-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: January 5, 2007 2:08:00 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Booty from Baghdad (and NSA Secrets) Found in California
Storage Locker
"A U.S. Marine colonel at Camp Pendleton reported as
'missing' a large quantity of 'trophy weapons' he had 'acquired'
during the war in Iraq"
Theft Probe Leads to N.Va. Storage Site
Iraqi War Booty [including Top Secret Documents] Found In Marine's
Rented Units
By Theresa Vargas
Washington Post, January 5, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/04/
AR2007010401810.html
An investigative trail littered with gold-colored AK-47s, documents
labeled "CLASSIFIED" and pistols purported to have been given as
gifts to Saddam Hussein led federal investigators here: a Manassas
storage center.
Atlantic Self Storage, nestled between Interstate 66 and Route 234,
sits across from a Super 8 Motel and is little more than rows of
rust-colored garage doors leading to individual units. But
according to court documents filed recently in Prince William
County, one of the storage units may hold clues for a federal
investigation spanning the country.
In a 10-page affidavit for a search warrant, a special agent with
the Naval Criminal Investigative Service details how about 100 U.S.
government and Iraqi weapons, along with secret documents, may have
been stolen and ended up in storage units in California and Manassas.
A Marine gunnery sergeant who once lived in Fairfax County and
rented storage units in both locations was placed in pretrial
confinement at Camp Pendleton because, the agent wrote, "reasonable
grounds exist that he poses a serious threat to the national
security of the Unites States."
The gunnery sergeant, Gary Maziarz, is charged with larceny of
computer and camera equipment, larceny of weaponry and possession
of steroids, according to officials at Camp Pendleton, north of San
Diego. He is scheduled for an Article 32 investigation, similar to
arraignment, Jan. 17.
Maziarz's attorney, David Brahms, said that his client maintains
his innocence and that the affidavit should be seen for what it is:
"What it is, is an attempt by law enforcement to convince a
judicial official that there is sufficient evidence for a search,
but it is not evidence of guilt."
NCIS officials said they could not talk about the case because the
investigation remains open.
Maziarz had worked in an intelligence center in Fallujah, Iraq,
from February to May 2006, according to the documents. He was also
assigned to a program administered by the National Security Agency
and had access to information classified as the "'Top Secret' level
and higher," the papers said.
NSA officials did not respond to a request for comment.
This is what is known from the affidavit, filed in Prince William
Circuit Court:
On Oct. 27, a colonel at Camp Pendleton reported as missing a large
quantity of U.S. Government trophy weapons acquired during the
conflict in Iraq.
An internal investigation cast suspicion on Maziarz, and he
consented to a search of a storage facility he rented in Carlsbad,
Calif., according to the documents.
That's when investigators reportedly found the weapons: gold-
colored Russian Dragunov sniper rifles, gold-colored and nickel-
plated AK-47s, four Iraqi swords, radios with Arabic writing,
foreign helmets and Iraqi plaques. More than a hundred items are
listed.
Authorities then searched another unit and an apartment Maziarz
rented in Carlsbad. In his apartment, they found steroids and three
commemorative Colt 1911 .45-caliber pistols "reputed to have been
presented to Saddam Hussein," the agent wrote. In the storage
units, they found more foreign weapons, digital cameras, computers
and suspicious documents, according to the affidavit.
"Of note, two folders containing approximately 250 pages of
material marked 'SECRET' were also discovered in one of the storage
units," the agent wrote.
When investigators reviewed the material, they found that most
concerned a 2004 "surveillance report of a suspected terrorist by a
United States government agency."
"In order to avoid declassification of this document, I am
intentionally avoiding any further description," the special agent
writes, but he adds that these documents are believed "to be
genuine and appropriately classified."
The investigation might have ended in California, but agents
reviewing paperwork found a 2000 rental agreement between Maziarz
and the Manassas storage center, according to the documents. A map
was also found that showed an arrow pointing to unit 228 -- a 10-
by-15-foot box that costs $164 a month to rent. It is where two
agents showed up Nov. 7.
"I believe that Maziarz is using the Manassas storage unit to hold
papers and equipment stolen from the USMC in the Northern Virginia
area, just as he used the Carlsbad, CA unit," the special agent
wrote, adding that the activity may stretch back as far as five years.
In April 2005, a second lock was put on the Manassas unit at the
request of Maziarz, according to the documents.
"He asked me to put on another lock and send him the key," the
manager, Ernie Jennison, said recently, standing in front of the
barbed wire fence that surrounds the facility.
Jennison said the agents came several times and left a list inside
the unit of what they took.
According to the search warrant, agents removed 43 items, including
foreign and domestic military gear. They also collected objects
that would require further scrutiny, including 74 floppy disks and
a locked black briefcase.
Staff writers Josh White and Dana Priest contributed to this report.
www.ctrl.org
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