House Republicans are trying to end the decades-old practice of the Pentagon releasing service record summaries of members of the U.S. military.
The House of Representatives Subsidy Committee The bill would prohibit the use of any funds to release personal information about current and former service members that news organizations and some employers use to verify an individual’s military service.
According to the Department of Defense, the types of information that can currently be released vary, but generally include full name, rank, date of rank, past and present service assignments, awards and decorations, attendance at professional military schools, service status at any given location . time, home of record and official photo.
The Defense Department’s current order says that this and other basic information “may be routinely disclosed without manifestly unwarranted invasion of privacy.”
MPs now want the military to ban the release of information relating to any current or former member of the armed forces without their consent. If the person has died, consent would have to be given by the next of kin.
The provision may be removed from the final spending bill that will eventually land on President Biden’s desk. But defense officials fear it could pass both the House and Senate if both sides prioritize more partisan issues.
Under the new proposal, members of the public, new organizations and some employers would have to file a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request with a military branch to obtain the information, and the individual must be notified before the information is released. . But the FOIA process is notoriously backward and can take months or even years to fulfill a request.
The only exception would be if the request is from a federal government entity or state and local law enforcement, which the military can comply with.
Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman declined to comment, saying, “It would be inappropriate to comment on pending legislation.”
The Republican bill comes after several high-profile cases in which the Pentagon accidentally released the private information of GOP politicians who are former service members. Earlier this year, the Air Force notified Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, and Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn, a former Air Force officer, that their personal records were accidentally released without their consent during the midterm election campaigns. The person who requested Bacon and Nunn’s records has ties to the Democratic Party.
This followed the Air Force’s confirmation that it had improperly released personal health information about Republican Indiana House candidate Jennifer-Ruth Green that revealed she had been sexually assaulted during her time in the military. An Air Force Academy graduate lost her primary race for Indiana’s 1st Congressional District.
The Air Force admitted it was a mistake to release such information without the individual’s consent and promised to send the results of its investigation to the Justice Department.
“Air Department personnel did not follow proper procedures requiring a member’s consent to sign authorization to release information,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told NBC News. “There was no evidence of political motivation or malicious intent on the part of any employee.”
In that case, however, the information was released after someone filed a separate request, known as a Standard Form 180 or SF-180, which can require the release of more than the basic data provided to the news media and the public by the military. . It may contain social security numbers and other private information about an individual. The SF-180 requires the service member to sign the form and approve the release, but that didn’t happen in the lawmakers’ release.
“This is a completely overreaction to a misunderstanding,” a defense official told NBC News. “People conflate the two processes.”
If the proposed GOP bill becomes law, it could have a chilling effect on the public’s ability to verify whether someone has received medals and decorations, what rank and duty they held in the military, or whether they served at all.
After several people lied about their military service in recent years, Congress passed the Stolen Valor Act of 2013, which made it a crime for anyone to claim to have received certain military medals if their intent was to obtain money or some other benefit. Awards include Bronze Star, Purple Heart, among others.