Ashcroft At War With Ufology?

[MORTARDUDE]

ASHCROFT AT WAR
WITH UFOLOGY?

"FBI and other law enforcement officials raided a
Rachel (Nevada) man's rented trailer home Thursday," June
19, 2003, "while he was out of state, searching for what
he said were photographs and data stored in his computer
about the classified military installation known as Area
51."
"'Area 51. That's what it's for,' said the man,
Chuck Clark, when asked by telephone about the search
warrant that he found on Friday," June 20, 2003, "on a
table inside the trailer in the rural Lincoln County
community 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Las Vegas."
"'They timed this very nicely while I was in Denver
(Colorado) with a TV crew,' said Clark, 57, author of Area
51 and S-4 Handbook."
"Clark said he thinks the search warrant was
triggered by his research into motion-detector sensors
that are buried on public land along trails miles away
from the restricted area around the classified
installation near the dry lake bed of Groom Lake, 90 miles
(144 kilometers) north of Las Vegas."
"Clark and other Area 51 buffs think the sensors are
linked by radio signals to an interactive alarm network
that alerts the installation's security personnel about
possible intruders."
"'I dug them up, photographed them, recorded their
GPS and put them back,' he said, referring to Global
Positioning System coordinates."
"'I resent the fact they put them on public land.
All I did was document them...
to make an issue of putting them outside of restricted
land,' Clark said. He described himself as a semi-retired
photographer and writer who has spent 10 years researching
Area 51."
"Clark said the search warrant was issued by U.S.
Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leavitt and that the agents who
executed it left a four-page inventory of items siezed."
"An FBI spokesman in Las Vegas, Jim Stern, confirmed
that a search warrant had been executed in Clark's
residence Thursday."
"The FBI agents were accompanied by other law
enforcement authorities who were part of a task force, but
Stern declined to confirm the nature of the task force."
"There were no arrests, Stern said, noting, 'This is
an ongoing investigation of Clark.'"
(Editor's Comment: Ongoing investigation!? What for?
Clark has neither been arrested, charged, indicted by a
grand jury, nor subpoenaed as a witness.)
"He said items were taken from Clark's residence but
declined to give details about what prompted the
investigation."
"He also would not comment on the scope of the search

warrant or say what was siezed."
According to KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nev., "FBI agents
have confirmed that a search warrant was served Thursday
night on the home of a self-described military watchdog in
the tiny town of Rachel, near the mysterious Area 51
military base."
KLAS-TV "learned that the action was initiated by the

Joint Terrorism Task Force." (JTTF)
Earlier in June, Clark had "accompanied the (KLAS-TV
Eyewitness News) I-Team" to an entrance to Area 51 and
"two sensors were located and base security wrote down the
plate numbers of our vehicles. We returned five days ago
(Tuesday, June 17, 2003) and drove to the rear entrance of
Area 51."
"Two days later (Thursday, June 19, 2003) FBI agents,
working with (U.S.) Air Force Intelligence and the Joint
Terrorism Task Force raided Clark's home and siezed
photos, records and his computer."
"'They're paranoid about the location, and I don't
see why?' asked Clark."
KLAS-TV "asked the BLM (Bureau of Land Management of
the U.S. Department of the Interior--J.T.) if it's legal
for the military to put security devices on public land,
but a (BLM) spokesman couldn't answer our question." (See
the Las Vegas Review-Journal for June 21, 2003, "Ongoing
investigation: FBI raids home near Area 51." Also the
KLAS-TV Eyewitness News broadcast for June 20, 2003. Many
thanks to Loren Coleman and Robert Fischer for these news
reports.)

[Keith_Hixson]

I really don't think Ashcroft had much to do with the decision to raid the man's home. It was probably a mid-level FBI decision. Probably would have taken place no matter who was FBI director or Attorney General.

It seems the man crossed the line in trying to figure out what was going on out at Area 51.

My guess is that it is totally legal to place motion sensor on public land. After all it is owned by the US government and BLM can make the decision what to do on its own land. Just like you and I can install motion detectors on our property.

I personally don't see much news worthy in this story.

Keith