The most important parts of the affidavit appear to be paragraphs 22-24, which state that "the Secret Service received information from a business indicating that that business' PBX had been manipulated," and that the business provided the agency with "certain information concerning the individual(s) who had entered the system." Based on these statements, here is the best guess of what happened: 1) the "victim business" had some reason to believe that the individual involved had some relationship to 2600; 2) the business passed this information on to the Secret Service; 3) the Secret Service knew that people associated with 2600 met at the mall on a regular basis; and 4) the Secret Service recruited the mall security personnel to identify the individuals attending the monthly meetings.
The litigation of CPSR's FOIA case against the Secret Service is proceeding, and new information will continue to be posted as it is obtained.
CPSR is a national organization of individuals concerned
about the impact of computer technology on society. The best way
to support CPSR's work is to become a member. For more
information, write to
David Sobel
CPSR Legal Counsel
dsobel@washofc.cpsr.org
1. I am the Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) of the
United States Secret Service (hereinafter Secret Service),
Washington Field office having held this position since
January 24, 1993. I have been employed as a Special Agent of
the Secret Service since January 20, 1969.
2. I am providing this declaration in connection with the
above-captioned civil action arising under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). The purpose of this declaration is to
address matters raised by the plaintiff in Plaintiff's Memorandum
in Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgement and in
Support of Plaintiff's Cross-motion for Summary Judgement
(hereinafter Plaintiff's Memorandum).
3. This declaration is provided for the public record
and is somewhat limited, as the records which are at issue in this
case were compiled by the Secret Service in the course of a
criminal matter which is currently open and ongoing. I have,
however, also provided a separate and more detailed declaration
for in camera review by this Court.
4. In my position as the Special Agent in Charge of the
Washington Field Office, I am aware that plaintiff submitted to
the Secret Service a FOIA request for information in the
possession of the Secret Service which concerns "the breakup of
a meeting of individuals" associated with the "2600 Club" at the
"Pentagon City Mall in Arlington, Virginia on November 6, 1992."
5. In January of 1993, my office received a written request
from the Secret Service's Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts
(FOI/PA) Office asking that my office search its records to
determine if it maintained information concerning plaintiff's FOIA
request.
6. Pursuant to this request my office realized that it was
maintaining records concerning an ongoing criminal matter and that
these records might contain information which was responsive to
plaintiff's FOIA request.
7. It was then directed that a copy of all records
concerning this criminal investigation be provided to Secret
Service headquarters.
8. In May of this year I was asked to provide an in camera
and a public declaration concerning the underlying criminal
investigation and the records concerning that investigation which
related to plaintiff's FOIA request.
9. In the original draft of these declarations I noted that
they referred only to certain newspaper articles and two specific
records. Through my discussions with the "case agent" assigned to
the underlying criminal matter, I was, however, personally aware
that my office maintained certain additional records which
appeared to concern plaintiff's FOIA request.
10. Upon further review I found that inadvertently copies
of certain records which were in the possession of my office and
which appeared to be responsive to plaintiff's FOIA request were
not in the possession of the Secret Service FOI/PA.
11. Copies of all records maintained by my office which
records concern plaintiff's FOIA request, and which records were
in the possession of my office at the time this office's original
search for material responsive to plaintiff's FOIA request,l
have now been provided to Secret Service headquarters.
------------------------
12. Additionally, a record by record, page by page
comparison has been made of the information maintained in the
Washington Field Office, which information was in the possession
of the Secret Service at the time of my office's original search
for information responsive to plaintiff's FOIA request, with the
copies of the records which have now been provided to Secret
Service headcluarters. This comparison showed that these two
groups of records are now identical.
13. The records which concern plaintiff's FOIA request,
with the exception of the newspaper articles, had been provided to
the Secret Service fron a confidential source and had been
compiled for law enforcement purposes.
14. The information contained in these records was compiled
in order to identify and to further investigate individual(s) who
are considered to be possible suspect(s) in a criminal
investigation being conducted by the Secret Service, which
investigation relates to a violation of Title 18 of the United
States Code, Section 1029, and/or 1030, "Fraud and related
activity in connection with access devices," and "Fraud and
related activity in connection with computers."
15. More specifically, the Secret Service has reason to
believe that the suspect(s) in this case had gained access to a
Public Branch Exchange (PBX) owned by a private company and
manipulated that PBX so as to enable the commission of several
tens of thousands of dollars of telephone toll fraud.
16. It is my understanding that at the request of my
office the records at issue in this case, with the exception of
the newspaper articles, were withheld from release due to the
ongoing nature of the enforcement proceeding, as to release the
information could constitute an invasion of the privacy of certain
individuals, as the records at issue had been provided to the
Secret Service by a confidential source, and as to release the
records would reveal the identity of confidential sources.
17. I have been advised that plaintiff is now claiming that
the Secret Service's action in withholding these records was
improper. In particular, I have been advised that plaintiff is
alleging that the records have been improperly withheld as the
Secret Service does not have the authority to conduct investiga-
tions in the area of computer crime, and, as the Secret Service is
not conducting a criminal investigation, but "'merely engaging in
a general monitoring of private individuals activities' .... or
conducting an inquiry 'for purposes of harassment'." Plaintiff's
Memorandum, page 5.
18. While I am not an expert in the proprieties of releasing
or withholding information under the FOIA, as the Special Agent in
Charge of the Secret Service's Washington Field office, I can
provide relevant information concerning the Secret Service's
investigative authority and the underlying criminal investigation
through which the records in question came into the possession of
the Secret Service.
19. The Secret Service is a criminal law enforcement agency
which operates under the provisions of Title 18 of the United
States Code, Section 3056. Under Section 3056, Subsection (b),
the Secret Service is specifically authorized to detect and arrest
any person who violates federal criminal laws relating to coins,
obligations, and securities of the United States and foreign
governments, electronic fund transfers, credit or debit card
fraud, false identification documents or devices, false
identification documents and devices, and certain laws relating to
financial institutions. Additionally, pursuant to Title 18 of
the United States Code, Sections 1029 and 1030, the Secret Service
is specifically charged with the authority to investigate offenses
concerning fraud and related activity in connection with computers
and/or access devices. See Title 18 U.S.C. 1030(d), Fraud and
related activity in connection with computers ("The United States
States Secret Service shall ... have the authority to investigate
offenses under this section."). Contrary to plaintiff's argument,
the Secret Service does, therefore, have clear statutory authority
to conduct criminal investigations relating to computer fraud.
20. With regard to plaintiff's allegation that the Secret
Service was "merely engaging in a general monitoring of private
individuals' activities" .... or conducting an inquiry "for
purposes of harassment," (Plaintiff's Memorandum, page 5), I
would state that there is absolutely no truth to plaintiff's
suggestion.
21. The records which are at issue in this case were
provided to the Secret Service by a confidential source and were
compiled by the Secret Service for law enforcement purposes --
the identification of possible suspect(s) in a criminal
investigation and the further investigation of the suspect(s).
22. In connection with its law enforcement
responsibilities, the Secret Service received information from a
business indicating that that business' PBX had been manipulated
and that as a result the business had been the victim of long
distance telephone toll fraud.
23. The victim business provided the Secret Service with
information which might lead to the individual(s) who had
manipulated the system or utilized the manipulated system to
steal telephone time.
24 The victim business had access to certain information
concerning the individual(s) who had entered the system, but could
not directly identify the individual(s) involved. It was,
through a follow-up investigation and an attempt to identify the
individual(s) who had committed this fraud, that the Secret
Service came into the possession of the information which is at
issue in this case.
25. The details of the law enforcement proceeding which
underlies this matter are set out in my in camera declaration.
I believe, however, that the generic facts as described above show
that the records which are at issue in this case were compiled by
the Secret Service for valid law enforcement purposes.
26. I am aware that plaintiff is arguing that the records at
issue have been improperly withheld as the records consist of
information which is already known to the subject(s) of the
investigation. To the knowledge of the Secret Service, however,
this is not correct. At this time the Secret Service has no
reason to believe that the suspect(s) in its investigation, or the
plaintiff in this case, are aware of the nature of the Secret
Service's investigation, who is under investigation by the
Secret Service, what information is in the possession of the
Secret Service, or who has provided information to the Secret
Service in regard to this matter.
27. I am also aware that the plaintiff argues that "the
shopping mall was clearly the source of the records being
withheld." Again contrary to plaintiff's argument, to date there
has been no public statement that the "Mall" is the source of the
information which is being withheld.
28. Additionally, the Secret Service recently contacted the
source to determine the position of the source in regard to this
matter. At this time, the source reiterated the source's original
position and understanding that the fact that it had provided
certain information to the Secret Service would not be revealed.
29. Further, the records at issue also contain information
concerning a second source of information which source has since
provided information to the Secret Service in regard to the
underlying criminal case.
30. Due to the nature of the investigative work conducted
by the Secret Service, this agency must protect from exposure the
sources which the Secret Service utilizes to gain information in
the course of its criminal investigations. In the course of its
investigative function the Secret Service routinely receives
information from various sources with the understanding that,
unless the source is needed to provide testimony or records
in a criminal trial, the fact of that source's cooperation will
not be revealed to the public. Further, information is often
provided by a source with the understanding that at the time of a
criminal trial a subpoena will be issued to protect the fact of
the earlier cooperation of the source. Therefore, if such
confidential sources are compromised by premature exposure, the
result could have a chilling effect on the law enforcement
function of the Secret Service in that, in the future, such
sources would be less cooperative with the Secret Service, and
federal law enforcement in general.
31. It is, then, reasonable and necessary that the Secret
service preserve its relationship with confidential sources by
protecting from release information which would expose the
cooperation of such sources with the Secret Service.
32. As I have attempted to describe above, the records which
are being withheld in this case are records which were compiled
by the Secret Service for law enforcement purposes. Further,
the release of the records could result in interference with an
open enforcement proceeding, an invasion of the personal privacy
of third parties, reveal information provided by a confidential
source and compromise the future cooperation of a confidential
source, by revealing the cooperation of those sources with the
Secret Service. My office has, therefore, requested that the
records involved in this matter continue to be withheld.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true
to the best of my knowledge and belief.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Computer Professionals )
for Social Responsibility, )
)
Plaintiff )
) Civil Action No. 93-0231
v. )
)
United States Secret Service, )
)
Defendant )
1 The underlying criminal investigation has continued and,
therefore, additional records have been compiled by the Secret
Service in regard to that investigation.
/Signed/
William F. Burch
Special Agent in Charge
Washington Field Office
10
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