The U.S. Postal Service released the security clearance application of a former CIA officer who is running for Congress as a Democrat to a Republican group, in what is likely an unprecedented move.
America Rising, a PAC that conducts opposition research on Democratic Party members, obtained Abigail Spanberger’s federal security clearance application through a Freedom of Information Act request, BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday. The group then shared it with the Congressional Leadership Fund.
Spanberger is running against Republican Rep. David Brat in a competitive race in Virginia.
The FOIA request sought records from Spanberger’s official personnel folder from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, where she worked while waiting to hear back about a job at the CIA. The request did not specifically mention the clearance application, known as an SF-86, which likely would have been withheld or redacted under a FOIA privacy act exemption, the BuzzFeed report said.
[Opinion: Yes, it’s relevant that a Virginia Democrat taught at a school dubbed ‘terror high’]
USPS gave America Rising the former CIA officer’s entire personnel folder and the SF-86, which asks applicants for personal details that could be potentially embarrassing information.
“America Rising submitted a standard Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information from the National Personnel Records Center which was referred to the United States Postal Service, an independent agency, which provided us responsive documents,” America Rising CEO Joe Pounder said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “Why the USPS disclosed certain information in response to the FOIA is for their response. At the end of the day, this Democrat candidate is trying to block the one thing FOIA is meant to provide, transparency.”
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Spanberger has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, demanding that it destroy all copies of the SF-86 and vow not to use the information in any way.
She said she suspects Republicans were digging for information about her time teaching at the Saudi-funded Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va.
