On Sept. 1, 2013 the New York Times revealed that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been collecting data on millions of phone calls from and to Americans through a secret program called …
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On Sept. 1, 2013 the New York Times revealed that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been collecting data on millions of phone calls from and to Americans through a secret program called the Hemisphere Project for at least six years.
The program, said the news story, had been ongoing for a far longer time than the recently disclosed National Security Agency (NSA) programs of domestic web and phone traffic tracking.
The basis for the records obtained by the Times was a Port Hadlock gentleman named Drew Hendricks, a longtime peace activist who had obtained a DEA PowerPoint presentation as part of several documents released to him following Freedom of Information Act requests, at which he has become adept over many years. The records obtained by Hendricks indicated that federal agents had routine access to an enormous AT&T database of Americans’ phone calls. The records reveal that the DEA had been paying AT&T to have federal agents sit alongside AT&T employees to look at reams of data. It is yet unknown if other telephone providers like Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile were likewise being paid and participating.
Hendricks is one of the panelists who will speak on open government concerns and issues at a Tuesday, Oct. 1 forum being put on by the Washington Coalition of Open Government, together with the Jefferson County Bar Association and the Leader. The forum will be held at the Port Townsend Community Center at 6:30 p.m., and is intended to cover both federal and state open government access rights and tools offered by an expert panel.
Besides Hendricks, other panelists are Katherine George, an open government lawyer for a Seattle law firm; Craig Ritchie, city attorney for Sequim and former Clallam County prosecutor; Bill Kildall, a public hospital district watchdog from Clallam County; and Paul Richmond, a Port Townsend-based attorney. According to Patience Rogge, a WCOG member who organized the forum, it will provide insights to both private citizens and public officials in terms of what state and federal laws require in terms of public access to records and meetings.
The program is free. Come learn more about Hendricks’ personal quests and how it came to shape the national debate on government agencies looking through reams of private phone data, and other issues related to your ability to view the words and actions of government at all levels.
— Scott Wilson
