Africa; Daily Press Briefing

Africa; Daily Press Briefing

MR. WOOD: Good morning, everyone. I don’t have anything, so why don’t we go to your questions. Looks like a full house almost here.

QUESTION: The author of Obama Nation was held by immigration authorities in Kenya. They’re not very happy about the tone of his book and – anyway, I just wondered whether you had been approached to intervene and help this author out who was detained, whether you had any details of the --

MR. WOOD: Well, we understand an American has been detained in Kenya. Our Embassy is looking into those reports. We do not have a Privacy Act waiver with regard to this individual, so I’m not at liberty to comment further on it.

QUESTION: Well, I’m sorry; I just have to bring this up. You don’t have a Privacy Act waiver? This guy is yakking away to every – anyone and – anyone who will talk to him, including his own group, the WorldNetDaily, which has, you know, an extended interview with him talking about this. It strikes me as absolutely bizarre that you guys are unable to say anything about this when this guy is, on his own, publicizing his case. Has anyone from the Embassy been in contact with him to get him to sign one of these Privacy Act waivers? Is he even aware that they exist?

MR. WOOD: Matt, all I can tell you is our Embassy is dealing with the issue. But again, it’s standard policy for the State Department not to comment on these particular cases unless we have --

QUESTION: Usually until someone comes out --

MR. WOOD: -- a Privacy Act --

QUESTION: -- and speaks publicly about it, and he is talking to absolutely everybody.

MR. WOOD: Well, we need a Privacy Act waiver before we can go forward. That’s about the best answer I can give you at this point.

Thank you.

QUESTION: Thank you.

ENDS

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