Control of Obama job applications unclear

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Exactly who will end up with custody of the thousands of job applications sent to Barack Obama's U.S. presidential transition team is unclear, officials say.

With tens of thousands of well-known people filling out very intrusive questionnaires demanding many personal life details, the records could be deemed extremely valuable for political, security or business reasons. But Obama transition officials wouldn't comment to the Washington publication Politico Monday about who would ultimately control them.

When asked where the applications will be kept and what will be done with them at the end of the transition, Obama spokesman Reid Cherlin said he "couldn't comment at all on that."

Technically the records are the personal property of Obama, and he could use them as he sees fit, within the law, the publication said.

"There may be 10,000 or 15,000 people who fill these things out, but I can think of 10 (million) or 15 million people who'd like to read them," said Paul Light of New York University, who wrote a textbook on government service.

Most likely, Obama will designate the applications as official presidential records, ultimately resulting in their deposit in the National Archives, Politico reported.