UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

CHRISTOPHEREARL STRUNK, Plaintiff,
v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE, et al., Defendants. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) 

### --------------------------) Civil Action No. 08-2234 (RJL)

MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiffbrings this action under the Freedom ofInformation Act ("FOIA), see 5 U.S.C. § 552, seeking information from the United States Departments ofState "(State Department") and Homeland Security ("DHS") about then President Elect Barack Hussein Obama and his late mother, StanleyAnn Dunham. This matter is before the Court on defendants' partial motion to dismiss, and the Court will grant the motion for the reasons discussed below. l

The Court summarily denies plaintiffs request for a writ ofmandamus. Mandamus relief is available onlyif: "(1) the plaintiffhas a clearright to relief; (2) that defendant has a clear duty to act; and (3) there is no other adequate remedy available to plaintiff." Northern States Power Co. v. 

# u.s. Dep't of Energy, 128 F.3d 754, 758 (D.C. Cir. 1997). In this action, plaintiffdemands the release ofrecords maintainedbyfederal government agencies, and an adequate remedy for a request ofthis nature exists pursuant to the FOIA. 5 U.S.c. § 552(a)(4)(B); seePickeringGeorge v. Registration Unit, DEAIDOJ, 553 F. Supp. 2d 3, 4 (D.D.C. 2008) ("The exclusive nature ofthe FOIA precludes mandamus relief."); see also Johnson v. Executive Office for 

# u.s. Attorneys, 310 F.3d 771,777 (D.C. Cir. 2002). 1I. BACKGROUND A. FOIA Requests to the State Department 1. StanleyAnn Dunham Plaintiffsubmitted a FOIA request to the State Department on October 17, 2008, Amd. CompI.**~** 12, seeking the following: [I]nfonnation or records related to Stanley Ann Dunham born November29, 1942atFortLeavenworthKS. U.S., a.k.a. StanleyAnn DunhamObamaa.k.a. and who died onNovember7, 1995 underthe name StanleyAnn Dunham Soetoro (a.k.a. Sutoro) for any and orall exit and entry records for travel outside ofthe USA for the period between 1960 through 1963. !d., Ex. A. The State Department notified plaintiffthat it did not maintain this type of infonnation, and referred plaintiffto the Bureau ofCustoms and BorderProtection, a component ofthe DHS. Defs.' Partial Mot. to Dismiss PI.'s Amd. CompI. ("Defs.' Mot."), Ex. D at 1. 2. Barack Hussein Obama In his second FOIA request to the State Department, plaintiffsought infonnation pertaining not onlyto StanleyAnn Dunham but also to Barack Hussein Obama. With respect to both subjects, plaintiffrequested: 1. any and all U.S. Applications for a U.S. Passport; 2. entryandexitpassportrecordspertainingto theUnited States and KenyabetweenJanuary 1, 1960 andDecember31, 1975, and between January 1, 1979 and December 31, 2005; 3. entryand exitpassportrecordspertainingto theUnited States and Indonesia between January 1, 1960 and December 31, 1973, andbetweenJanuary 1, 1979 and December 31,2005; 4. records for travel on a U.S., Kenyan, Indonesian or other foreign passport orvisa; 5. a foreign birth certificate registered or filed with the U.S. Embassy in Kenya or Indonesia for Barack Obama; 6. a foreignbirthregistryfiledbyStanleyAnnDunhamwith the
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## u.s. Embassyin Kenya orIndonesia for Barack Obama; and 7. adoptionrecords orothergovernmentrecords acknowledging Barack Obama as Lolo Soetoro's son. See CompI., Ex. E at 1. With respect to the request for the late Ms. Dunham's passport applications, the State Department notified plaintiffthat it would process the request, to which it assigned case processing number 200807238. Defs.' Mot., Ex. E at 2. All other aspects ofthe request, assigned case control number 200807272, were denied because plaintiffdid not complywith regulations for requests for information pertaining to living third parties. Id. at 3-4. Specifically, plaintiffdid not submit Mr. Obama's authorization for release ofhis passport and similar records. Id. at 4. B. FOIA Request to the DHS On December 26, 2008, plaintiffsubmitted a FOIA request to the DHS' Bureau of Customs and Border Protection ("CBP"). Compi.**~** 22. He sought the same information from the DHS that he requested from the State Department. See id., Ex. I at 1-2. Defendants' counsel represents that, on February 3,2009, the CBP "informed [plaintiff] that it would not release records relating to [Mr.] Obamabecause DHS regulations
... require privacywaivers before third-party records canbe released," and that the CBP "released
... responsive entry/exit records relating to [Mrs.] Dunham." Defs.' Mot. at 3. Plaintiffbelieves that Barack Hussein Obama was born in Kenya, that his birth was registered in Hawaii, and that he, at most, is a naturalized United States citizen. See Amd. Compi.**~** 36. For these reasons, plaintiffasserts that Mr. Obama "is not a U.S. 'natural born' citizen and [is] ineligible to serve as the United States President, pursuant to the United States
3Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5." Id.**~** 27. Plaintiffclaims to have "suffered an informational injury as a voter and member ofpublic[,] and the lack ofinformation on [Mr. Obama's] citizenship, causedbythe State Department[']s action, limited the information available to [plaintiff] as a voter and impaired his ability to influence and inform the public and policymakers." Id.**~** 57. Plaintiffdemands that the State Department and DRS release all the documents he requested, so that he may determine whether Mr. Obama is a natural born United States citizen, see id.**~** 62, lest "an illegal candidate
... serve as President ofthe United States." Id.**~** 63. II. DISCUSSION Defendants move to dismiss the amended complaint to the extent it seeks records pertaining to Barack Obama, see Defs.' Mot. at 6, on the ground that plaintiffs FOIA requests did not complywith agency regulations. See id. at 5-6. "[E]ach agency, upon any request for records which (i) reasonably describes such records and (ii) is made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (ifany), and procedures to be followed, shall make the records promptly available to anyperson." U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A). "An agency's disclosure obligations are not triggered
... until it has received a properFOIA request in compliance with its published regulations." Antonelli v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 591 F. Supp. 2d 15,26 (D.D.C. 2008) (citing 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3) and 552(a)(6)(A)(i));
see Carbe v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco andFirearms, No.03-1658, 2004 WL 2051359, at *8 (D.D.C. Aug. 12,2004) ("A proper FOIA request, once received, requires the government to search for responsive records and to release all that are not otherwise exempt."). A requester's "failure to complywith an agency's FOIA regulations is the equivalent ofa failure to exhaust"
4administrative remedies. West v. Jackson, 448 F. Supp. 2d 207,211 (D.D.C. 2006) (citations omitted). "Exhaustion ofadministrative remedies is generallyrequired before seekingjudicial review" under FOIA. Wilbur v. Central IntelligenceAgency, 355 F.3d 675, 677 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (per curiam). Exhaustion allows "the agency [] an opportunity to exercise its discretion and expertise on the matter and to make a factual record to support its decision." Id. (quoting Oglesby v. United States Dep 't of theArmy, 920 F.2d 57, 61 (D.C. Cir. 1990)). Itis not a jurisdictional requirement, Hidalgo v. Fed. Bureau of Investigation, 344 F.3d 1256, 1258 (D.C. Cir. 2003), but instead is a prudential consideration. Wilbur, 355 F.3d at 677. Ifa requester has not exhausted his administrative remedies priorto the filing ofa civil action, his claim is subject to dismissal. See Hidalgo, 344 F.3d at 1258. State Department regulations require that "requests for records pertaining to another individual
... be accompanied by a written authorizationfor access by the individual, notarized
ormade underpenalty of perjury, orbyproofthat the individual is deceased (e.g., death certificate or obituary)." 22 C.F.R. § 171.12(a) (emphasis added). Similarly, DHS regulations require that requests for records about another individual include "either a written authorization signedby that individualpermitting disclosure of those records
. .. or proofthat that individual is deceased (for example, a copy ofa death certificate or an obituary)[.]" 5 C.F.R. § 5.3(a) (emphasis added). Plaintiff"admits that Barack Hussein Obama
... has not provided permission to release

5documents[.]" PI. 's**Aff.~** 20. 2 Rather, he steadfastly asserts his claims that Mr. Obamaneither is
a natural born citizen ofthe United States nor is eligible to hold the office ofPresident ofthe United States. See generally PI.'s Aff. Neither ofthese claims is relevant to this FOIA action, the sole purpose ofwhich is to determine whether defendants properlyresponded to plaintiffs FOIA requests to the State Department and to the DHS. Itis clear on this record that plaintiffdid not submit proper FOIArequests to the State Department and to DHS because the requests did not include written authorization from Mr. Obama for the release ofinformation to plaintiff. Plaintiffhas failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to his requests for information about Mr. Obama, and these claims will be dismissed. See Brown v. Fed. Bureau of Investigation,
_ F. Supp. 2d _, _, 2009 WL 5102713, at *4 (D.D.C. Dec. 28,2009) (dismissing a FOIA claim against the FBI because plaintifffailed to mail his request directly to the appropriate field office as is required under agencyregulations); Thomas v. Fed. Comm 'ens Comm 'n, 534 F.Supp.2d 144, 146 (D.D.C.2008) (granting summaryjudgment in the agency's favor "[i]n the absence ofany evidence that plaintiffsubmitted a proper FOIA request to which defendant would have been obligated to respond").

2 In opposition to defendants' motion for partial dismissal, plaintifffiled a "Notice ofCross Motion ofQuo Warranto Demand for Jury Trial and Decision on Question ofFirst Impression in Response in Opposition to Defendant's Partial Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Amended Complaint as to Alleged POTUS: Barack Hussein Obarna InEsse" [Dkt. #19], to which he attached a supporting memorandum oflaw and affidavit ("PI.'s Aff."). Plaintiffs demand for ajurytrial before a three-judge panel on matters pertaining to President Obama's citizenship and eligibility to hold the office ofthe President ofthe United States is summarily denied, as are all ofhis requests for reliefnot authorized under the FOIA. 6III. CONCLUSION The Court will grant defendant's partial motion to dismiss, and will direct the parties to submit ajointproposed schedule to govern future proceedings in this action. An Order is issued separately.

United States District Judge

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