lawmakers, journalists, activists, and watchdog groups.

for full article: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/07/22/ap-homeland-security-probed-foia-requesters-delayed-data-based-on-politics/