UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

CHRISTOPHER EARL STRUNK, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT 

OF STATE, et al., 

Defendants. 

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Civil Action No. 08-2234 (RJL) 

MEMORANDUM OPINION 

Plaintiff brings this action under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA), see 5 U.S.C. § 

552, seeking information from the United States Departments of State "(State Department") and 

Homeland Security ("DHS") about then President Elect Barack Hussein Obama and his late 

mother, Stanley Ann 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 of mandamus. Mandamus relief 

is available only if: "(1) the plaintiff has a clear right 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, plaintiff demands 

the release of records maintained by federal government agencies, and an adequate remedy for a 

request of this nature exists pursuant to the FOIA. 5 U.S.c. § 552(a)(4)(B); see PickeringGeorge v. Registration Unit, DEAIDOJ, 553 F. Supp. 2d 3, 4 (D.D.C. 2008) ("The exclusive 

nature of the FOIA precludes mandamus relief."); see also Johnson v. Executive Office for u.s. 

Attorneys, 310 F.3d 771,777 (D.C. Cir. 2002). 

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I. BACKGROUND 

A. FOIA Requests to the State Department 

1. Stanley Ann Dunham 

Plaintiff submitted 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, 1942 at Fort Leavenworth KS. U.S., a.k.a. Stanley Ann 

Dunham Obama a.k.a. and who died on November 7, 1995 under the 

name Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro (a.k. a. S utoro) for any and or all 

exit and entry records for travel outside of the USA for the period 

between 1960 through 1963. 

!d., Ex. A. The State Department notified plaintiff that it did not maintain this type of 

infonnation, and referred plaintiff to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, a component 

of the 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, plaintiff sought infonnation 

pertaining not only to Stanley Ann Dunham but also to Barack Hussein Obama. With respect to 

both subjects, plaintiff requested: 

1. any and all U.S. Applications for a U.S. Passport; 

2. entry and exit passport records pertaining to the United States 

and Kenya between January 1, 1960 and December 31, 1975, 

and between January 1, 1979 and December 31, 2005; 

3. entry and exit passport records pertaining to the United States 

and Indonesia between January 1, 1960 and December 31, 

1973, and between January 1, 1979 and December 31,2005; 

4. records for travel on a U.S., Kenyan, Indonesian or other 

foreign passport or visa; 

5. a foreign birth certificate registered or filed with the U.S. 

Embassy in Kenya or Indonesia for Barack Obama; 

6. a foreign birth registry filed by Stanley Ann Dunham with the 

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u.s. Embassy in Kenya or Indonesia for Barack Obama; and 

7. adoption records or other government records 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 plaintiff that 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 plaintiff did not comply with 

regulations for requests for information pertaining to living third parties. Id. at 3-4. Specifically, 

plaintiff did not submit Mr. Obama's authorization for release of his passport and similar 

records. Id. at 4. 

B. FOIA Request to the DHS 

On December 26, 2008, plaintiff submitted 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.] Obama because DHS regulations ... require privacy waivers before 

third-party records can be released," and that the CBP "released ... responsive entry/exit records 

relating to [Mrs.] Dunham." Defs.' Mot. at 3. 

Plaintiff believes 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, plaintiff asserts 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 

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Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5." Id. ~ 27. Plaintiff claims to have "suffered an 

informational injury as a voter and member ofpublic[,] and the lack of information on [Mr. 

Obama's] citizenship, caused by the 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. Plaintiff demands 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 of the 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 comply with 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 (if any), and 

procedures to be followed, shall make the records promptly available to any person." U.S.C. § 

552(a)(3)(A). "An agency's disclosure obligations are not triggered ... until it has received a 

proper FOIA 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 and Firearms, 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 comply with an agency's FOIA regulations is the equivalent of a failure to exhaust" 

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administrative remedies. West v. Jackson, 448 F. Supp. 2d 207,211 (D.D.C. 2006) (citations 

omitted). 

"Exhaustion of administrative remedies is generally required before seeking judicial 

review" under FOIA. Wilbur v. Central Intelligence Agency, 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 the Army, 920 F.2d 57, 61 (D.C. Cir. 1990)). It is 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. If a requester has 

not exhausted his administrative remedies prior to the filing of a 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 authorization for access by the individual, notarized 

or made under penalty of perjury, or by proof that 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 

signed by that individual permitting disclosure of those records . .. or proof that that individual 

is deceased (for example, a copy of a 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 

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documents[.]" PI. 's Aff.~ 20.2 Rather, he steadfastly asserts his claims that Mr. Obama neither is 

a natural born citizen of the United States nor is eligible to hold the office of President of the 

United States. See generally PI.'s Aff. Neither of these claims is relevant to this FOIA action, 

the sole purpose of which is to determine whether defendants properly responded to plaintiffs 

FOIA requests to the State Department and to the DHS. 

It is clear on this record that plaintiff did not submit proper FOIA requests to the State 

Department and to DHS because the requests did not include written authorization from Mr. 

Obama for the release of information to plaintiff. Plaintiff has 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 plaintiff failed to mail his request directly to the appropriate field office as is required 

under agency regulations); Thomas v. Fed. Comm 'ens Comm 'n, 534 F.Supp.2d 144, 146 

(D.D.C.2008) (granting summary judgment in the agency's favor "[i]n the absence of any 

evidence that plaintiff submitted a proper FOIA request to which defendant would have been 

obligated to respond"). 

2 In opposition to defendants' motion for partial dismissal, plaintiff filed a "Notice 

of Cross Motion of Quo Warranto Demand for Jury Trial and Decision on Question of First 

Impression in Response in Opposition to Defendant's Partial Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs 

Amended Complaint as to Alleged POTUS: Barack Hussein Obarna In Esse" [Dkt. #19], to 

which he attached a supporting memorandum oflaw and affidavit ("PI.'s Aff."). Plaintiffs 

demand for a jury trial before a three-judge panel on matters pertaining to President Obama's 

citizenship and eligibility to hold the office of the President of the United States is summarily 

denied, as are all of his requests for relief not authorized under the FOIA. 

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III. CONCLUSION 

The Court will grant defendant's partial motion to dismiss, and will direct the parties to 

submit a joint proposed schedule to govern future proceedings in this action. An Order is issued 

separately. 

United States District Judge 

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