On June 26, 2014, I read the following by Hendrick Simoes of Stars & Stripes Magazine:

“U.S. personnel accustomed to drinking their coffee on the drive to work will have to put that habit on hold for about a month. It’s one of a few lifestyle changes Americans will have to make during the holy month of Ramadan.” (Click above link for full article)

I was intrigued by this, and how government agencies may react to this holiday, and if they were instructed to do anything different. After nearly two years, I finally received a response to my FOIA request to the National Security Agency (NSA) and their observance of Ramadan.

The documents obtained were of a June 19, 2015, internal NSA Newsletter entitled, “The Daily Enterprise.” The headline reads, “Reflecting on Ramadan” and outlined instructions for how all NSA employees were to respect and observe Ramadan.

Simply put by this NSA newsletter:

“Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic year– the month in which the Quran, Islam’s holy book, was revealed by God.

During this time, Muslim people around the world fast from sunrise to sunset for the entire month. This requires that they abstain from drinking, eating and intimacy during those hours each day. Since fasting is one of the five Pillars of Islam, Muslims around the world take the month of Ramadan very seriously. For Muslims, fasting is the required way of worshiping prescribed in the Quran.

Before we take a more detailed look at how Ramadan is observed, let’s first take note of some of the ways that Ramadan
will manifest itself here at NSA.”

Here are some excerpts of the newsletter, as sent to all NSA personnel:

• To start, throughout the month of Ramadan, please be mindfu I that the person working right next to you could be observing Ramadan. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, NSAI CSS has a significant number of Muslim employees.
• Because they will be fasting from both food and beverages during daylight hours , most Muslims will be thirsty, hungry, and sleep-deprived at some point during this strenuous month. As a result, managers may see some behavioral changes and an increase in time-off requests throughout th is timeframe. The majority of Muslims will ask for time off during the last 10 days of Ramadan and the first 3 days of the following month (the Eid ai-Fitr celebration). While everyone working at NSA is professional and adheres to high standards, if a Muslim employee seems to have a little less patience or endurance during the month of Ramadan, this may be a temporary effect of the daily fasting.
• Everyone knows it is summer, which means that most offices will be planning their annual picnic/ morale-building activity (MBA) during this time. To be inclusive and to ensure maximum employee participation– since most Muslims wi ll be fasting during this month — please refrain from planning these types of MBA events during Ramadan.

To see more of this newsletter, it is published below.

Declassified Documents

Download the .pdf [4 Pages, 0.6MB]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nsa/ramadan-nsa.pdf

The post Internal NSA Newsletter Exposes How ALL NSA Employees Should Observe Ramadan first appeared on The Black Vault.

Justice Department facilitated anti-Zimmerman protests

A division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was deployed to Sanford, Florida in 2012 to provide assistance for anti-George Zimmerman protests, including a rally headlined by activist Al Sharpton, according to newly released documents.

 

The Community Relations Service (CRS), a unit of DOJ, reported expenses related to its deployment in Sanford to help manage protests between March and April 2012, according to documents obtained by the watchdog group Judicial Watch.

 

CRS spent $674.14 between March 25-27 related to having been “deployed to Sanford, FL, to work marches, demonstrations, and rallies related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen by a neighborhood watch captain.” CRS spent another $1,142.84 for the same purpose between March 25-28.

 

CRS spent $892.55 “to provide support for protest deployment in Florida” between March 30-April 1, and $751.60 “to provide technical assistance to the City of Sanford, event organizers, and law enforcement agencies for the march and rally on March 31.”

 

Sharpton, who promoted the Tawana Brawley hoax in the 1980s and in 1995 led a protest against the “white interloper” owner of a Harlem clothing store that ended in a deadly shooting rampage at the store, was a featured speaker at the March 31 rally, called “The March for Trayvon Martin,” where he advocated for Zimmerman’s prosecution.

 

CRS expenditures related to the anti-Zimmerman protests continued through mid-April. Between April 11 and April 12, CRS spent $552.35 “to provide technical assistance for the preparation of possible marches and rallies related to the fatal shooting of a 17 year old African American male.”

 

Local government officials noticed the Department of Justice’s efforts in building “bridges of understanding” in Sanford.

 

“Congratulations to our partners, Thomas Battles, Regional Director, and Mildred De Robles, Miami-Dade Coordinator and their co-workers at the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service for their outstanding and ongoing efforts to reduce tensions and build bridges of understanding and respect in Sanford, Florida,” wrote Amy Carswell, Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board Program Officer, in an April 16 email.

 

Continue Reading and special thanks to The Daily Caller

Only a few supporting documents were attached to this article.  I filed a FOIA request for all documents pertaining to these protests, expenditures, etc., and received the following:

 Documents from the Community Relations Service (CRS), part of the Department of Justice (DOJ) [201 Pages, 12.76MB]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/zimmermanprotests.pdf

The post Department of Justice / CRS Funding Support for Anti-George Zimmerman Protests first appeared on The Black Vault.

Air Force Academy cadets are no longer required to say “so help me God” at the end of the Honor Oath, school officials said Friday. The decision came after a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, that the words violated the constitutional concept of religious freedom. The oath states: “We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God.” Cadets must take the oath once, when they formally enter the school as freshmen after boot camp, an academy spokesman said.

Shortly thereafter, I requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) all records that pertain to this change, correspondence relating to the words “so help me God” being removed, etc.

It took over a year, but hundreds of pages were released in response to my FOIA request.  Below, you will find the archive of documents, with some highlights.

 Documents Relating to the Air Force Academy’s removal of “So Help Me God” from the Honor Oath, Released November of 2014 [ 335 Pages, 49.64MB ]

The post Air Force Honor Oath Makes “So Help Me God” Optional first appeared on The Black Vault.