It's Time To Play Another Round of The Cover Your Ass With Paper Game.

The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Office of the Staff Judge Advocate has at least one person who is squared away!

Special thanks to Michelle McLeod CECOM FOIA Officer.

Now that CECOM has assigned CECOM FOIA #FA-12-0069 to my request (thus covering The CECOM Office of the Staff Judge Advocate at Aberdeen Proving Grounds ass with paper), the buck has been passed to the final location where it has to be answered (in theory according to law), Dr. Fenner Milton, The Director of The Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, Fort Belvoir Virginia.

If this doesn't result in the production of the requested documentation I guess I will be forced to ask for a Court Order for the production of the materials.

************************************************************************************

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Mr. Walkenstein,

Great speaking with you today. Per our conversation.

Your FOIA request is being processed and is under review with the U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate.

I assigned your request CECOM FOIA #FA-12-0069.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Michelle McLeod
CECOM FOIA Officer
443-861-5266


Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Dear Major General Ferrell...

Major General Robert S. Ferrell

An open letter to:

Major General Robert S. Ferrell
CECOM Commanding General
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

Dear General:

As the Commanding Officer of CECOM, I can't help but wonder if you are aware of some specific inappropriate activities associated with individuals in your command and the detrimental effect it continues to have on the war fighters under your command.

In support of rectifying the situation and holding individuals within CECOM responsible for their actions, CANVS currently has a case in front of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, ASBCA (Appeal of CANVS Corporation to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals Case No. 57784, 57987).

After a number of failed attempts to obtain evidence to be provided to the Federal Judge assigned to the ASBCA case, I filed a Freedom Of Information Act Request with the Army on 20JAN12. After no response I contacted the office of The Army Chief of Staff and resubmitted my request on 18APR12. My request now resides in an office under your command, namely:

U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM)
Office of the Staff Judge Advocate
6001 Combat Drive
Room C3-127
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005
Telephone: (443) 861-5266

FOIA Request 12-0489

I called the office today and left a message, it should be noted that as of the writing of this letter CECOM may be in violation of the law and Army regulations (AR 25-55 and Title 5 US Code 552) regarding their behavior related to my request.

Specifically:

I quote from AR 25-55:

a. Initial determinations to release or deny a record normally shall be made and the decision reported to the requester within l0 working days after receipt of the request by the official designated to respond. The action office/command holding the records will date and time-stamp each request on receipt. The 10-day limit will start from the date stamped.

I hope that the folks in your Office of the Staff Judge Advocate comply with the law and finally provide me with the requested information, if not I will be writing a comprehensive report on the matter for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Alexander Walkenstein
President, CANVS Corporation

Get ready to PAC its time to visit the Self Licking Ice Cream Cone Factory.

Here is a rough outline of how these things run. Gizmo Corporation is the world's largest manufacturer of Gizmos. The Gizmo Corporation is a US Corporation with Corporate Headquarters on Main Street. Obviously Main Street resides in a city and a state in these great United States, so Gizmo Corporation has two Senators and one Congressman (or Congresswoman) associated with Corporate Headquarters. For really large companies, like Gizmo Corporation, they may have facilities in many states (increasing the ability to support politicians who can help them).

Through various means, some legal and some not, the US Government develops specifications for Gizmos to be purchased by the Government. As luck would have it these specifications can only be met by Gizmo Corporation, so when Congress passes a budget for purchasing Gizmos, only one company can win the contract bid (even though everyone pretends that the bid process for Gizmos is open and honest, we now know otherwise).

Here comes the Self Licking part. Someone in Government has to develop these specifications, for Military related items let us say Colonel Goldbrick is in charge of the unit that uses the most Gizmos. As such he is in the best position to understand all aspects of the need for Gizmos and how they can be improved in the future to meet the needs of the Military. Also Col. Gizmo and his team, by necessity, work hand in hand with Gizmo Corporation to ensure delivery, provide feedback, etc. Clearly when Col. Goldbrick retires he would provide invaluable information to Gizmo Corporation as a person with instant credibility to work with the Military on their Gizmo needs. Col. Goldbrick retires and goes to work for Gizmo Corporation as a Senior Vice President. Col. Greenbacks as the new commander works hand in hand with the now retired Col. Goldbrick on all things Gizmo related. Col. Greenbacks is not an idiot and works towards retirement with an eye on a lucrative Gizmo position upon retirement.

Col. Goldbricks, as a respected member of the military and now a captain of industry marches up capital hill with a briefcase full of checks and a Bill to be turned into law by congress, The Gizmos for American Jobs Act.

This process results in a never ending cycle of pay for favors, get favors, get contracts, pay for more favors, get more favors, get more contracts, pay even more, etc.

This doesn't have to be all bad if the Gizmos in question actually represent the Best Value for the Government, but sadly this is almost never the case. Additionally any attempt by Small Business to produce a better Gizmo is pretty much unilaterally slaughtered. Most of the time new technologies are buried and the developers run out of Dodge or worse, in some rare instances the small entities are purchased by the larger companies and the technology eventually makes it into the hands of the users, more times than not it won't be till after the investment in old Gizmos is paid off.

Imagine this process replicated over every product purchased by the Government in every State and every Congressional district in the United States and you can start to appreciate the power of the PAC's and the moral bankruptcy we are dealing with.

The Self Licking Ice Cream Cone Factory (AKA The Legislative Branch)

I am working on a paper detailing my experience with Self Licking Ice Cream Cone Factories, till then just think about what this really means...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-licking_ice_cream_cone

Its time to play The Cover Your Ass With Paper Game...

Yesterday I got this in the mail:

• 09MAY12-FOIA-12-0489-Envelope.jpg
• 09MAY12-FOIA-12-0489.jpg

Let me make a few notes about dates and other details associated with this letter:

• The date on the postmark on the envelope is May 14, 2012.

• The date on the letter is May 9, 2012.

• FOIA 12-0489 was assigned to this request no later than May 9, 2012.

• They claim my FOIAR was received on April 18, 2012.

• They claim that their office received my request on April 23, 2012

• They claim my request is being processed in accordance with Title 5 US Code 552.

• Information requested under the purview of the U.S. Army is referred to the proponent agency as per Army Regulation 25-55.

• The request has been forwarded for review and direct response to me to:
  
  U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM)
  Office of the Staff Judge Advocate
  6001 Combat Drive
  Room C3-127
  Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005
  Telephone: (443) 861-5266
  
  Any questions regarding the status of the request should be addressed to the agency listed above.

The following is a quote from AR 25-55:

a. Initial determinations to release or deny a record normally shall be made and the decision reported to the requester within l0 working days after receipt of the request by the official designated to respond. The action office/command holding the records will date and time-stamp each request on receipt. The 10-day limit will start from the date stamped.

If I take the date the letter was written (May 9, 2012) as the date that the Big Army FOIA Office forwarded my request, thus officially covering their ass with paper and simultaneously passing the buck to CECOM, then May 23, 2012 would be 10 working days after the material was received. And as you may have already guessed, nothing yet from CECOM. Interesting to note no mention of the fact that this request was actually submitted on 20JAN12 and that this fact was included in the resubmitted request that they are finally responding to.

Later today I will be placing a call to CECOM to have a friendly conversation with them to determine what the current status of my request is (note full powers of concentration are being used to stay calm...).

Not So Freedom Of Information Act...

My (CANVS Corporation) history with the Freedom of Information Act has been semi OK, until recently, all of my requests were eventually answered, even if some were less than forthcoming reference all the materials I requested.

In most cases where I submitted a FOIA request, I already had the information necessary to submit as evidence in Federal Court, but, it is always nice to have ones evidence independently corroborated by official documents provided by the Federal Government.

My most recent FOIAR efforts have been a different story. The request in question was submitted by me to the proper authority within the US Army on 20JAN12, and re-submission at the suggestion of the Office of The Chief of Staff of The Army on 19APR12. 124 days, and 34 days later, both requests are way over the legal limit for a response to my requests. Congress and the President went out of their way to put laws into effect that govern this program in the name of "transparency", in this particular instance I have documented a total break down of not only the system, but also a total lack of enforcement of the law.

As I continue to attempt to hold my Government responsible for their actions, feel free to contact me if you know of any Government Official who has the moral fiber and political horsepower to help. If you listen carefully I am not holding my breath. My hope at this point is that eventually a Federal Judge will be fed up with this blatant disregard for the law and issue a court order for the production of the requested documentation.

For your reading pleasure:

The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 As Amended By Public Law No. 110-175, 121 Stat. 2524

Public Law 106-554

Isn't That Special...

Is there anyone in the US Government with the moral fiber and horsepower to actually uphold the law?

Specifically I had 18 USC Sec. 1905 in mind.

Well, in my never ending quest for Truth, Justice, and The American Way I just sent the below letter to "The Special Counsel" (read between the quotes with the Church Lady Voice from SNL).

You might want to use the "WOOSAAAA" meditation technique from the movie Bad Boys to keep from having an embolism as you read this.

Enjoy!

To: Ms. Carolyn Lerner U.S. Office of Special Counsel 1730 M Street, N.W., Suite 218 Washington, D.C. 20036-4505 Tel: (800) 872-9855 (202) 254-3670 FAX: (202) 254-3711

From: Jonathan Alexander Walkenstein Chief Executive Officer CANVS Corporation 1172 South Dixie Highway Suite 364 Coral Gables, FL 33146-2918 Phone (305) 582-3301 E-Mail jon@canvs.com

Dear Carolyn:

I am writing you this letter to inform you of an abject failure of the Freedom of Information Act Request process. I have chosen to write you as my attempts to rectify this situation with U.S. Army, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and other DoD components (including Inspector General Offices) have been thwarted or ignored.

It should be noted that CANVS Corporation currently has two actions against the Federal Government, CANVS Corporation V. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Case 1:10-cv-00540-ECH (a patent infringement case) was filed on August 11, 2010 in The Court of Federal Claims, and CANVS Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals Case Numbers 57784 and 57987 (breach of data rights cases) filed on 19SEP11.

There are two events I would like you to help me with: 1) My 20JAN12 FOIA Request to the Army, and 2) My 31AUG11 FOIA Request to The Army Research Laboratory (FP-11-039359/FA-11-0018) - PowerPoint Presentation on Modular Multi-Spectral Goggle in Night Vision Applications and related forms request.

1) My initial FOIA request to the Army reference this matter was submitted on 20JAN12 (the request in its entirety is at the end of this section of the letter) and was emailed by me (from my jon@canvs.com account) to:

DAFOIA@conus.army.mil

At the suggestion of:

Kathleen Vaughn-Burford
Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1
Management Support Office
300 Army Pentagon, Room# 1D374
Washington, DC 20310-0300
Phone: 703-695-7783/DSN 225-7783

On 19APR12 I resubmitted my 20JAN12 Army FOIA (from my jon@canvs.com account)request to:

usarmy.belvoir.hqda-oaa-aha.mbx.rmda-foia@mail.mil

In light of the Army's inability to comply with the law coupled with their unwillingness to positively communicate with me (along with the fact that over 100 days have passed since I submitted my initial request) I believe that it is appropriate for me to ask for your help in ascertaining the status of my request and when I can expect an answer.

My 20JAN12 FOIA request in its entirety is on the following page.

20JAN12

Dear Department of the Army Freedom of Information Act Request Processor:

My name is Jonathan A Walkenstein, President of CANVS Corporation. I quote CFR 32 Sub Part 249.5 Subsection e

"(e) Clearance for public release. A review is required by DoD Directive 5230.9 5 for all public releases by DoD personnel"

At 16:32 on WE 08JUN05 I was at the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) booth at the 2005 International SOF Week and APBI Conference at the Tampa Convention Center, the conference ran form JUNE 6 - 10, 2005.

CANVS Corporation Color Night Vision Technology was displayed by NVESD at their booth (including a CNVS-4949 Color Night Vision Goggle as well as technical data in the form of a poster with color images of and through CANVS Color Night Vision devices).

As the technical data displayed on the poster was released in a public forum (into the public domain) there should be (according to CFR 32 Sub Part 249.5 Subsection e) a copy of the request for release of the presentation as well as a copy of the material that was presented (I believe this approval for release is called the "Form F1").

This email constitutes a formal Freedom Of Information Act request by me, Jonathan A Walkenstein, to The U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (specifically to the office A. Fenner Milton, PhD, Director, Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate) for any forms associated with request to release the information referenced in the above mentioned Poster presentation, any approvals or denials reference same, and a copy of the materials presented.

As the materials in question were also identified by the U.S. Department of State as International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) Restricted at the time of the presentation, there should be corresponding paperwork showing U.S. Department of State approval for the release of the materials in question as there were foreign nationals present at the event in question.

As this request is directly related to the current CANVS Corporation Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals Case Number 57784, I am asking for an expedited response to this request.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. If there are any questions or comments please address them to me:

Jonathan Alexander Walkenstein
President, CANVS Corporation
1172 South Dixie Highway Suite 364
Coral Gables, FL 33146-2918
Cell Phone = (305) 582-3301
E-Mail = jon@canvs.com

2) My 31AUG11 FOIA Request to The Army Research Laboratory (FP-11- 039359/FA-11-0018) - PowerPoint Presentation on Modular Multi-Spectral Goggle in Night Vision Applications and related forms request.

This incident is less about the FOIAR process and more about the culture of impunity and disregard for the law that exists within pockets of The US Special Forces Command [SOCOM] and The U.S. Army (Specifically The Army Research Laboratory [ARL], and The Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate [NVESD]).

In order for you to more fully appreciate the request the following is a compressed narrative of the events leading up to my 31AUG11 FOIA request.

My company, CANVS Corporation, completed a critically acclaimed SBIR Phase-II contract (Title: Multi-Spectral Low-Light Imaging) for SOCOM (http://www.ussocomsbir.com/success/#6). The deliverables under this contract were Color Night Vision Goggles, Color Night Vision Video Systems (Link to CANVS Color Night Vision Video Sequence: http://www.canvs.com/CANVS-cigar.wmv), and associated technical data packages. It should be noted that the hardware deliverables were received by NVESD who then passed them on to SOCOM (NVESD also received the CANVS generated data packages associated with the program). The CANVS/SOCOM Contract contained clauses associated with limited data rights. What this means is that data delivered to SOCOM by CANVS under the contract can not, by law, be released without express written consent of CANVS.

I was present on two occasions when this trust (and the law) was violated. Once at the 2005 Special Operation Forces Advance Planning Brief for Industry (SOF ABPI) conference (at the NVESD booth), and once at the 2006 IDGA Night Vision Conference (at a presentation given by ARL). My 20JAN12 FOIA request to the Army was for materials related to the 2005 SOF ABPI incident, and my 31AUG11 FOIA request was for materials related to the 2006 IDGA Night Vision Systems Conference incident. The requested information is directly related to CANVS' appeal currently before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA Case Nos. 57784, 57987).

The Primary Point of Contact between CANVS and SOCOM during the SBIR Phase-II contract was an individual by the name of Kurt A. Badertscher. At the time of the contract Badertscher's title at SOCOM Headquarters Tampa Florida was “Project Selection Manager Advanced Technology Program”. At the 2006 IDGA Night Vision Systems Conference a presentation titled “Modular Multi-Spectral Goggle in Night Vision Applications” was authored by Kurt A. Badertscher, Research Engineer, Army Research Laboratory.

Please not the similarity between the title of the talk and the title of the CANVS SBIR Phase-II Contract:

• ARL Talk Title: Modular Multi-Spectral Goggle in Night Vision Applications

• CANVS SOCOM SBIR Phase-II Title: Multi-Spectral Low-Light Imaging

Based on my history with Badertscher I thought it was reasonable to submit FOIA requests to both SOCOM and ARL to obtain a copy of the PowerPoint presentation that was given at the conference (note that I was at the conference, saw the talk in its entirety, and the talk in question was the only one not included on the CD given to conference attendees).

My initial FOIA request to SOCOM asked for a copy of the 2006 IDGA PowerPoint presentation. SOCOM replied saying that they did not have the talk but I could appeal the decision. I appealed the decision and asked for the Form F1 in addition to the talk. The Form F1 is permission to release the material into the public domain. SOCOM replied back saying that they did not have the Form F1 or the talk.

I also made a FOIA request to ARL asking for a copy of the 2006 IDGA PowerPoint presentation. ARL replied saying that they did not have the talk but I could appeal the decision. I appealed the decision and asked for the Form F1 in addition to the talk. ARL's response was astounding. They claimed to not have the ARL 2006 IDGA PowerPoint presentation BUT they produced the Form F1 associated with the talk.

After reading the Form F1 sent to me from ARL, I further asked for and was provided with the instructions associated with filling out the Form F1. It is clear that there are major inconsistencies between the proper procedure for filling out a Form F1 according to the instructions and the completed Form F1 provided by ARL.

• The top of the Form F1 clearly states: “Note: Submit all manuscripts in electronic format or camera ready copy.” The Form F1 is not complete without a copy of the talk.

• Block 10 (security classification) is empty.

• Blocks 32 B and 32 C are not completed (The Division Chief and Public Affair Office Representative Approval Signatures are missing).

In light of the fact that the Division Chief and Public Affair Office Representative Approval Signatures are missing, and a copy of the talk was not attached to the form the Form F1 provided by ARL, the Form F1 provided to CANVS is not a confirmation of authorization to release the material into the public domain by ARL.

Please note that even if proper permission was granted by ARL for the release of the presentation, the separate issue of breech of data rights still stands by virtue of the fact that no written permission from CANVS for release of data protected under the limited data rights in the CANVS/SOCOM SBIR Phase-II contract was obtained(this aspect of the breech is being addressed by the CANVS ASBCA actions).

I would like your opinion on the following points:

• Do you believe that the supplied ARL Form F1 (see attached) constitutes permission by ARL to release the talk?

• What laws, rules, regulations or policies have been broken if there was no permission from ARL for the release of the presentation?

• Is it the responsibility of the Department of Justice or the Department of Defense (or both) to address this issue?

Thank you for consideration in this matter,

Sincerely,

Jonathan Alexander Walkenstein
President, CANVS Corporation
1172 South Dixie Highway Suite 364
Coral Gables, FL 33146-2918
Cell Phone = (305) 582-3301
E-Mail = jon@canvs.com