Clean Up City of St. Augustine, Florida: Florida Adjutant General JAMES O. EIFERT's COVID-19 Quarantine Raises Concerns for Florida National Guard Employee Health

9/30 Update:

Inspector General is investigating. Florida National Guard Adjutant General JAMES O. EIFERT has now issued a press release, confirming my Sept. 26 report.

General EIFERT and Guard PIO never sent me that press release, but sent it to other local news media.

Bureaucratic bungling?

Or unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, violating First Amendment?

You tell me.

When will employees be tested?

Will there be an apology for secrecy and desuetude of enforcement of CDC guidelines?

Pray for a speedy, full recovery for our Florida National Guard Adjutant General JAMES O. EIFERT, who has COVID-19. Under Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS, our Florida National Guard was keeping its St. Augustine HQ employees in the dark, until I reported the General's quarantine and secrecy to the Inspector General. Florida National Guard must protect our servicemembers. My folks raised me to speak out to protect employees, just as my dad did as a "morale non-com" with 82nd Airborne Division, F Compan, 505th P.I.R. in World War II.

As LBJ said after Selma, "We shall overcome!"

The Adjutant General of the State of Florida, standing second from left next to Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS. TAG has been quarantined at his official residence. Employees await the courtesy, dignity and respect of hazard communications about OVID-19 testing, contact tracing and decontamination.

I've contacted the Inspector General and requested an investigation.

Efforts to obtain information. have been unavailing. No one at FNG HQ management is talking.

Hint: it's not classified, it's not UCNI, it's not NOFORN: it's COVID-19.

It's about the safety of our Florida National Guard headquarters for employees and visitors.

Our Governor, RONALD DION DeSANTIS is maladroit, following in the footsteps of DONALD JOHN TRUMP. Apparently, FNG prefers to keep secret facts that might embarrass DeSANTIS, who has just announced Florida is going to Phase 3 of COVID-19 shutdown requirements, while manipulating or secreting COVID-19 data from schools and other organizations.

You work for all Americans, General and you took the same oath I took four times to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Stop stonewalling Governor. Stop covering up, General.

As protesters chanted during Vietnam, "The whole world is watching."

Here's the e-mail trail:

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: James.O.Eifert@us.army.mil <James.O.Eifert@us.army.mil>; James.Eiffert@us.army.mil <James.Eiffert@us.army.mil>
Cc: ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mbx.ngb-ig@mail.mil <ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mbx.ngb-ig@mail.mil>; ngb.foia@mail.mil <ngb.foia@mail.mil>; fl.ng.pao@mail.mil <fl.ng.pao@mail.mil>; tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil <tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil>; Terrence.a.gorman@us.army.mil <Terrence.a.gorman@us.army.mil>; valeria.gonzalezkerr@us.army.mil <valeria.gonzalezkerr@us.army.mil>; hardwickra@sabpd.org <hardwickra@sabpd.org>; dburnett@sjlawgroup.com <dburnett@sjlawgroup.com>;
Sent: Sat, Sep 26, 2020 12:37 pm
Subject: Florida Major General James O. Eifert COVID-19 Quarantine and COVID Testing of FNG Personnel

Dear Major General Eifert:

1. Hearing nothing substantive from you or FNG, I've contacted the Inspector General about the circumstances of your not being in the office for several weeks, apparently under COVID-19 quarantine, talking to staff through a window at your official residence. Employees have been kept in the dark. Why?

2. Contacting the Inspector General is exactly what my father would have advised. He was a "Morale Non-com," WWII 82nd ABN DIVN, F. Co. 505th P.I.R., with three combat jumps. He stood up for soldiers' rights.

3. Please communicate with Florida National Guard employees about your apparent quarantine and any FNG plans for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing or decontamination. Transparency is mandatory.

4. As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Secrecy is for losers." Keeping secrets from FNG on COVID-19 is indefensible, and must be ended at once.

5. Will you kindly promise to abolish omertà as a de facto FNG policy wherever environmental health and safety are concerned, from this day forward?

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: James.O.Eifert@us.army.mil <James.O.Eifert@us.army.mil>; James.Eiffert@us.army.mil <James.Eiffert@us.army.mil>
Cc: ngb.foia@mail.mil <ngb.foia@mail.mil>; fl.ng.pao@mail.mil <fl.ng.pao@mail.mil>; tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil <tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil>; Terrence.a.gorman@us.army.mil <Terrence.a.gorman@us.army.mil>; valeria.gonzalezkerr@us.army.mil <valeria.gonzalezkerr@us.army.mil>; hardwickra@sabpd.org
Sent: Fri, Sep 25, 2020 7:21 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2020-257: Florida Major General James O. Eifert COVID-19 Quarantine and COVID Testing of FNG Personnel

Dear Major General Eifert:
1. Best wishes for your speedy recovery!

2. Please call me about my FOIA request, below,

3. Otherwise, may I have your permission to come speak to you through a window at your residence tomorrow morning about the urgent need to protect all COVID-exposed FNG staff?

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

Good afternoon:
1. As the only son of a WWII 82nd ABN DIVN paratrooper, I expect DoD and FNG to show competence and compassion for our Florida National service members who were exposed to COVID-19.

2. Please call me today. No excuses.

3. No more form letters are desired or required!

4. Please send responsive records today.

5. Please answer my questions today.

6. You may have the constitutional right to remain silent. But our Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination is no response to DoD's and FNG's failure to protect our Florida National Guard employees in St. Augustine. What's going on here?

7. DoD and FNG officials may face potential criminal liability if you cause disease and death through desuetude of DoD and FNG enforcement of CDC guidelines at the Florida National Guard Headquarters in St. Augustine, Florida. Please govern yourselves accordingly.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/25/916977736/leaders-indicted-at-soldiers-home-where-at-least-76-people-died-in-covid-19-outb

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Guillotte, Tina M NFG NG FLARNG (USA) <tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil>
To: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, Sep 25, 2020 4:04 pm
Subject: RE: [Non-DoD Source] Re: Request No. 2020-257: Florida Major General James O. Eifert COVID-19 Quarantine and COVID Testing of FNG Personnel (UNCLASSIFIED)

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

Good afternoon Mr. Slavin,

After review of your request it has been determined that there were no responsive records found in the State system of records. The records requested may be obtained from the Florida National Guard, a Federal agency, subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). If you would like to make a FOIA request, you may send a letter to the following email or the mailing address:

ng.fl.flarng.list.foia@mail.mil

DCSIM/FOIA Officer

P.O. Box 1008

St. Augustine, FL 32085

You will need to have the following items in your letter:

- Cite that you are requesting records under the FOIA -Provide your full name and contact information, to include e-mail address to expedite communications

- Provide a reasonable description of the record(s) requested

- Provide a statement of your fee category and indicate your willingness to pay applicable fees for processing. You may include a dollar amount you are willing to pay up to, or you may leave the amount you are willing to pay open ended.

Please see www.foia.gov for additional information regarding filing of a FOIA request.

v/r

Tina Guillotte

Legal Assistant

Office of the General Counsel

Department of Military Affairs

904-823-0130

tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: ngb.foia@mail.mil <ngb.foia@mail.mil>; fl.ng.pao@mail.mil <fl.ng.pao@mail.mil>; tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil <tina.m.guillotte.nfg@mail.mil>; Terrence.a.gorman@us.army.mil <Terrence.a.gorman@us.army.mil>; valeria.gonzalezkerr@us.army.mil <valeria.gonzalezkerr@us.army.mil>
Cc: stuart.korfhage@staugustine.com <stuart.korfhage@staugustine.com>; krys.fluker@news-jrnl.com <krys.fluker@news-jrnl.com>; sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com <sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com>; waltbog@nytimes.com <waltbog@nytimes.com>; governorron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com <governorron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com>
Sent: Fri, Sep 25, 2020 3:28 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2020-257: Florida Major General James O. Eifert COVID-19 Quarantine and COVID Testing of FNG Personnel

Good afternoon:
1. Please respond today to my urgent 10:18 am request.

2. Are our Florida National Guard employees being tested for COVID-19 today?

3. What testing and contact tracing is being done by FNG? Please call me today to discuss!

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

Good morning:

A. 1. Pursuant to FOIA, E-FOIA and the Florida Open Records law, F.S. 119, and without violating HIPPAA, would you please be so kind as to send me in PDF today the documents on Florida Major General James O. Eifert's COVID-19 quarantine and the notices, schedule and summary results of Florida National Guard personnel for COVID-19?

2. In the public interest, I respectfully request expedited treatment a full waiver of any fees under FOIA and E-FOIA.

1. In the event there are other requests for this information, please expedite the release to me by PDF of all documents already released to others.

2. Please waive any fees, as the release of this information is in the public interest and I meet the six factor FOIA test. This request is urgent and time-sensitive, as the subject is a violation of employee rights to a safe workplace. Please expedite your response: Americans and Floridians have a Right to Know about 500 Florida National Guardsmen being used for a possible political stunt.

3. I am an investigative reporter with some 40 years of experience in informing the public, including winning declassification of the largest mercury pollution event in world history (Oak Ridge, Tenn. Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant, DOE/Union Carbide, 1983) and uncovering the City of St. Augustine's illegal dumping of a landfill in a lake and sequelae (2005-2010). I can share copies of articles published in several American Bar Association publications, including Judges' Journal.

4. Release of the requested information will help promote the public interest in understanding federal government operations.

5. My blog has received nearly four (4) million measured page views and helps inform people about governmental affairs. We've had more than 75 public interest victories here since 2005, in a county the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once called "the most lawless city in America."

6. Addressing the six federal FOIA factors:

Factor 1. The subject of the request: The subject of the requested records concerns "the operations or activities of the government." .
Factor 2. The informative value of the information to be disclosed: The disclosure is "likely to contribute" to an understanding of government operations or activities.
Factor 3. The contribution to an understanding of the subject by the public is likely to result from disclosure: Disclosure of the requested information will contribute to "public understanding." The disclosure will contribute to the understanding of a reasonably broad audience of persons interested in the subject. I have developed expertise in pertinent subject areas and the ability and intention to convey information to the public. (It is presumed that a representative of the news media will satisfy this consideration.)
Factor 4. The significance of the contribution to public understanding: The disclosure is likely to contribute "significantly" to public understanding of government operations or activities."
Factor 5. The existence and magnitude of a commercial interest:   No commercial interest.
Factor 6. The primary interest in disclosure:  There is no "commercial interest." FOI officers know that when a "news media requester has satisfied the public interest standard, the public interest will be the interest primarily served by disclosure to that requester."

7. Please call me if you have any questions.

8. Please use my Request No. 2020-257: Florida Major General James O. Eifert COVID-19 Quarantine and COVID Testing of FNG Personnel in the title of all correspondence.

Thank you!

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

Clean Up City of St. Augustine, Florida

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Florida Adjutant General JAMES O. EIFERT's COVID-19 Quarantine Raises Concerns for Florida National Guard Employee Health

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