Homeland Insecurity

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Homeland Insecurity

Submitted by DrewHendricks on Tue, 05/30/2006 - 12:21pm.

So the Washington State Military Department is "not a law enforcement agency." I'm glad they have taken the Posse Comitatus act seriously, but still I am left with a question: Why was a man detained by a homeland security agent two weeks ago, for a half hour, on the streets of downtown Olympia?

Whose tree should I bark up next?

take a look at the denial letter for yourself

Try here,

Submitted by Norm on Tue, 05/30/2006 - 1:22pm.

Try here, http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/ Good luck, if you get any information keep us updated. I'm pretty curious. Have you spoken with the man since? I hope he's doing ok, that must have been very ackward.

OK, lets try that - and wait 20 days...

Submitted by DrewHendricks on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 1:26am.

VIA EMAIL foia@dhs.gov

I am requesting documents or information controlled by the Department of Homeland Security division which covers Washington State, under my authorities as enumerated in the Freedom of Information Act.

I need to have copies of any document which lists the names, ranks, and dates of hire of all Homeland Security agents in Washington State, statewide or by region (if larger than state boundaries.)

I would like a similar list of vehicles operated by DHS in Washington State including license plates and asset tags where appropriate.

I would like a particular report of the detention of a man in downtown Olympia, near the corner of Legion and Adams, May 17 2006 at 11:30 AM - 12 Noon. The agent observed had a nametag which said "Wells." His vehicle had a license number of G62-17489.

I would like any document which specifically addresses the Posse Comitatus Act as it relates to DHS law enforcement functions.

Drew Hendricks
Olympia Copwatch
816 Adams Street
Olympia, WA 98501

FOIA Response

Submitted by DrewHendricks on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 10:46am.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

June 19th 2006

Mr Drew Hendricks:

(...)
In regard to your third request, please be advised that, we as a government agency, and as a matter of policy, will not officially confirm or deny the existence of any records pertaining to the individual or the vehicle identified in your request. Furthermore, if any records did indeed exist, they would be exempt from release pursuant to exemptions (b)(2), (b)(7)(C), (b)(7)(E) and (b)(7)(F) of the FOIA. Accordingly, this portion of your request is denied. Please be advised that we have searched our records in regard to the incident you specified and have determined that we have no records regarding this incident.
(...)

So they won't confirm if the

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 10:53am.

So they won't confirm if the situation even happened?

Or am I misreading this?

EDIT: Reading comprehension is a bit slow today. I just noticed the "we have no records regarding this incident."

Weird. And a bit scary.

"The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern."

Strange

Submitted by Norm on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 11:39am.

Now THAT sounds like secret police to me. I wasn't aware the DHS had public policy like that. Is their headquarters in area 51?

Links to images of the actual letters

Submitted by DrewHendricks on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 12:44pm.

Page One of the Denial Letter

I wonder what they expect me to do, if they keep sending in this random guy to do random stops and he thinks he's under no supervision at all, not even from his bosses? I don't go for the secret police thing, either. I'm the kind of puckish individual who actually stands up to guys like this... it could get ugly.

I've heard that he was back in town recently, according to my informant at the previous location. So maybe we could run down there and have a video party while we ask this guy to fully ID himself. After all, impersonating an officer is a crime in this state.

"Anarchy is the notion that no one else is better suited than you, to decide what your life will be."

Y'know, if he's back in town

Submitted by Norm on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 1:35pm.

Y'know, if he's back in town and nobody is really sure if he's law enforcement ( all you need is a crown vic and to steal old government plates ) you could always call local police and record what happens in the process. There is the possibility that this man isn't law enforcement, and if he is roughing up local citizens I'm sure OPD would certainly like to be able to observe to make sure nothing is being abused.

I was thinking along the

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 7:57pm.

I was thinking along the same line (that he might not even be real).

Because you have to ask yourself: Why would Washington State not even acknowledge a law enforcement officer making contact someone?

Drew would have a better idea if this is a common practice, but I always try to think about why someone would take a certain action.

Basically, I really don't believe in conspiracies at such a small level.

I save that for bigger stuff, like Kennedy's assassination and the like.

"The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern."

Old Cell phones just die...

Submitted by DrewHendricks on Sat, 06/24/2006 - 8:54pm.

A week after "adopt an FBI agent" appeared on Olyblog, my trusted cell phone of 2002 vintage decided to "die."
It didn't die completely, though. No - it died a strange death indeed. First of all, it would suddenly not "see" the tower - tell me it had no service. Then it would fail to see the service at all, and refuse to actually boot up. But most of the time it comes on, just as normal, and will work one out of five times IF i manage to plug in a number within about 30 seconds or so. If the call goes through, I can talk for 40-50 minutes - no problem. In the stand by mode, the phone lasts maybe 30 seconds to 3 minutes and BLAMMO - "no service."
But that's not at all like ESN jamming, no. Not at all. And it's probably legal, too - as long as someone in security for Verizon has a hand in doing it. Breach of contract, maybe. But criminal? Not if the carrier cooperates with LE. Friday I got a text message reminding me that Verizon has not been paid for my phone service. Which is funny, because I am on a family plan with two other people - both of whom have not had this problem. So the hack is probably where the system tracks payment status on the particular phone - and thus the automagically generated text message.<p>
Monday I formally complain to Verizon. Wanna bet my vintage phone starts to work again? Scott? You listening?
So the short answer is - I won't be calling the PoPo from the street, my phone is hacked. By whom I will leave for the reader to decide.

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