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The Marines are charging two senior non-commissioned officers for taking part in what the *San Diego Union Tribune *calls "a theft ring that involved the stealing of secret files on potential terrorists." But no one is accusing Gunnery Sgt. Eric Froboese and Master Sgt. Reinaldo Pagan of giving away classified information to Al Qaeda. Instead, the marine reservists are being hammered for passing data to one of the country's most celebrated counter-terror groups.
Back in 1996 -- five years before most local law enforcement agencies had the foggiest idea who Osama Bin Laden was -- Los Angeles Sherriff's Department Sgt. John Sullivan and Deputy Larry Richards started the Los Angeles County Terrorism Early Warning group, or TEW. The idea was for federal agencies, military groups, first responders, and local cops to swap ideas about what terror threats might be coming next, and how best to respond. Radicals had their own loose networks to dream up schemes and share thoughts; here was a chance for government to fight that, with a network of their own. Every month, dozens and dozens of specialists from across southern California would get together to discuss how hospitals could cope with mass-casualty events -- or how gangs like MS-13 might be the region's* real *terrorists.
Former Department of Homeland chief Tom Ridge called the TEW "a model for other cities and states." And, after 9/11, other regions followed L.A.'s lead, and started TEWs of their own. The TEW's chiefs became teachers for terror-fighters across the globe. All over the country, there are now "fusion centers," to bring together federal and local counter-terror agents who were once reluctant to combine information. Students of the field credit L.A. for the original inspiration.
But now, that original has been shut down, after a Marine Corps investigation are a series of sensational news media accounts.
Former Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz pled guilty to passing on information from the Marines' "Strategic Technical Operations Center" to the TEW. He's currently supplying information of how his fellow marines helped him out. "Maziarz testified that he acted out of patriotism – to make it easier for federal, military and civilian law enforcement agencies to share information about possible terrorists," according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
But that hasn't stopped the paper from labeling Marzaiz "the linchpin of [a] theft group." Nor has the paper shied away from calling TEW co-founder (Marine Reserves Colonel) Larry Richards the ring's "mastermind."
To Marine Reserves Colonel G.I. Wilson -- a leading theorist of unconventional conflict, and a long-time TEW participant -- this case "is a huge indictment of the stove-piped systems we're continue to propagate after wasting billions of dollars. It kind matters you wonder who the real bad guys are in this," he tells DANGER ROOM.
The TEW -- which transferred its analytic functions to the Joint Regional Intelligence Center, a few years back -- is now history. The monthly get-togethers have been called to a halt.
"Clearly, they were stupid and broke the law trying to protect their country and community," Wilson adds in an e-mail. "But that only goes to highlight the F&&*K up intel/info sharing problems we still have in the US government."
