California National Guard: Did Enron teach them nothing?


Last week, we reported that the California National Guard had formed a domestic intelligence unit that spied on Californian citizens, including a few people involved in a small Mothers' Day anti-war rally.

This week, we find out that the CNG has been electronically shredding files related to the intelligence unit...files that a state Senator had asked them to preserve.

National Guard erases data related to intelligence unit
(San Jose Mercury News) Despite a request from a state senator that it preserve all documents related to a controversial intelligence unit, the California National Guard erased the computer hard drive of a retiring colonel who oversaw the fledgling project.

Computer technicians at the Guard erased the officer's hard drive on June 27, said Col. Cherie Takami, the Guard's acting chief of staff. That same day, state Sen. Joe Dunn asked top military officials not to destroy any evidence concerning the special intelligence unit.

On Tuesday, the National Guard rebuffed Dunn's requests for answers and immediate access to the computer, saying they could not respond because of a federal investigation into the matter expected to begin today.

"Evidence of document destruction could turn our quiet investigation into a full-blown scandal," said Dunn, who is threatening to subpoena the colonel who oversaw the unit and wants immediate access so a computer specialist can recover any data from the erased computer. [emphasis mine]


You can say that again, Senator Dunn.

The article continues (pardon my snips, but the juxtaposition of these two quotes is priceless):
While the Guard's top general refused to address Dunn's concerns, the acting chief of staff told the Mercury News that the computer hard drive had been erased before anyone had seen the senator's letter. ...

In direct response to Dunn's letter, acting Adjutant General John Alexander said he could not reply until he coordinated with federal officials launching their own investigation this week.


Hear that? The chief of staff excuses the deletion of the hard drive by saying that they didn't know the senator wanted it preserved...while the Adjutant General says they can't release the hard drive (for data recovery, often possible even after a clean install) because there's a pending federal investigation. Unless that federal investigation was announced this week (the day after the Fourth of July), someone is lying.

(Scary thought: What if the feds decided to launch an investigation this week, solely to create a conflict over what material can be subpoenaed by a California Senate investigation? Just speculation at this point, obviously, but it seems certain that either the Adjutant General knew about a pending federal investigation last week and allowed the hard drive to be deleted nonetheless, or the feds announced their investigation after it became clear that Senator Dunn wanted to get access to the Guard's hard drive. Any way you slice it, it looks dubious for the Guard.)

Do we not have enough to worry about from the Feds? Does CNG Commander-in-Chief Schwarzenegger feel that the PATRIOT Act is eroding our liberties too slowly? I've always had a healthy suspicion of encroachment on personal liberties by the federal government, but I never thought I'd have to worry about my state Guard.

Senator Dunn: It's a truism that no one destroys evidence that can't hurt them. If they're shredding documents or deleting hard drives, you're looking in the right place. Combine that with the differing stories coming from the Chief of Staff and the Adjutant General, and there's more than a little cause for suspicion. Keep going.

UPDATE: There's a cool post on a related subject, the use of the military in civilian law enforcement, over at i'm just waiting for the robot invasion.)

Posted: Wed - July 6, 2005 at 02:56 PM   | Category:     |   |   | |


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