July 12, 2013

National Association of Document Examiners

Heidi H. Harralson, President, MA, D-BFDE

P.O. Box 65095

Tucson, Arizona 85728

Phone: 520-975-2275

Email: Harralson@spectrumforensic.com

Dear Ms. Harralson

I am writing to alert you of potential violations of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of

Document Examiners by one of your association’s members, Mr. Reed Hayes, CDE, PO Box 235213,

Honolulu, HI 96823-3503, Phone: 808.737.0502. Mr. Hayes was retained by Mr. Mike Zullo, lead

investigator of the Maricopa County Arizona Cold Case Posse, to opine on the authenticity long form

birth certificate that was posted in the form as a PDF file on the White House web site on April 27, 2011

at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/birth-certificate-long-form.pdf. A portion

of Mr. Hayes’ report was quoted in an affidavit given by Mr. Zullo and filed in an appeal in the McInnish

v Chapman case currently before the Alabama Supreme Court. Mr. Zullo quoted Mr. Hayes beginning on

page 12 of his affidavit:

43. Taking it a step further, investigators sought an independent authority on forensic document

examination that had no previous connection with our inquiry. Investigators commissioned a

court certified handwriting analyst and forensic document examiner with over 20 years of

experience providing document expertise to legal and law enforcement communities,

corporations, financial institutions and private individuals for this task. Investigators requested

an independent review of our findings in respect to the long-form birth certificate image that fell

within his field of expertise.

44. Upon the conclusion of our expert’s examination he issued an independent 40 page forensic

report in which he verified our investigational finding and validating conclusion in full agreement

with the finds of investigators. He concluded:

“…based on my observations and findings, it is clear that Certificate of Live Birth I examined is

not a scan of an original paper birth certificate, but a digitally manufactured documented

created by utilizing material from various sources.”

and

“In over 20 years of examining documentation of various types, I have never seen a document

that is so seriously questionable in so many respects. In my opinion, the birth certificate is

entirely fabricated.”

As requested an independent review of our findings in respect to the long-form birth certificate

image that fell within his field of expertise.

Upon the conclusion of our expert’s examination he issued an independent 40 page forensic

report in which he verified our investigational finding and validating conclusion in full agreement

with the finds of investigators. He concluded:

“…based on my observations and findings, it is clear that Certificate of Live Birth I examined is

not a scan of an original paper birth certificate, but a digitally manufactured documented

created by utilizing material from various sources.” and “I have never seen a document that is so

seriously questionable in so many respects. In my opinion, the birth certificate is entirely

fabricated.”

Mr. Hayes report was not attached to the affidavit and has not been otherwise released by Mike Zullo

and the Cold Case Posse. I emailed Mr. Hayes to ascertain if he was quoted accurately in the affidavit

and he sent this reply on June 1, 2013:

“Thanks for inquiring about the Obama birth certificate. Yes, I did an examination and have

concluded the birth certificate released by the White House is indeed fabricated.”

Mr. Hayes declined to comment further because his client, Mr. Zullo, requested that he not release the

report. Mr. Hayes also declined to answer my follow-up questions. In a recent radio interview Mr. Zullo

indicated that he intends to copyright Mr. Hayes’ report.

I am not an expert in computer file analysis but I am a professional in a scientific field. I found it

incredible that Mr. Hayes would offer an opinion that a paper document is a forgery based upon an

internet image of the document and especially in light of the fact that the issuing authority, the state of

Hawaii, has verified the accuracy of the information on the document and even provided a letter of

authenticity to the White House explaining that the document posted on the White House web site was

a copy of a document that they had issued.

Mr. Zullo has repeatedly touted Mr. Hayes report on various radio programs as evidence that the long

form birth certificate on the White House web site is a forgery. He has described Mr. Hayes as a “court

certified expert”. While Mr. Hayes has an impressive curriculum vita posted on his web site and a long

list of case in which he has been employed as a handwriting analysis expert I do not see any

qualifications mentioned he possesses that would qualify him as an expert on forensic analysis of

computer files. Mr. Hayes has not to my knowledge commented on or clarified Mr. Zullo’s remarks.

Mr. Zullo has also mentioned that he hired Mr. Hayes to perform the analysis only after he was rejected

by 212 other forensic document analysts prior to finding Mr. Hayes. As a citizen and supporter of the

President I am disturbed that Mr. Hayes would allow himself to become part of the Cold Case Posse

witch hunt. Mr. Zullo was already caught presenting fabricated evidence concerning the race code

marked on the birth certificate for the President’s father’s race in an attempt to bolster his forgery

claims. If necessary I can supply ample information you or Mr. Hayes that the entire so called

investigation by the Cold Case Posse is a complete sham.

After my email exchange with Mr. Hayes I decided to investigate your organization and discovered that

your organization claims your members are to abide by a Code of Ethics that was available for download

on the N.A.D.E. web site. I believe Mr. Hayes may have violated several of the principles set forth in this

Code of Ethics:

Since neither Mr. Hayes nor Mr. Zullo will make Mr. Hayes’ report publicly available it is difficult to

critique the details of the analysis. However, I believe his conclusions alone raise serious ethical

questions. For example, I quote from the N.A.D.E. Code of Ethics:

Section VI: Objectivity

(a) The examiner must approach all problems in an objective, open-minded way, basing all

opinions on technically and/or scientifically correct premises.

(b) It must never be assumed the retaining party is in the right that a document is or is not

genuine. In other words, the questions posed should be starting points of inquiry and not

requirements for conclusions.

I believe it is valid to question whether any scientifically correct premise would allow Mr. Hayes to opine

on the authenticity of a document that he has never seen based entirely on an image posted on the

Internet. Also, as I have advised Mr. Hayes, the birth certificate PDF file that he examined is only one of

at least three images of the document that are available on the internet. One image posted by the

Associated Press is of considerably higher resolution than the PDF that Mr. Zullo has made the center of

his analysis. The PDF was apparently the only document examined by Mr. Hayes.

Section IX: Standards of Performance

The examiner shall adhere to proper and accepted standards of performance. If some procedure

or circumstance appears not to be covered by any standards known to the examiner, the nearest

applicable standards should be adapted to the circumstance or advice sought from one’s

supervisor, mentor or advisor.

Mr. Hayes reached the incredible conclusion that the President of the United States has allowed a

fraudulent document to be released to the public and available for over two years on the White House

web site. There is no evidence that Mr. Hayes consulted with another member of the document

examiner community before supplying his report to Mr. Zullo. He also should have been aware that 212

examiners had previously declined to opine on the authenticity of the document based on an Internet

image. Mr. Hayes could have availed himself of previous analyses of the LFBC PDF by forensic examiners

such as Neal Krawetz and Ivan Zatkovich who both concluded that there were no signs of forgery from

their analysis of the PDF. I also corresponded with an expert from the Xerox Corporation named Roberto

de Queiroz who holds multiple patents in scanning and image file compression technology. Professor de

Queiroz also agreed that there were no signs of intentional manipulation. His opinion was available at

my blog and on anther blog hosted by author John Woodman. Mr. Hayes could have discovered these

opinions by performing a simple Internet search for discussions concerning the White House PDF.

Indeed, John Woodman wrote an excellent book that debunked many claims of forgery that continue to

be made by Mr. Zullo and have long been discredited.

Section XVIII: General Obligation to the Profession

The examiner has an obligation to avoid bringing discredit on the profession and to comport

oneself in an appropriate manner while performing professional duties. This includes protecting

the good name of any professional organization to which one belongs, by developing

professional competence, proper social etiquette and personal good judgment. When in doubt,

ask for proper advice

My abovementioned comments are also relevant to this section. I believe Mr. Hayes has discredited

your organization for reasons unknown and is allowing the name and good will of your organization to

be used in what is nothing more than a public and politically motivated smear campaign against the

President being orchestrated by Mike Zullo and the Cold Case Posse.

I believe that this episode is reflecting badly on your organization as a whole. I might suggest that one

way for the organization and Mr. Hayes to recovery credibility is for N.A.D.E. to hire a group of actual

computer image forensic experts of the quality of Neal Krawetz and have them perform an independent

review of Mr. Hayes’ report. The results of their analysis would then be published. I should think Mr.

Zullo would be more than happy to give Mr. Hayes permission to do this and have his work confirmed.

I would appreciate your thoughts on what I consider to be a serious matter and would be glad to discuss

the issue further via email or phone.

I am publishing this document as an open letter on my blog, RCRadioblog.wordpress.com, to make it

available for other concerned citizens who might hold similar views on the matter and wish to lodge a

complaint with your organization.

Best regards,