EXCLUSIVE: Former Colorado GOP Senate candidate Robert “Eli” Bremer is livid over the Air Force’s failure to notify him about the branch’s improper release of his military records, which he first learned about from a reporter who was covering the latest developments in the problematic story for the Defense Department.
Speaking to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Bremer, a former Olympian who sought the GOP nomination for Senate in Colorado last year, said he was first notified about the incident by a Politico reporter who sought comment from him about the Air Force’s admission that it had leaked his records to Due Diligence Group, a Democratic Party-aligned research firm.
“The Air Force has not tried to notify me. They haven’t sent a letter. They could’ve reached out to my congressman,” Bremer said. “I don’t think they intended to notify me because the only reason it got picked up was because some reporter read something in a congressional report.”
Bremer’s comments come after the Air Force confirmed in a Friday letter to House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers. R-Ala., and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., that it provided unauthorized access to the military records of seven Republican congressional candidates in 2022.
AIR FORCE CONFIRMS 2 MORE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES WHOSE RECORDS WERE IMPROPERLY ACCESSED
In addition to the five Republicans already known to have been affected by the breach, the Air Force confirmed the data of GOP candidates Bremer and J.R. Majewski, who ran for a seat in the House out of Ohio, were also accessed.
“There’s only two possible scenarios that this happened: One is that it’s intentional and done for political purposes – and that’s bad – or the other is that it was gross incompetence, which is bad. Neither scenario is good. Either one the Air Force screwed up six ways to Sunday,” Bremer said. “It’s hard for me to believe that an enterprise that flies F-22s and runs the most cutting-edge weapon systems simply can’t figure out how to reach a guy that’s a public figure in a year and a half. … There’s a lot of ways they could have reached me and that didn’t happen.”
Highlighting the release of his records as a “fireable offense” in an effort to “restore public trust,” Bremer said he is unsure exactly what military records the Air Force provided to the research firm.
“The Air Force needs to be a whole lot more transparent as to why these records were released,” Bremer said.
Should it turn out that the individual(s) responsible for the release of his records acted maliciously in an effort to stifle his campaign for the Senate, Bremer said he would “absolutely” make attempts to take legal action.
“I would talk to a lawyer and see what my recourse is,” Bremer said. “That being said, usually, the government does a good job of indemnifying itself and unfortunately service members have very little recourse against the government. Largely, I think this needs to be dealt with politically and by the media – exposing what happened.”
“As of right now, I don’t even know what records were released. I don’t know if it was my medical. I’m hearing everything secondhand,” he added, insisting that a phone call should have been made to him about the records release.
Despite Bremer’s claim that he received no notice, a spokesperson for the Air Force told Fox News Wednesday evening that it “sent a letter to all affected individuals.”
“Department of the Air Force employees did not follow proper procedures requiring an authorizing signature consenting to the release of information,” Ann Stefanek, chief of media operations for the Air Force, said in a statement. “An internal audit into the records release process determined there was an unauthorized release of military Duty information on 11 individuals. The Air Force sent a letter to all affected individuals.”
Stefanek also noted that the Air Force “takes full responsibility for releasing the personally identifiable information of these individuals” and that “records-release procedures have been improved by elevating the approval level for release of information to third parties and conducting intensified retraining for personnel who handle record requests.”
Other Republican candidates whose records were released to the Due Diligence Group include Rep. Donald Bacon, R-Neb., Rep. Zachary Nunn, R-Iowa, Kevin Dellicker, Jennifer-Ruth Green and Samuel Peters.
Abraham Payton of the Due Diligence Group was named by the Air Force in letters to Peters and Dellicker as having made “multiple requests” for their records.
Due Diligence Group received more than $110,000 from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) from January 2021 to December 2022, according to FEC records, although it is unknown if the campaign committee used or received these or any other materials from Due Diligence.
The Air Force told Fox News, “There was no evidence of political motivation or malicious intent on the part of any employee.”
“During the two-year period covered by the timeline in your letter, AFPC received a total of 19,597 requests for military personnel records. Immediately after we became aware in October 2022 of the improper records release concerning Ms. Jennifer-Ruth Green’s records, AFPC conducted a Personal Identifiable Information (PII) breach investigation, as required under OMB and Department of Defense (DoD) policy.”
“AFPC also initiated a separate audit of all third-party requests (10,599) received between early 2021 and early 2023. That audit identified a total of 11 individuals who had their military records released without proper authority.”
The Air Force said their discovery came from an internal audit that began following the discovery that Republican Indiana House candidate Green’s military records were improperly released. Those records, reported on by Politico in October 2022, included details of a sexual assault Green experienced during her service.
The release of Green’s records led Rogers and Comer to send a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanding information, including a list of the improperly released records of congressional candidates over the past two years and a list of punitive actions taken against those responsible for the leak.
The Air Force’s improper release of Republican candidates’ military records has sparked immense backlash and led to multiple GOP-led House panels looking into the matter.
Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this article.