{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-requests-information-on-release-of-private-military-records", "Cotton Requests Information on Release of Private Military Records", "2022-10-13", "2022", "2022-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler orJames Arnold (202) 224-2353\n\nOctober 13, 2022\n\nCotton Requests Information on Release of Private Military Records\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) sent a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Chief of the National Guard Bureau General Daniel Hokanson requesting a full accounting of how Politico obtained the private personnel records of USAF Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer-Ruth Green. Included in Politico\u2019s reporting were Green\u2019s Officer Performance Reports and her own account of being sexually assaulted while serving in Iraq.\n\nIn part, Senator Cotton wrote:\n\n\u201cAbsent the written consent of the servicemember, military performance evaluations appear to be protected by the Privacy Act and not releasable under the Freedom of Information Act, based on the statutes themselves, various government FAQs, and the Air Force itself in response to a formal congressional inquiry from my office into whether Officer Performance Reports (OPRs) are releasable under FOIA: An \u2018OPR could only be released if that member agreed, in writing, to release his/her document. Without written consent/release, Air Force has no authority to release these documents.\u2019\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nOctober 12, 2022\n\nThe Honorable Frank Kendall, III\n\nSecretary of the Air Force\n\n1670 Air Force Pentagon\n\nWashington, DC 20330-1670\n\nGeneral Daniel R. Hokanson\n\nChief of the National Guard Bureau\n\n111 South George Mason Drive\n\nArlington, VA 22204\n\nDear Secretary Kendall and General Hokanson:\n\nOn October 7, 2022, Politico published highly private information from the military records of Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer-Ruth Green, USAF, including both the contents of her Officer Performance Reports and her own detailed account of being sexually assaulted while serving in Iraq\u2014an assault she had chosen to keep private until Politico decided to ignore her objections and publish the details anyway.\n\nThe Politico reporter claims in the article that \u201cthe documents\u2026were obtained by a public records request and provided to [Politico.]\u201d Separately, in a statement to Fox News Digital, a Politico spokesperson contends that \u201c[t]he records in question are publicly available documents that can be obtained by a standard FOIA request.\u201d\n\nBut absent the written consent of the servicemember, military performance evaluations appear to be protected by the Privacy Act and not releasable under the Freedom of Information Act, based on the statutes themselves, various government FAQs, and the Air Force itself in response to a formal congressional inquiry from my office into whether Officer Performance Reports (OPRs) are releasable under FOIA: An \u201cOPR could only be released if that member agreed, in writing, to release his/her document. Without written consent/release, Air Force has no authority to release these documents.\u201d\n\nIf that\u2019s true, the release of Lt Col Green\u2019s personnel records appears to be a grave violation of both Lt Col Green\u2019s privacy and federal law.\n\nOf additional concern is the appearance that the party responsible for releasing these Air Force documents may be exploiting private matters, including a sexual assault, for partisan purposes to interfere in the democratic process just weeks before an election.\n\nI am therefore formally requesting a full accounting of how and on what basis these documents were released or leaked, and who is responsible.\n\nI look forward to your prompt response.\n\n___________________________\n\nTom Cotton\n\nUnited States Senator\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:20:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-requests-information-on-release-of-private-military-records"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9475168772041798, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}