[PART 35] (Note: One may wonder why I am submitting the following three files concerning Wackenhut, the Florida-based security agency which provides Armed Security 'serivces' for the various top-secret projects being carried out at the Nevada Test Site (...take note of Wackenhut's illegel collaboration with ALYESKA -- which as we can see in the previous posting is a subsidiary of ARCO TRANSPORTATION). To answer this, I will refer to the name Fred L. Crisman once again. Crisman, some of you may recall, was heavily involved in the so-called "Maurey Island" [Tacoma, WA.] "UFO" sighting and investigation which researcher Anthony Kimory believes may have involved a secret test flight of joint CIA-NAZI 'wingless' aerial craft -- an investigation which culminated in the mysterious deaths of two Army G-2 pilots and [accord- ing to one source], two other investigators. Kenneth Arnold [who had another sighting over Mt. Rainier just following his investigation of the Maurey Island incident under contract with AMAZING STORIES editor Ray Palmer], is the man responsible for coining the media term 'flying saucers', althrough the aircraft he saw were in fact crescent-shaped 'discs'. Palmer stated that strange men in dark suits, possibly govern- ment agents, were seen in the area, and his conversations with a high- ranking Air Force officer were bugged and he himself was under surveil- lance. Fred L. Crisman who was a principle 'witness' to the Maurey Island event was a good friend of Clay Shaw, whom Louisiana District Attorney James Garrison [see the movie "JFK"] accused of being the CIA-Mafia go-between in the John F. Kennedy assassination. Crisman was also, according to Anthony Kimory, a good friend of Marshall Ricon- osciuto, the PRO-HITLER father of Michael Riconosciuto who had gain- ed notoriety for his role as a witness in the "INSLAW" investigation of Justice Dept. corruption, computer piracy, etc. Michael was also a Wackenhut employee at the Nevada Test Site. He had stated that he turned on his employers and became involved in a plan to smuggle a helicopter loaded with sensitive documents and evidence of unconsti- tutional activities at AREA-51 and the Nevada Test Site [areas that are notorious for the reports of top-secret disc-shaped aircraft -- far in advance of the "Aurora" craft and with actual antigravity capability using antimatter reactor drives -- which have been observed and filmed during test flights over the sites, especially Groom Lake and the Pa- poose Mts.]. These activities apparently involved illegel non Congress- ionally regulated biogenetic and mind-control research which is being carried out by a fascist faction of military intelligence within the under- ground facilities there. Michael Riconosciuto stated that the chopper was blown out of the sky before it could leave the base, killing all five personnel on board. Officially it was labelled an "accident". The "Nazi" connections to the CIA-controlled Wackenhut and ARCO/Alyeska are of interest here, and my reason for submitting the following. Several of the capitalizations are mine and are intended for emphasis. - Wol.) - - - - - - - STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GEORGE MILLER CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT HEARINGS ON ALYESKA COVERT OPERATIONS NOVEMBER 4, 1991 This is the first of two days of hearings before the House Interior Committee on the subject of covert surveillance authorized by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and con- ducted by The Wackenhut Corporation. On August 7 of this year, the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs filed a written request for documents from Wackenhut and Alyeska in connection with allegations that the Wackenhut Corporation conducted undercover surveillance of Charles Hamel on behalf of Alyeska and its OWNER companies. In letters to both Wackenhut and Alyeska, I expressed concern that the surveillance of Mr. Hamel was for the purpose of obtaining information on and/or interfering with Mr. Hamel's communications with this Committee. Charles Hamel has been a source of information for Congress, state and federal regulatory agencies, and the media, concerning environmental, health and safety VIOLATIONS by Alyeska and its oil company owners (that is, ARCO or Atlantic Richfield. - Wol.). Mr. Hamel has served as a conduit for whistleblowers, including Alyeska employees, to make public information on oil industry practices. At the same time, Mr. Hamel has at least two significant business disputes with ALYESKA and EXXON (previously known as Standard Oil / I. G. Farben - Wol.) I want to make very clear that it is not the purpose of these hearings to determine whether Mr. Hamel, Alyeska or Exxon are correct in the matter of their lawsuits and business disputes. Nor is it the purpose of these hearings to examine whether Mr. Hamel's various allegations about oil company environmental violations are true or not. These are matters for another day and other forums. While the validity of Mr. Hamel's environmental allegations is not the focus of these hearings, the fact that Mr. Hamel was an important source of information for this Committee's ongoing investigation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Alyeska operations is very relevant. In the next two days, we will explore the issue of whether Alyeska's use of a "bogus" environmental group formed by Wackenhut spies was an effort to disrupt and compromise a source of information for this Committee's continuing investigation of oil industry practices in Alaska. These hearings are intended to lay bear the full story of what happened during the covert surveillance of Mr. Hamel and others. We also will seek to determine why the spy operation was initiated and, equally important, why it was terminated. In my view, it is important to find out why some of the largest and most powerful corporations in this country would resort to such elaborate "sting" tactics to INVADE and DESTROY the privacy of Mr. Hamel, federal and state officials, environ- mentalists and ordinary citizens. It has been suggested that the sole purpose of Alyeska's spying on Mr. Hamel was simply to recover "stolen documents." However, if the explanation was that simple, this Committee would not be involved in these hearings. If Alyeska's sole concern was "stolen documents," the laws of this country provide an adequate means of redress in the courts. We believe that the testimony and the evidence presented in these hearings during the next two days will show that the covert surveillance operation involved the much more sinister and disturbing motives of SILENCING environmental critics and intimidating whistleblowers. In the course of the Committee's investigation, we have received large numbers of documents, electronic recordings and other materials. At various times, the Committee members have authorized by unanimous votes the issuance of subpoenas and the use of certain documents for which attorney-client privilege was claimed. Our goal has been to conduct a thorough and fair investigation. We have attempted to accommodate a number of concerns raised by the witnesses. In conclusion, I especially want to express my appreciation for the cooperation that I have received from Congressman Young in this endeavor. TESTIMONY OF SHERREE RICH BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS 2226 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. November 4 & 5, 1991 Good afternoon, Chairman Miller and Members of this Subcommittee - My name is Sherree Rich. I am testifying today in response to a subpoena about my employment with Wackenhut. I am currently a Child Abuse Investigator with the State of Florida. Prior to that, I worked for six months for the Wackenhut Corporation. Prior to accepting employment with Wackenhut I had worked for the Tallahassee Police Department for two and a half years, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office for three and a half months on a special undercover operation. I accepted employment with the Wackenhut Corporation in August, 1990, after applying and being interviewed at the Tampa office of the Wackenhut Corporation. Since I was interested in becoming an investigator I was referred to Wayne Black, of the Miami Special Investigations Division (hereinafter "SID"). Several weeks after my initial interview I was contacted by Wayne Black for an interview. Wackenhut arranged to fly me to Miami for an interview at the SID offices. During that interview I advised Mr. Black that I was interested in becoming an investigator. He agreed to train me as an investigator. Because of recent undercover experience in my previous job, he requested that I begin work on an undercover operation that Wackenhut was conducting in the Washington, D.C. area. After completion of my background investigation I was hired, and went to Miami for final processing and preparation for the operation. The final preparation for leaving to conduct the activity was to get a large amount of cash for use in setting up the undercover office. Mr. Wayne Black and I flew up to Washington on or about August 11, 1990. On the flight to Washington, D.C. I was provided a number of articles to read about Exxon's activities in Alaska, environmental issues about oil spills, and the Alaska pipeline from Alaska newspapers. We were joined later by Rick Lund and Vern Johnson. We checked into the Crystal City Marriot Hotel, where I stayed for approximately 4-5 weeks. All of my hotel expenses were covered by Wackenhut. During the first few days after arriving in Virginia I was briefed on what my duties were to be in connection with the undercover operation. Initially I was told very little about what the real purpose of the investigation was. I was directed to open and set up and office, posing as "The Ecolit Group," which I knew to be a false identity standing for "ecological litigation." This included opening a personal bank account in my name, with ECOLIT on the check. I deposited several thousand dollars. It also included ordering cards with my name on the ECOLIT card identifying myself as a "staff researcher." I also ordered cards for Wayne Black, identifying him as Dr. Wayne Jenkins. As part of my cover I also joined the Library of Congress as a researcher. I ordered the Anchorage Daily News as part of the cover so that the office looked legitimate. I also purchased several books about environmental issues and several environmental posters, such as "SAVE THE WHALES" and "SAVE THE EARTH" as props. The bogus office was located at 2341 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 525, in the Century Building, Arlington, Virginia. The office was in a suite of offices that shared common secretarial answering and reception services, and a common lobby. In order to appear legitimate I also received daily telephone calls from Miami, posing as if it was the Miami ECOLIT office, as well as faxes and occasional letters. At about the same time, Mr. Richard Lund, posing as Mr. John Fox, rented a suite in the same location called Overseas Trading Company. Although we were working together in this undercover operation, we pretended only to know Mr. Fox casually because he assisted in getting our computers. In fact, Mr. Rick Lund, and another gentleman named Vern Johnson, wired the offices with video and audio microphones and cameras for the purpose of recording all of the communications and transactions between Hamel and Black. This included putting in a video camera inside a portable stereo which was wired to Rick Lund's office where it was picked up on a receiver and recorded. The sound system was also wired through the ceiling panels to the office two or three offices down the hallway. I was present when all the wiring was done in these offices. I was present during the time when Rick Lund and Vern Johnson wired Ecolit's office in Arlington, Virginia. We arrived at the QRC offices (where we rented the Ecolit office) at night. Rick and Vern ran wires from John Fox's office, International Overseas Trading, through the ceiling into the Ecolit office. Rick had attached the wires to a remote controlled, toy dune buggy. He used this vehicle to drive across the inside of the ceiling from his office, across the intervening office to the Ecolit office so he could get the wires to the Ecolit office. He ran the wire from the ceiling through a stanchion in the wall, cut a hole in the wall to bring the wire out and ran the wire under the carpet. Up until the opening of the office all I had been told was that we were conducting the investigation into a person named Charles Hamel. According to Wayne Black, Mr. Hamel had spent about ten years trying to seek revenge on Exxon for receiving a raw deal on oil brokering. Throughout the entire course of my involvement with the undercover operation, Exxon and Alyeska were used INTER- CHANGEABLY by all of my superiors. I came to understand that Alyeska was a company formed by SEVEN oil companies, and assumed that it was the Exxon portion of Alyeska that was requesting the investigation. As I became more familiar with the investigation I learned that Mr. Hamel was receiving documents and information, 'allegedly' illegally, from sources within Alyeska. Wayne Black and Rick Lund told me that Hamel would receive Exxon and Alyeska information and then turn it over to Congressman Miller, and also get the Environmental Protection Agency involved, and that by doing so Hamel was causing Alyeska and Exxon a great deal of financial hardship and negative publicity. It was my understanding that the purpose of the investigation was to find out who the sources of information were and let Alyeska know who they were, so that they could handle the leaks. I believed that as soon as an employee was identified he or she would be terminated. In fact, I believe that one employee was identified and terminated during this time frame. It was my understanding that the investigation would last for six months to a year. In order to staff the office I was told to rent an apartment in Crystal City, Virginia. I did so; all of the expenses and costs for the apartment were paid by Wackenhut, including a rental car, gas, food, and utilities. The only thing I was responsible for were personal telephone calls and personal items. I was not aware of any State of Virginia or local authority license to conduct this activity. My job was to appear to be researching environmental causes in and around the Washington, D.C. area, and to convince Mr. Hamel of the legitimacy of the operation. Throughout the course of the investigation, when Wayne "Jenkins" Black received documents from Hamel, I was to scan those documents into a computer. I was responsible for paying all of the bills for the office. While the operation was going on, someone from the Miami office drove up a Recreational Vehicle Camper fully equipped with living quarters and electronic surveillance equipment, such as portable telephones, two way radios, and other equipment that I did not recognize but understood to be used for picking up telephone calls. The RV was parked near Mr. Hamel's condo and the park for one night. I was aware that Wackenhut had someone pick up Mr. Hamel's trash to go through it for information, and also knew that while Mr. Black was at Mr. Hamel's house he was wired to pick up all of their conversations, and that during his visit there he went through a bunch of Hamel's documents that were lying around and read from those documents into the "wire" so that the information could be transmitted back to Rick Lund. On one occasion I was also wired to go to Hamel's house, when I gave him a check for $2,000. It was my understanding that Hamel was having personal financial problems, and that part of the plan was to "hook" him into working with Wackenhut's undercover operations was to make funds available to help him support his environmental causes. I presented two checks to Mr. Hamel, one in the office and one at his house. I was never present at any meetings in the office or the hotel room, and never went to dinner with Mr. Hamel, but I know that Mr. Black met with him in the office and that those meetings were videoed taped by Mr. Lund in his office down the hall. The operation lasted about three months, during which time Mr. Black came from Miami on a number of occasions. At the end of that time frame I was told that the operation was closing down. I was told that it was closing down because Alyeska attorneys wanted to stop the operation. I believe that one of the concerns that led to closing down the operation was because Wackenhut was confirming that Hamel did, in fact, have information on environmental wrongdoing which Wackenhut had no way to handle. For the last few weeks of the operations it was unclear to me how long it would actually last. Comments were made about closing it down early. Then Mr. Black stopped talking to Mr. Hamel entirely , and directed me to "cover" for him by saying he was in a meeting or not in his office in Miami. To the best of my knowledge Mr. Black never called him back. Then Mr. Black returned to Miami, and I was instructed to close down the office and load the computer equipment, files, posters, and all of the props and papers we had collected into a rental van, and drive it to Miami, which I did. I continued to work at Wackenhut until January, 1991. During that time I had one further follow up involvement with the Hamel investigation. Sometime in October or November, I was briefly interviewed by two attorneys regarding my activities in the Virginia office. I was only asked by them "why" I was hired, and what my function was in Virginia. Prior to the interview I had been told by Wayne Black to just answer the questions that they asked very briefly, and not to add anything. On my last day of work I was directed by Gil Mugarra to pick up the trash for one of the other investigator's assignments. This involved getting up at about 3:00 a.m. in order to insure that you were able to pick up the trash without being seen and before the garbage pick up. I questioned this assignment since it was NOT my case, and 'discussed' it with other investigators and with Mr. Mugarra. Following these conversations I believed that the assignment had been returned to the original investigator. No one ever told me that the trash assignment was to be my last. The next day, Black called me into his office and asked me what had happened. He advised me that I was being put on suspension because I had "refused" to pick up the trash. That was not true. He told me that he would call me the next morning around 8:30 a.m., instead he called me around noon the next day and advised me that I could quit or be fired. I asked him if he would give me a good reference if I quit, and he said that the only thing that would be on my personnel file would be that I quit, so I resigned. I hope that this information is helpful to the Committee investigating this matter. I will be pleased to try and answer any questions that you may have. TESTIMONY OF CHARLES HAMEL BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS 2226 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. November 4 & 5, 1991 Chairman Miller, Members of the Committee, Good Afternoon. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify on the Alyeska investigation conducted into my business activities and my private life. My name is Charles Hamel, of Alexandria, Virginia. May I introduce my wife, Kathleen Morgan Hamel and my son Chuck, Jr., Prince William Sound commercial salmon fisherman of Cordova, Alaska. Accompanying me this afternoon is my friend and counsel, Billie Pirner Garde. I grew up in Watertown, Connecticut, attending Assumption Prep School and a year at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. My sophomore year was at the Universite de Montpellier in France, after which I was drafted into the United States Army in Europe during the Korean War. I served in Military Intelligence on loan to the French Army in Koblenz, Germany. Upon my honorable discharge, I remained in Europe as Administrative Officer, Off-Shore Procurement Program, United States Embassy, in Brussels, Belgium, in support of the U.S. forces in Korea. In 1954 I returned home to continue my studies in foreign trade here at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Senator Hubert Humphrey helped me gain an elevator operator job in the Capitol. Thereafter I was a student staff member in the offices of Senator Ralph Yarborough and Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1958 I became the Administrative Assistant to the late Senator Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut. Following years in foreign trade, I again returned to the Capitol for two years as Executive Assistant to my former prep school roommate, Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska. Among my duties, as his assistant, I worked relentlessly to convince Alaska residents, commercial fishermen, Natives and the public that the oil industry would be good for Alaska and would surely build an environmentally sound pipeline and port terminal. Prior to construction, I traveled the 800 mile right-of-way from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. In the foreign trade business, I worked mainly as a management consultant, and commodities, ship and cargo broker/agent. In this capacity, I had the opportunity to represent foreign countries and arrange purchases of grain and other commodities on their behalf. Once I negotiated the purchase, I would arrange the ocean transportation of those commodities to other parts of the world. I also brokered the sale of oil and arranged long term crude tanker contracts. Eventually, I became an independent oil and shipping broker. In addition I acquired partial ownership in oil leases in Alaska and the lower U.S. I worked very hard and was fortunate enough to be very successful for a period of years. In 1980, all my hard work and success began to fall apart when my clients discovered that they were not getting the crude that they were paying for, but were instead receiving oil that was significantly DILUTED with water. I could not cover the losses and by 1982 I had lost my clients, my source of income, and my credibility in the eyes of the business community I represented. From that point forward I began to lose everything I had worked for over the years. At first, EXXON executives led me to believe the dilution problem was caused by malfeasance at the Panama Canal trans- shipment point. My investigations in Panama proved otherwise. I brought my discoveries to the attention of EXXON and other oil company executives who I had come to know personally over the years. However, soon I realized that the water in the oil was NO MISTAKE and it was, by no means, limited to me or my clients. In fact, I was provided EXXON documents that proved that EXXON, ARCO and British Petroleum were quite aware of the water problem. I had sincerely believed that the Alaska oil executives and Owners of the Alyeska Pipeline would take prompt corrective action. NOTHING was done. Instead they DENIED the truth, and apparently hoped that I would forget about my business, the damage to my credibility and reputation, and my lost income. I could not do that then, or now. I built my business not only on hard work but on the honesty of my word. When the Alyeska owners CHEATED my clients, they were, in effect, making me out as a dishonest businessman before my own clients. (The oil/gas price hikes of 1996, etc., had absolutely no reasonable basis other than to INCREASE the income of the Oil Companies. It appears that Mr. Hamel is not the only one being "cheated" by the petroleum monopolists. - Wol.) In 1985, I decided to expose the dishonesty of the oil industry in regards to the water in the oil issue, and attempted to insure that there was some accountability of the industry in connection with their business practices. By this time I had also come to the conclusion that the oil industry was turning Alaska into an environmental disaster. Employees I talked to in Valdez, friends I knew in the industry, people I had worked with for years were all discussing the dismal performance of Alyeska in regards to their commitment to environmental and worker safety. I realized that I was not the only victim of the dishonesty of the oil industry in Alaska -- we were ALL victims, and no one was doing anything about it. We were living in a CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE waiting for an environmental disaster to occur and, as you know, IT DID. I decided that I had to do something to prove to the public that the oil industry had VIOLATED their legal and moral obligations to Alaska. The more I heard, the angrier I got about what was going on. Alyeska was polluting the water by introducing TOXIC sludge, including cancer-causing benzene, into the pristine waters of Port Valdez and Prince William Sound. Alyeska was poisoning the Valdez fjord's air by venting extremely hazardous hydrocarbon vapors directly into the atmosphere. There was NO regulatory oversight, and thus no regulatory violations. It was as if the environmental regulations of the United States did not even apply north of the Canadian border -- no regulators, no oversight, no enforcement -- nothing. In fact, the oil industry wasn't putting out anything but POISON and LIES. In order to pursue the excessive water in the oil matter, I filed an administrative complaint with the Alaska Public Utilities Commission ("APUC"). At the hearing, former Alyeska employee, Erlene Blake, at great risk, testified that, as senior laboratory technician responsible for testing the amount of water in the oil, she continually discovered EXCESSIVE water in the oil, but had been DIRECTED by her supervisors to FALSIFY the log entries to show only acceptable levels in the samples. During this same period, she was REQUIRED TO FALSIFY laboratory analysis with regard to water quality. The reports to the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") were FALSE. Because she was so troubled by those instructions, as suggested by an assistant lab tech, she secretly maintained log books of duplicate entries, recording the true lab analysis beside the falsified data -- a red book for the water in oil and a yellow log book for the EPA violations. Alyeska adamantly denied her allegations and DISCREDITED her testimony by claiming she couldn't produce the notebooks with the double entries of oil and water. In fact, Ms. Blake could not produce the logs because an Alyeska supervisor BROKE INTO HER PERSONAL LOCKER AND STOLE THEM. She couldn't prove her allegations, and neither could I. But we knew it was true. So did Alyeska. Not long after the hearing I was contacted by an Alyeska employee - Bob Scott. Two Alyeska supervisors BOASTED to Mr. Scott and several fellow technicians that the log books had been removed from her locker, had not been destroyed and were not produced as required by the APUC subpoena. He was ashamed of Alyeska management's ILLEGAL actions. He knew that Alyeska had cheated me, had deceived the APUC, and had discredited one of their own honest employees. He also knew that Alyeska was violating numerous environmental and worker safety regulations. Bob Scott was among the first of many employees that provided me information about violations of environmental regulations by Alyeska. As I learned of these abuses, I in turn, provided the information to the appropriate government agencies responsible for investigating these matters, including EPA, the General Accounting Office and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. In the beginning it was very difficult to get any government action on the employee's allegations. I then turned the information over to the press and, sometimes, to members of Congress. There was a profound skepticism everywhere that the oil industry would knowingly pollute the environment and harm their own employees in Alaska. The Alyeska public relations campaign was working. Few newspapers would print the facts. Few regulators would even listen. Alyeska tried hard to discredit me by attacking my motives, my sources of information, my credibility, and attempting to portray me as a vengeful -- if not slightly insane -- opponent of the oil industry. But their "kill the messenger approach" backfired. It seemed that the harder Alyeska tried to discredit me publicly, the more their employees came to me with information privately. In fact, frequently the public denial of facts, known to be true to Alyeska employees, led those employees to my doorstep. By the end of 1985, I had provided substantial documentary evidence to the EPA about environmental wrongdoing by Alyeska. Rather than deal honestly with these facts, Alyeska sued the EPA to force disclosure of the documents. The United States District Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, I am grateful to say, denied Alyeska access to the documents because to do so could have identified my sources, who feared retaliation. In 1985 the oil industry attempted to find out what it would take to make me go away. As requested, I calculated my actual business losses at $12 million dollars. I also insisted that actions be taken to clean up the environmental issues I had raised, including an audit of the Valdez terminal, a pollution monitoring program funded by Alyeska and run by an indepen- dent group not accountable to the oil industry, and a medical monitoring fund for the Alyeska technicians who had been needlessly exposed to toxic vapors. The industry obviously was not prepared to meet those demands to get rid of me. I continued to receive information from employees -- horror stories of poison and pollution which I conveyed to the media, Congress and government agencies. Alyeska had to be dragged kicking and screaming through each corrective action. However, it was apparent to fishing community leaders like Dr. Riki Ott and Rick Steiner of Cordova, my loyal supporters throughout the years, that a major disaster was imminent. Early in 1989 the severity of the problems demanded Congressional intervention and your Committee's Majority staff agreed. But within weeks the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred, and everything in Alaska changed forever. The allegations I had been pointing out to the EPA for years to no avail were suddenly "high priority," and even the public began to doubt the public relations departments of the oil industry. [continued...]