GRASS ROOTS OPPOSITION TO PATRIOT ACT!
Maryland Politicians Express Bipartisan Criticism of Justice Department and FBI
Maryland resident victimized by terrorist and Justice Department refuses to prosecute.
by Salvador Astucia
June 8, 2005
On April 22, 2005, Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. joined a growing list of Maryland politicians expressing lack of confidence in the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding their lax enforcement of the Patriot Act in the President’s so-called war on terrorism. In a carefully worded letter to Greg Harris, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the Justice Department, Governor Ehrlich complained that a Maryland resident and an FBI field office had been victimized by a teenage male from Providence, Rhode Island, Bud Gibson, and the Justice Department and FBI have done nothing about it because of Mr. Gibson’s youth. Governor Ehrlich advised Harris that on February 9, 2005, a Maryland resident was "visited by two FBI agents who informed him his name had been forged by Mr. Gibson on an email message threatening to attack an FBI facility." Governor Ehrlich expressed concern that "Mr. Gibson’s youth will protect him from apprehension and prosecution for this alleged crime." Governor Ehrlich was prompted to take action after receiving a 17-page affidavit from the victimized Maryland resident, referred to as "John Doe" for the remainder of this article. John Doe has made numerous requests to various state and federal officials that Bud Gibson be arrested. The FBI has acknowledged that Mr. Gibson was interviewed and confessed to committing the stated crimes, yet Mr. Gibson has not been arrested or detained in any manner. According to the FBI, Bud Gibson is a minor and uses several aliases, including Gibson Vendettuoli and James Vendettuoli. Other aliases used by Bud Gibson, but unconfirmed by the FBI, are Matt Eastwood and Ryder Syvertsen.
Other high-ranking Maryland politicians have expressed similar frustrations over the Justice Department’s and FBI’s foot dragging in the Bud Gibson case. On April 12, 2005, United States Senator Barbara Mikulski sent a letter to John Doe expressing concern over the incident. "I have been in touch with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and have asked that this matter be attended to promptly," Mikulski wrote.
On May 10, 2005, United States Senator Paul Sarbanes echoed Senator Mikulski's concern in a letter Sarbanes sent to John Doe. "I have contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation urging a careful review of this matter," Sarbanes wrote. Senators Mikulski and Sarbanes both represent John Doe's home state of Maryland.
Maryland Congressman Christopher Van Hollen (District 8) also made an inquiry on John Doe’s behalf, and the FBI’s response was troubling to say the least. On March 18, 2005, Steven Martinez, spokesman for the FBI’s Cyber Division in Washington, DC, sent a curt statement to the Congressman indicating that neither the Justice Department or the FBI had an interest in the case. Martinez indicated that Mr. Gibson was justified in taking the actions against John Doe and the FBI because John Doe "was espousing certain views in an on-line chat room, which other persons found to be offensive." In a show of arrogance, Martinez stated flatly that the "United States Attorney’s Office reviewed the investigative results and declined prosecution."
Martinez’s letter raises a perplexing legal question. By not prosecuting Bud Gibson, an individual who reportedly confessed to making a terrorist threat against the FBI, are high-level officials within the Justice Department and the FBI guilty of harboring a terrorist? Under the Patriot Act, harboring terrorists is a criminal offense. Section 803 of the Patriot Act reads as follows: "Harboring terrorists. Makes it a crime to harbor a person while knowing or having reason to believe the person has committed or is about to commit an act of terrorism." It’s ironic that the Justice Department has violated the very law it forced on the American public over the objections of countless critics.
For years the FBI has had local police forces in its hip pocket, but the Bud Gibson case is causing old loyalties to whither. On March 21, 2005, Chief of Police J. Thomas Manger sent a letter to John Doe expressing lack of confidence in the federal government’s handling of the Bud Gibson case. Chief Manger heads the Montgomery County Police Department. Montgomery County is the county in Maryland where John Doe lives. Chief Manger stated that he had assigned the case to "Captain Drew Tracy, Director of the Special Investigations Division, for follow-up."
On March 11, 2005, Jane Wampler, a spokesman for Maryland State Senator Patrick Hogan’s office called the FBI directly to determine the status of the Bud Gibson case. Ms. Wampler advised John Doe that someone from the FBI would contact him within a week to give a full status of the case. So far, no one from the FBI has contacted John Doe.
John Doe was philosophical about the situation. "It’s obvious to me," he stated, "that either Bud Gibson or his guardians are FBI informants. Why else would the Justice Department protect someone who threatened an FBI office with violence? If I had done what Bud Gibson did, or if anyone else had done it, we would be arrested so fast your head would spin. And the Justice Department would probably push for the death penalty, like they’re doing with Zacarias Moussaoui. The Justice Department clearly has a double-standard regarding the Moussaoui case versus the Bud Gibson case. Neither individual actually killed anyone directly, but I understand Mr. Gibson confessed to forging my name on a threatening email which he sent to an FBI office. Why isn’t the Justice Department pushing for the death penalty with Mr. Gibson like they’re doing with Mr. Moussaoui? It’s because they take care of their own. But it’s heartening to get so much support from people like Governor Ehrlich, Senator Mikulski, Congressman Van Hollen, Police Chief Manger and State Senator Hogan. I’m beginning to think Bud Gibson might actually be arrested, something that would be a major blow to the Justice Department and the FBI and their policy of paying criminal informants to harass American citizens, like myself, who voice opposition to the Iraq War, the FBI in general, and various other topics. The Bud Gibson case exposes President Bush’s war against terrorism and the Patriot Act for what they are: a hoax and a complete waste of the American tax payer's money. To protect ourselves from future terrorist attacks, we should focus on changing our foreign policy in the Middle East rather than encouraging paranoia here at home. Local police forces should be allowed to arrest criminals like Bud Gibson without fear of reprisal from the FBI or the Justice Department for blowing an informant's cover. And we should investigate the FBI and Justice Department to see if they are harboring other criminals or terrorists. A group that would pull a stunt like the Bud Gibson caper is capable of anything, in my opinion."
Opposition to the Justice Department and FBI appears to be a growing national trend. On April 23, 2005, Portland, Oregon Mayor Tom Potter recommended that city police officers be withdrawn from an FBI-led anti-terrorism task force, and a majority of City Council members said they support him.
On April 14, 2005, the FBI was completely circumvented by the United States Marshal Service and local police forces that arrested 10,000 known criminals in a nationwide dragnet code-named "Operation Falcon." Many of those arrested were reportedly violent criminals, including individuals convicted of rape and other sexual assault charges. Yet the FBI had virtually nothing to do with their arrests. Over the years, the FBI has been criticized for being a political entity, and what little law enforcement it does is actually redundant police work performed by the U.S. Marshal Service and local and state police forces. Operation Falcon and the Bud Gibson case have demonstrated that at least some of the critics may be right on target. Portland, Oregon's expulsion of its FBI-led anti-terrorism task force may be an indication that more states will exert their authority over what they view as a corrupt central authority with no business encroaching on their territory.
One of the FBI's most vocal critics was the late William Sullivan, an aide to J. Edgar Hoover, who worked for the Bureau for thirty years. In the 1970s, Sullivan wrote that "for all practical purposes," the United States had a national police force, "and it was controlled by the FBI." According to Sullivan, the so-called national police force "was made up of graduates of the FBI National Academy’s special three-week training course for police officers. It was an honor," Sullivan explained, "for a member of a city or state police force to be selected for this training—in fact, the men selected for this training often rose to positions of prominence within their own organizations shortly after returning home. And they were suitably grateful. With good reason, Hoover felt that the alumni of the FBI training course were his men. Thanks to his network of FBI-trained police officers, we had a private and frequently helpful line to most city and state police organizations throughout the country...Having a man accepted for FBI training was quite a plum for any chief of police. Hoover was aware of this, and he took full advantage of the leverage."(1)
It's ironic that so many left-wing critics of the Patriot Act have kept silent regarding the FBI's manipulation of local police forces across the United States via the FBI National Academy’s special three-week training course for police officers. The existence of a national police force--like the KGB, the Gestapo, or SAVAK--is generally considered more oppressive than tightening security to avoid attacks, the latter being the justification for the Patriot Act. Nevertheless, the Bud Gibson case appears to be eroding the FBI's grip over local police departments. For example, Chief of Police J. Thomas Manger, of Montgomery County Police Department (Maryland), is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, but Chief Manger has expressed apprehension over the FBI's and the Justice Department's handling of the Bud Gibson case, as previously stated.
Critics of the FBI have also charged that the Bureau does not share information with other agencies within the intelligence community. The 9/11 Commission criticized both the FBI and the CIA for not sharing information that might have prevented the 9/11 terrorist attacks; however, it is widely known that hatred of the CIA is part of the FBI's history and culture. According to William Sullivan, J. Edgar Hoover detested the CIA and he loathed President Truman for creating the spy agency in 1947. One of the reasons Truman created the CIA, according to Sullivan, was to prevent Hoover from expanding the FBI into international intelligence gathering. Consequently, Hoover rarely cooperated with the CIA unless forced to do so, and he frequently blamed the Bureau’s misconduct on the CIA.(2) Based on the 9/11 Commission's findings, there is no reason to believe the FBI's culture of non-cooperation with the CIA has ever changed since Hoover's death in 1972.
Governor Ehrlich is Republican, which means his recent letter of complaint to the Justice Department, on behalf of John Doe, could be viewed as a larger bipartisan coalition of Maryland politicians and police officials expressing criticism of the Justice Department and the FBI for selective enforcement of the Patriot Act. Senator Mikulski, Senator Sarbanes, Congressman Van Hollen and State Senator Hogan are Democrats who have expressed similar complaints.
Present Status of Patriot Act Renewal
In April 2005, John Doe issued a press release--distributed to a massive mailing list across the United States--describing how the FBI and Justice Department have allowed Bud Gibson to make violent threats against the FBI, forge the identity of a political dissident, and walk away without so much as a slap on the wrist.
On June 7, 2005, the
Senate Intelligence Committee, meeting behind closed doors, approved a bill
that would hand FBI agents authority to write their own subpoenas in certain
investigations without having to obtain a judge's approval. The bill also
would broaden the FBI's authority to monitor people's mail in terrorism
investigations. While the text of the bill remains secret, the committee's
leaders have broadly characterized its content.
On June 8, 2005, the House Judiciary Committee met to hold its final
oversight hearing on the Patriot Act, wrapping up weeks of testimony from
both conservatives and liberals that changes are needed to restore checks
and balances. The American Civil Liberties Union called on lawmakers to
reject the administration’s push to expand the controversial law, and
instead bring it in line with the Constitution.
The ACLU and its allies - including unusual bedfellows like the American
Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and former Congressman Bob
Barr - have called on Congress to modify the Patriot Act to restore proper
checks and balances. They have endorsed the bipartisan SAFE Act, which would
make minor changes to the act to give law enforcement the tools they need,
while restoring proper checks and balances.
Nationwide, there has been growing discontent with the Patriot Act. To date,
seven state legislatures and nearly 400 communities have passed resolutions
calling on Congress to bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution.
In coming weeks, these communities will be ramping up their efforts to make
their voices heard in Washington. Americans will be using street theatre in
their towns, lighting up the phones of their elected officials, and flying
to Washington to meet with members of Congress. The ACLU and its partners
will also be launching a new Web site to mobilize Americans to take action
on the Patriot Act and will place newspaper and radio ads around the
country.(3)
END
Terrorist ring that the FBI and Justice Department ignore.
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| A photograph of young terrorist and forger, 14 year-old Bud Gibson (above, right), was revealed by Bob Vernon on alt.conspiracy.jfk on Dec. 16, 2004. Also pictured is Nik Janev (above, left), who claims to be Mr. Gibson's uncle. When photographed with Nik Janev, however, Bud Gibson often uses the alias, Matt Eastwood. The uncle/nephew team claims to play together in a rock band, Fishtank. Nik Janev's website indicates that he lives in Geelong, Australia. According to the FBI, Bud Gibson lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Although it is unconfirmed at this time, Nik Janev is believed to use the alias, Nick Andrews, and is an extremely abusive regular poster on rec.music.beatles. The FBI has indicated that Bud Gibson confessed to forging John Doe's name on a threatening email which Mr. Gibson sent to an FBI office. Using John Doe's name, Bud Gibson threatened the FBI office with extreme violence. It is unclear why Mr. Gibson has never been arrested, detained or punished in any manner. Maryland Governor Ehrlich and other state and federal politicians and one police chief are urging the FBI and Justice Department to investigate Bud Gibson's offense and take appropriate action. |
Nik Janev (possibly Nick Andrews) being made up for performance (above). Photo was obtained from Mr. Janev's website: http://www.nikjanev.com
Andy Walker (above) has been identified to the FBI by this writer as a person of interest in the Bud Gibson case. Mr. Walker is a staunch Zionist who frequently encourages young Bud Gibson to commit unethical acts via online chat rooms. (READ ARTICLE)
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June 11, 2005 - SECOND SCOOP! Teenage terrorist Bud Gibson (aka, Gibson Vendettuoli) publicly confesses.
Bud Gibson admits he sent email to FBI office in which he threatened lives of several FBI employees with massive firearms.
Mr. Gibson also admits he forged John Doe's identity on the threatening email in order to get John Doe "thrown in the slammer." Mr. Gibson boasts that the FBI will not touch him and he is "free as a bird."
To read the full Usenet exchange betweem Bud Gibson and Salvador Astucia, click here.
John Doe requests that his true identity be withheld from all publications since he is not being protected by the federal agencies tasked to protect American citizens from criminal activities.
If you would like a copy of John Doe’s 17-page affidavit and copies of letters from the stated public officials, send a $30 check or money order to the following address to pay for copying and postage:
Ravening Wolf Publishing Company
P.O. Box 4000
Gaithersburg, MD. 20885
Make checks payable to Ravening Wolf Publishing Company.
SOURCES:
(1) William Sullivan & Bill Brown, "The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover’s FBI," p 115
(2) ibid, pp 39-40
(3) Status of Patriot Act renewal: Dallas Morning News -- "Senate panel moves to expand FBI powers under Patriot Act," by Michelle Mittelstadt; ACLU press pelease, June 8, 2005: "House Judiciary Committee Holds Final Patriot Act Oversight Hearing; ACLU Prepares to Increase Pressure on Lawmakers for Reform."