Open Letter to the Pentagon from Women's March on the Pentagon (UPDATED WITH RESPONSE FROM THE PENTAGON)

UPDATE AUGUST 21, 2018

RESPONSE FROM PENTAGON (WELL WITHIN THE IMPOSED DEADLINE OF WMOP)

Ms. Sheehan,

I was passed on a letter sent to Ms. Barbara Westgate requesting an application to hold an event at the Pentagon.  My office, the Pentagon Building Management Office, is the office that receives, staffs and finalizes applications for events at the Pentagon. I'm not sure why the Pentagon Force Protection Agency's Special Events Office did not relay this information to you, or refer your request to us for processing.  I have attached a copy of the application, DD Form 2798, which is also available on the internet, as well as the "Conduct on the Pentagon Reservation".  The Conduct on the Pentagon Reservation contains laws specific to the Pentagon, which I thought might be helpful.  In addition to the application, we would appreciate it if you could include a short memo, or letter describing the activity you wish to hold at the Pentagon. 

Once you have completed the application, if could return it via email to myself and the 2 names on the CC line. 

Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me by email, or by phone at (703)697-xxxx.


Michael Bryant
Building Manager, Pentagon

Note: This letter is being sent via registered snail-mail to the two listed below at the Pentagon on August 15th.

Open Letter to the Pentagon

from

Women's March on the Pentagon

August 15, 2018

TO:

Barbara Westgate

Director, Washington Headquarters Services

1155 Defense Pentagon

Washington, DC 20301-1155

CC:

James C. Mattis

Secretary of Defense

The Pentagon

1400 Defense Pentagon,

Arlington, VA 22202

FROM:

Women’s March on the Pentagon

PO Box 6264

Vacaville, Ca 95696

To Whom it May Concern:

The Women’s March on the Pentagon (WMOP) has been actively seeking a permit to hold a march and rally at the Pentagon on October 21st, 2018—in the exact same space that many pro-war groups have had rallies every year, for many years. As of the date of this letter, we have not even received an application for a permit.

We began the process on Tuesday, July 17th when six of us (undersigned) visited the Pentagon and finally were able to speak with an Officer “Will Smith” who claimed to be from the Pentagon “Office of Special Events.”

Officer “Smith” took our contact info and gave us his email (william.J.Smith149@mail.mil) address and assured us that if we emailed him, he would email us a copy of the permit application. Malachy Kilbride, the DC Co-ordinator for WMOP immediately emailed Officer “Smith” that same day with this email:

“William J. Smith,

thank you for meeting with us today and advising us on the next steps for our First Amendment event on Pentagon grounds in October of this year. We appreciate your assistance in this regard.

As per your instruction, we would like to follow up on the next step by filling out and submitting the appropriate forms and documents for review by your agency.

Again, thank you for your work with us in this matter,

Malachy Kilbride,

Washington DC Area Organizer,

Women's March on The Pentagon”

We heard nothing back from Officer “Will Smith,” so a week later, (July 24) Mr. Kilbride followed up with this email:

“Dear William J. Smith,

I'm following up on the email I sent last week in order to get the appropriate paper work regarding the permit.

Thank you,

Malachy Kilbride”

Again, we heard nothing back from Officer “Smith” and in case it’s not obvious, it is very hard to contact anyone at your highly secure facility.

At this point, we correctly realized that Officer “Smith” was stonewalling us, so Mr. Kilbride called the Pentagon asking for Officer “Smith” and/or the Office of Special Events—-neither was listed at the central switchboard.

Mr. Kilbride finally reached a Lt. “Kim,” who would not confirm or deny the existence of Officer “Smith” but told us perhaps we should get in touch with Washington Headquarters Services.

This letter is to inform you that we are insisting on having a permit application sent to us via email at:

CindySheehan@MarchonPentagon.com

or via US mail at:

March on Pentagon

PO Box 6264

Vacaville, Ca 95696

We have been performing our due diligence and being respectful of the process to obtain “permission” to exercise our Constitutional rights to freely speak and freely, and “peaceably,” assemble (First Amendment). If we don’t receive this application by Friday August 24th, we will be forced to obtain the services of an attorney.

This letter is also to inform you that the Women’s March on the Pentagon is determined to march and rally against the US war machine, of which the Pentagon is the obvious and biggest representative of that, whether we obtain a permit, or not.

We are organizing for thousands of women and others to rally for Peace at the Pentagon on the date in question and it will be happening with your assistance or not. As veteran war protesters, we suggest that you notify the other jurisdictions in Washington, DC about our protest, since further stonewalling may force us into the other law enforcement jurisdictions that are in the Washington DC Metro area.

Ironically, we were informed by Officer “Smith” several times that he was in the military “20 years” to give us “the right to protest,” and this is the propaganda that the US war machine is constantly pushing to the world, so we feel it would behoove you all to accommodate this request to avoid the appearance of hypocrisy.

Thank you for your attention and we look forward to your assistance in this matter.

We will march and rally.

Signed:

Cindy Sheehan

(Gold Star Mother of Casey Sheehan, KIA in Iraq 04/04/04)

National Director

Women’s March on the Pentagon

Bonnie J. Caracciolo

Co-Director

Women’s March on the Pentagon

Malachy Kilbride

Washington DC Coordinator

Women’s March on the Pentagon

Kevin Zeese

Advisory Committee

Women’s March on the Pentagon

Margaret Flowers, MD

Advisory Committee

Women’s March on the Pentagon

Paki Wieland

Steering Committee

Women’s March on the Pentagon