Re: [FWD] fwd: Air Force Maintains Secrecy [note the item I have stared djf]

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Hmmmmm....interesting.
Forward message follows.
> From RITCHEC, on 4/13/94 1:15 PM:
Dayton Daily News, Wednesday, April 13th, 1994, Page 4C
By Timoth R. Gaffney
ABC News Gear Confiscated At Base
        Authorities have cracked down on journalists' attempts to
photograph the secret air base in Nevada dubbed Dreamland.
        On Friday, Lincoln County sherrif's deputies confiscated an ABC
news team's camera gear.  ABC producer Robert Haberl, who was with the
team, said deputies seized about $100,000 worth of equipment and handed
it over to unidentified guards.
        Deputies aided by an unmarked Blackhawk helicopter also seized
film from a New York Times news team on March 23, said Glenn Campbell, a
Nevada resident and anti-secrecy advocate.
        Campbell said he was with both groups when the incidents occurred.
        The crackdown comes in the wake of increasing publicity about
Dreamland, a large facility on the edge of Groom Dry Lake 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.  A March 20 Dayton Daily News feature included a
detailed panoramic view of the base.
        Since the 1950s, Dreamland has been a test site for the
government's most secret aircraft projects, including the U-2 and SR-71
spyplanes and the F-117 Stealth fighter.
        Dreamland is located deep within a vast military training range
controlled by Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.  Officially, the
base doesn't exist.  But it's plainly visible from a rocky outcrop
called Freedom Ridge a dozen miles away.
        Campbell said both news teams were stopped by sheriff's deputies
after visiting the ridge.  He said the deputies claimed they had been
seen photographing the base.
        Haberl said the ABC crew was only on the ridge to interview
Campbell and other Dreamland observers.  He said the photographer
deliberately avoided aiming his camera at the secret base, "but they
chose not to believe us."
        He said the deputies handed the items over to the unidentified
guards, who disappeared in the direction of the secret base.  Since the
base isn't supposed to exist and the guards carry no identification,
Haberl said he doesn't know where to go to get the equipment back.
        Nellis Air Force Base spokesman Maj. George Sillia said only
that the Air Force Office of Special Investigations is "assisting in a
security review" because the sheriff's department lacked the means to do
it.
        Freedom Ridge's view of Dreamland has made it a minor tourist
attraction. The Air Force has asked the Bureau of Land Management to
remove it and other nearby overlooks from public use, but the action has
only increased publicity.
        Signs posted near the ridge claim photography is prohibited by
federal law.  Campbell, a frequesnt Freedom Ridge visitor and unofficial
media guide, said deputies confronted news teams in the past but always
stopped short of executing search warrants.
        Campbell reported ABC's encounter Sunday in the Desert Rat, an
electronic newsletter he publishes on Internet, a public computer
network.


***********************
        Haberl said it's ludicrous for the government to stop U. S.
citizens from photographing Dreamland because the international Open
Skies Treaty will allow foreign governments to fly over it and take
pictures.  Russia already sells detailed satellite photos on the open
market.
        "It's an entirely bizarre situation," Haberl said.


***********************