Letter to Ms. Alina Semo, Federal Ombudsman for Freedom of Information Act Requests through the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS)

Dear Ms. Semo and OGIS Staff:

Thank you for your email dated today, July 14, 2021.

I understand your statement that OGIS has no investigatory or enforcement power over federal agencies, and that your Office cannot compel an agency to release documents.  Certainly, in a case of unlawful actions by FBI agents, such as this, your lack of enforcement power represents a serious flaw in what I presume to be your Office's role in protecting the civil rights of law-abiding American citizens.

I appealed to your Office because of the fact that my life and my family's lives are under threat, related in part to my May 16, 2021 FOIA request #1496758-000, sent via FedEx and confirmed as received by four federal agencies:  the FBI, the OIG-DHS, the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the U.S. Coast Guard.  It is significant that all four agencies claim to have simultaneously "misplaced" my request, despite signature confirmation that all four requests were received.

I provided you with evidence of specific threats I have received.  Because of the great likelihood that the FBI has violated multiple laws in this case, and because there is the potential that individual FBI agents have involvement in the current threat to my family's safety and my own, I have asked for the active participation of OGIS as FOIA Ombudsman. I believe this request is both appropriate and urgent, and calls for your Office's active and ongoing involvement in this matter.

The FBI/DOJ cannot be reasonably expected to transcend the myriad conflicts of interest present in this case.  In point of fact, I have been made aware of further recent efforts on the part of individual FBI agents to slander me and discredit the veracity of my account.  Because I am given to understand that the FBI is making further unfounded and untruthful accusations that I am involved in espionage and other crimes, I remain extremely concerned for the risks to my family's safety and my own.  

Your role as FOIA Ombudsman is specifically intended to facilitate intervention in extreme circumstances such as this one.

To that end, may I ask whether you have discussed with any FBI office the specific threats pertaining to my family's safety and my own?  If you have done so, may I know which office, please?  May I ask whether you forwarded to the FBI my communications, in any form, delineating the specific threats to my family's safety and my own?

This information can materially contribute to our safety, and I believe it is your clear obligation, under your mandate as FOIA Ombudsman, to provide it.

I ask for your prompt response to my questions, and, in recognition of the ongoing risks to our safety due to FBI malfeasance and prevarication, I ask for active and ongoing dialogue with you in resolving this matter.

I have attached this letter in PDF format, as per your request.

Most sincerely,

Lane MacWilliams

Write to your Senator And Representative about the Corruption of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative

 I believe that gang stalking in the way that some of us are experiencing this phenomenon is connected to corruption of the following government programs: The Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and the eGuardian program. These are described on federal agency websites as joint undertakings between the DHS, the FBI and local law enforcement. The ACLU wrote about Civil Rights violations connected to both programs: The documents confirm that these programs give extremely broad discretion to law enforcement officials to monitor and collect information about innocent people engaged in commonplace activities, and to store data in criminal intelligence files without evidence of wrongdoing. 

https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-eye-fbi-documents-reveal-lack-privacy-safeguards-and-guidance-governments-suspicious-0

It is notable that these programs exist under cover of “domestic terrorism prevention.”

In my own case, I believe I have identified a falsified police report held by the Sheriff’s Office in San Mateo County, and forwarded to the FBI as part of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative. The Sheriff’s Office is violating both the California Public Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act in withholding this report from me. A strange decision on their part, don’t you think? This issue is currently under review by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. If you want to get to the truth of the corruption that has allowed our government to turn against the law-abiding public, please contact your House Representatives and U.S. Senators with the following:

Dear Representative/Senator:

The Department of Justice under Attorney General Merrick Garland is currently suppressing the contents of a falsified police report from San Mateo County, Case Report #19–11840, as well as the contents of the “corrected” replacement written by the same Sheriff’s Deputy, Case Report #20–02355.

Many of us as law-abiding Americans believe we have been falsely accused of crimes, unjustly slandered by local and federal law enforcement, and unjustifiably surveilled in our daily lives as the result of corruption of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative.

Please ask the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to force Attorney General Merrick Garland to fully disclose the contents of these case reports through the Freedom of Information Act request currently within his office.

You within Congress have the power to ensure that law-abiding American citizens are not being preyed upon by the very government programs intended to keep America safe.

Please demand that Attorney General Merrick Garland disclose the full truth of falsified police reporting within the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative.

Our civil liberties are being violated to egregious degree.

We ask for your immediate advocacy in bringing this to a halt.

Sincerely,

xxxxxxxxx

Find your Representative here:

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Find your Senator here:

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Will Attorney General Merrick Garland and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Protect Our Lives?

June 18,2021

To all members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence:

I am writing to inform you that I submitted the following letter online to Attorney General Merrick Garland this afternoon.

The risks to my family's safety in this situation are clear and present.

I interpret a lack of active response on the part of the Department of Justice to be tantamount to a death warrant, and I only wish this were hyperbole.  I must ask, is this what the United States has come to?  A country in which those who fight with integrity to preserve the fundamentals of our democracy are silenced, and indeed, sacrificed?

I challenge all of you to insist that Attorney Merrick Garland act immediately and forcefully in protection of my family and myself, with a commitment to investigate wrongdoing on the part of the FBI, the DHS, local law enforcement, and any others implicated in falsified law enforcement reporting in this case.

I suspect, as I have delineated, that falsified reporting extends far beyond Case Reports #19-11840 and #20-02355.

Please hold the DOJ accountable to represent law-abiding Americans who have been victimized by the systematized corruption of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative for political purposes.

Thank you for your immediate action on our behalf,

Lane MacWilliams

Dear Attorney General Merrick Garland,

I sent a letter via FedEx to the FBI on May 16, 2021, requesting Case Reports #19-11840 and #20-02355.  I have signature confirmation of this FedEx delivery.  Yet I still have no letter from either the Department of Justice nor from the FBI confirming this May 16, 2021 FOIA request.  

Further, you may be aware that my simultaneous FOIA requests to the OIG-DHS, the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the U.S. Coast Guard, were all "misplaced," despite the fact that I have delivery confirmation of my four requests.  

AG Garland, my life and the lives of my family members are under daily threat.  I believe that these case reports together represent proof of FBI aggregation of falsified police reporting by the alt right, and, in a broader context, the corruption of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, with an intention  to support an alt right, anti-democratic agenda.

I am extremely concerned about the manner in which this issue is being handled by the federal government.  

I do not believe that it was ever the intention of the framers of the Constitution that any branch of government should be allowed to sacrifice our democracy to those in the intelligence agencies who prefer a totalitarianism in which law-abiding Americans are spuriously accused of crimes for the sake of the unscrupulous to seize power from our duly elected officials.

I have asked that these case reports be expedited, because this delay is placing my life and my family's lives at material risk.

In no way does the FBI have the right to exemption from FOIA disclosure based on its own predation and malfeasance.

Both the delay and the suggestion that complete disclosure may not be forthcoming despite clear wrongdoing on the part of the FBI represent an extraordinary breach of the public trust, and a violation of FOIA law.

Please intervene immediately to protect my family's lives and my own,

Lane MacWilliams

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Congressman Adam Schiff's office has told me that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which provides civilian oversight of the intelligence agencies, has undertaken an investigation of FBI aggregation of falsified police reporting by the alt right.  Although his staff has suggested my input to the Committee, I have not as yet been called to testify.

Consequently, I have reached out to both Congresswoman Jackie Speier and Congresswoman Val Demings, both of whom serve on the Committee, to assist me in protecting my family's safety as well as to expedite the FBI's direct and complete disclosure to me of Case Reports #19-11840 and #20-02355.  

My June 4th, 2021 letter to Representative Jackie Speier follows here:

Dear Congresswoman Speier,

I apologize if this communication is redundant.  I am uncertain to what extent the issue of FBI aggregation of falsified police reporting by the alt right is being discussed within the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  I have sent further material to Chairman Adam Schiff, with the request that he forward the information to the Committee.  On the chance that you have not seen it, I include some of that communication herewith.

Because I and my family are receiving daily death threats, kidnapping threats, threats of an FBI raid of our home, threats of local law enforcement raid of our home and violent burglary by members of the above, we feel profoundly unsafe.  We have requested Case Reports #19-11840 and #20-02355 from the FBI, and we would appreciate your  intervention in expediting the  mailing of these reports.  We believe that Case Report #19-11840 is likely to have been falsified in a manner that aligns with a political agenda  of the alt right in falsely accusing those whom they perceive to be their opposition.  Obviously, such falsified reporting represents a serious threat to the fundamentals of democracy and the rule of law.

In the face of these challenges, my family and I are deeply concerned.  We are asking that the rule of law be upheld in our FOIPA requests, and we don't feel that our lives should be placed at risk in the process.  

We would appreciate direct communication from the Committee regarding our security and the expediting of these reports.  

Please assist us at your earliest possible opportunity.

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter,

Lane MacWilliams

Thu, May 27

Chief Bell, this is to inform you that I encountered an armed intruder on my property early in the morning (approximately 2 a.m.) on May 17, 2021. This individual was wearing a good deal of high-tech law enforcement type gear while pointing a weapon at me through a closed window. 

My husband and I, on different floors of our home, were both awakened by his movements on our back deck. 

While we reported this incident to the FBI,

we did not immediately contact the SMC Sheriff’s Office for two reasons:

1. The SMC Sheriff’s Office is currently in violation of both state and federal law in withholding two Case Reports we have requested.

2. The intruder seemed to me, given his equipment, as though he could have been affiliated with law enforcement in some manner. 

I do feel it to be important to report the incident to you now, and my husband and I are happy to fill out an incident report online or by mail, as you recommend. 

We do NOT want officers coming to our address. 

We are law-abiding citizens in every way. However, we do not currently have faith in the integrity and intentions of the SMC Sheriff’s Office. 

We would like to make clear to your department that we are apprehensive about officers who break the law to prey on the very citizens they have sworn to protect and defend. 

The cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright and many others demonstrate police interactions gone seriously and fatally awry due to the malfeasance of law enforcement. 

We recognize that there are many officers of integrity and courage who vow to serve the public. And frankly, we feel that these men and women of character are not recognized adequately nor compensated enough. 

So, it is with regret that we express these serious concerns regarding the SMC Sheriff’s Office. The rule of law is critical to our democracy, in our opinion. It is up to each and every one of us to protect and defend it from corruption, overreach, collusion, malfeasance and intentional harm. 

I hope you agree with me. 

I do not want my family to have any threatening encounters with law enforcement, whether on the road, at the office or at home. 

As you may know, my husband and I possess ongoing concerns that Case Report #19-11840 may have been falsified, primarily on the basis that the Sheriff’s Office is breaking the law to withhold it from us. 

We would like to examine this report in order to address any false claims it may contain. 

Until we do so, we invite you to openly express any concerns you may have via email. 

With appreciation,

Lane MacWilliams 

Tue, Jun 1

Chief Bell, I am concerned by the lack of your reply to my email dated May 27, 2021, included below. 

As you have made no recommendation with regard to the best means of reporting an unlawful and threatening trespass on our property on May 17, 2021, may I ask whether you have any knowledge of the perpetrator or perpetrators?  Because this individual appeared to me to be wearing law enforcement-type gear and clothing, I would ask you to inform me of any trespass by law enforcement of which you are aware on May 17, 2021 or other dates. 

My family is entirely law-abiding, which I believe you know. 

I would appreciate your prompt and conscientious follow up by email. 

Thank you very much,

Lane MacWilliams 

SWAT-ing

 LvH:  Would you please explain SWAT-ing to me?

The Godfather:  SWAT-ing occurs when an armed SWAT team is dispatched to the house of a law-abiding citizen for the express purpose of harassment.

LvH:  Except that people can die during SWAT-ing, as Breonna Taylor did.

The Godfather:  It's true.

LvH:  I feel as though you have discussed SWAT-ing my house with the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, specifically because of my desire to obtain a copy of Case Report #19-11840.

The Godfather:  I'm not answering that straight on.  But nobody wants you to have that report.

LvH:  I realize that.  Nevertheless, it is my right to have it under both state and federal law.

The Godfather:  It's not difficult for someone to call in a false report on someone.

LvH:  What kind of false report?

The Godfather:  Any kind.  A false accusation involving drugs.

LvH:  I've never used drugs in my life.

The Godfather:  That's not the point.  Some random person could make any kind of false accusation.

LvH:  Some random person like you or one of your acquaintances.

The Godfather:  Yes.

LvH:  Democracy is very far removed from the scenario you are describing.

The Godfather:  The Sheriff's Department wants to protect itself from exposure.

LvH:  Exposure of collusion with organized crime?

The Godfather:  No comment.

LvH:  So, they would gratuitously harm me in order not to be held accountable?

The Godfather:  Without answering that question directly, I will say that gratuitous harm happens all the time.

LvH:  Look, I'm writing about this.  If anyone should SWAT my house, there's astronomical liability here.

The Godfather:  To make the most general statement possible, I've noticed that people will work hard to maintain their income stream.

LvH:  What does it mean to take a vow to the public to protect and serve?

The Godfather:  (silence)

LvH:  Not this, Mr. Godfather Man.  Not this.

© Lane von Herzen and The Godfather Conversations, 2020.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this materials without express and written permission from this site's author is strictly prohibited.  Excepts of 100 words or less may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Lane von Herzen and The Godfather Conversations, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.