Mr. Tom Villars LIED to DOE Chicago Office-Office of Chief Counsel

A FOIA officer determines if requested emails and or documents are releasable, or not releasable.  When FOIA requested emails are approved to be released by a FOIA officer, then no individual, whether they are employed by Homeland Security or not, have a bag on their head or not, has the right to determine the emails are not releasable especially if they are granted “News Media Requester” status by the DOE. No ifs, ands, or buts.  Do you understand that Mr. Tom "Homeland Security" Villars, Mr. Joseph Murphy?

Mr. Tom Villars LIED in the email to the DOE Chicago Office-Office of Chief Counsel when he wrote "at a minimum we do publish all the results of all our FOIA request".  TV failed to mention Mr. Murphy and himself will make the final decision in which FOIA emails are released.  If anyone with a bag over their head wants to play dumb and don't know which emails I am referring to, read my blog dated March 5, 2011.  Mr. Murphy and Mr. Villars had in their possession (at least 6 months) those two emails which they decided not to release after a FOIA officer determined the emails were releasable.

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From: Tom Villars [mailto:tvillars@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 3:13 PM
To: Legan, Miriam
Subject: Re: FOIA Request #CH-2010-01875-F

Mimi,

The documents obtained will be shared with Joseph, John Woodward, and others who write articles for the site. While my role in this instance is more research assistant than editor I will from time to time write my own article if the documents fall into my area of specialization. Of course what happens with the documents we find with this FOIA request isn't yet known but at a minimum we do publish all the results of all our FOIA request. While this information is "theoretically" available to anyone, in almost all instances the release of this information is considered news by the people reading the sites.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Tom


On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 3:59 PM, Legan, Miriam wrote:

Hello Tom,

Yes I spoke with Joseph Murphy who said he owned the sites you list in your e-mail below. I still need clarification from you as the requester as to how this will all work between you and Mr. Murphy and his sites. Do you intend to use the information in the e-mails you are requesting to draft news articles/stories for distribution on Mr. Murphy’s sites? Please let me know.

Mimi

Miriam R. Legan
FOIA Officer/Privacy Act Officer
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science - Chicago Office
Office of Chief Counsel
9800 S. Cass Avenue
Argonne, Illinois 60439
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Click here to view the emails from the Chicago Office-Office of Chief Counsel emails granting theeestory "News Media Requester Status".

Click here to view the email from Catherine S., Manager of Public Affairs for Zenn Motor Corp. to Mr. Joseph Murphy and Mr. Tom Villars.