WASHINGTON - August 23 -Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said today:

"The newly minted argument that the Office of Administration is not an agency is akin to the Vice President's declaration that he is not a part of the executive branch. One has to wonder if this is an effort by the White House to keep secret the details of how millions of White House email suddenly went missing.

The OA's disingenuous claim that it is not subject to the FOIA is contradicted by its own actions and statements. On the White House's own website, the OA is designated as one of the few components in the Executive Office of the President subject to the FOIA. The website also provides a link to the OA's FOIA regulations and identifies an OA FOIA officer."

White House website links to the Office of Administration FOIA regulations and personnel:
www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/handbook.html
www.whitehouse.gov/government/eop-foia.html
www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/title5.html
www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/readroom.html
www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiacontacts.htm

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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.

For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202.408.5565/nseligman@citizensforethics.org.

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