State Dinner Crashers Exchanged E-Mails With Pentagon Official The special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, who was appointed by Obama, said she clearly stated in correspondence with the couple that she could not extend any kind of invitation. By Josh Meyer and Peter Nicholas November 30, 2009 Reporting from Washington - As Congress prepares to examine how a Virginia couple crashed the first state dinner of the Obama administration, the pair may be pointing to e-mail correspondence they had with a senior Pentagon official as evidence that they were invited guests after all. Federal authorities say Tareq and Michaele...