Army News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Army Times

E-mail sparks investigation of Army civilians

An unknown number of Army civilian employees will be investigated in connection with the unlawful distribution of a chain e-mail that makes false accusations about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The e-mail appears to have originated at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and was sent out by civilian individuals to potentially thousands of people who work for Army Medical Command, including soldiers.

In response, the Army sent a memorandum Jan. 16 through the Medical Information Technology Center to an unspecified number of soldiers in Army Medical Command warning against using government computers to distribute the e-mail.

The email accuses Obama of concealing that he is a radical Muslim, that he disrespects the American flag and that he was sworn into office with his hand on the Koran.

In fact, according to multiple biographical Web sites, Obama is a practicing Christian and used a Bible when he was sworn in as a senator from Illinois in 2005. His mother is Ann Dunham, a native of Kansas, who married a Muslim she divorced three years later.

Obama’s mother remarried another Muslim, and the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. Obama met his biological father once.

The Army memorandum, which was first reported in the Boston Globe, stated: “Currently there is an e-mail floating around with the Subject line: ‘Who is Barack Obama.’ Like virtually all chain e-mails, this one is false.”

The investigation into the actions of the Army civilians will be conducted by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency that looks into allegations of illegal practices among federal employees and protects the merits of others, such as whistle-blowers.

“We are going to be opening cases,” said OSC spokesman Jim Mitchell, who could not speculate on the number of people who will be investigated because of the possibility that it may have been distributed to thousands of people. “My own feeling is that this is the tip of the iceberg.”

The e-mail thread obtained by Army Times shows that the message began to circulate outside the government and reached an AMEDD employee before going out to a wide distribution list in that department.

“New technologies make it easier for you to do stupid things on government time, on government computers by federal employees to other federal employees,” Mitchell said, explaining that the chain e-mail sent by civilians at AMEDD is a violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity of federal employees.

The Army posted a copy of the Hatch Act on Jan. 24 on its Army Knowledge Online Web site, even though soldiers are not subject to the rules and restrictions of the act.

However, uniformed service members are subject to a set rules governing political activity under a Defense Department policy that imposes many of the same types of restrictions.

One possible violation is the use of government computers for other than official business. Another is the rule against distributing political literature.

“Soldiers need to understand what’s authorized and what’s prohibited by our regulations for any kind of political activity,” Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb said. “It’s a soldier’s responbility.”

Army Secretary Pete Geren issued his own “Election Year Guidance for 2008” on Jan. 22 which urges soldiers to be aware of and comply with policies governing the use of facilities for political events and participation of Army personnel in political activities.

The guidance can be found at http://www.armytimes.com.

DISCUSS: The investigation, Hatch Act and related topics