SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - An Army report has cleared the California National Guard of allegations that it spied on citizens, accusations that triggered an ongoing state Senate investigation. The California Guard's acting adjutant general, Brigadier Gen. John R. Alexander, said Monday that the Army's inspector general determined in the confidential report that a Guard intelligence unit did nothing wrong. "There was never the intent, desire or decision to ever collect intelligence information on any U.S. citizen," Alexander said in a written release. "Any statement to the contrary is flat wrong."
State Sen. Joseph Dunn launched an investigation after a series of e-mails and actions suggested the unit had resorted to the same type of civilian monitoring seen during Vietnam War-era protests. In the 1960s and 1970s, the military collected information on more than 100,000 Americans.
The Guard and the state attorney general say the unit merely tries to assess threats to bridges, buildings and other structures and does no spying.
| So stop the program, let al-Qaeda blow up the Golden Gate Bridge, and then listen to the same mopes complain about the lack of security. |
Dunn was skeptical of the report's conclusions, in part because he believes the terminology used in Alexander's announcement could be used to hide indirect surveillance activity and record-keeping by the Guard. "I'm concerned that the Guard has been playing a game with us on this issue," the lawmaker said Monday. As for the inspector general's conclusion, "This is a little bit like the fox saying there aren't any hens in the hen house - at least not anymore," Dunn said.
| "Proof?" he was asked. "I don't need proof; I have suspicions!" |
|