Observer
of West Texas
Homeland
Security is now in the headlines of every
major newspaper and television news broadcast .
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge has promised that
the administration will seek an "unprecedented" boost
in spending for homeland security programs, an
approximate $15 billion increase over this year's
levels. Much of the money will be spent to help cities
hire, train and equip firefighters, police officers,
public health workers and others who he said are on
the front lines in the war on terrorism. All this
effort is being expended is being expended as part of
the united effort to prevent the terrorists from
carrying out their goal, which is to kill Americans.
But there are others who are on the REAL front lines
who may or may have already betrayed America to the
terrorists.
Just as the FBI's Robert Hanssen's ego led to the
betrayal of our country, some of the US Customs
Service's Directors can lead to the destruction of
America because some of these mid and top level
Directors have violated the law to boost their ego's
by allowing their foreign friends special privileges
to circumvent the laws that are in place to make our
borders secure. Or possibly because they saw the
opportunity to make huge financial gains by allowing
the violation of the Federal laws of the United States
these Directors became present day Judas'.
Disclaimer: First of all, being a patriotic American
with own and my families survival dependent on the
survival of America, I would not aid or abet any
terrorist's group by telling them of new ways to
attack us. I am sure that all of the information
disclosed in this article has been well known to the
terrorist groups for quite some time. We are dealing
with an enemy that is cunning, baffling and powerful
and they are commited to use any and all resources to
accomplish the destruction of America including our
weakest defense links. I am publishing this article to
make America aware of the dangers in our lax border
secuity and to get Americans to contact their Senators
and Representaives in the US Congress to do something
about it before it's too late.
Remember, many of these terrorist are the same people
that defeated the second most powerful nation in the
world in a protracted war, Russia. Their objective now
is to defeat and destroy the only surviving global
super-power, the United States. It is frightening to
know that defeating America may be as easy as ABC:
A. Bribe an official with the US Customs Service
Getting nuclear weapon into any city in the U.S. would
not be too difficult for any determined terrorist. It
could be just as easy as befriending or knowing the
"right people" in the U.S. Customs Service. For
example, in April, 1997, CBS '60 Minutes' program ran
a story about known Mexican drug smugglers knowingly
being permitted to enter into the United States
without inspection. The footage demonstrated two
tanker trucks owned by California Gas Transport coming
across the Otay Mesa Port of Entry entirely free from
inspection. Customs' own intelligence reports
allegedly indicated at the time that California Gas
Transport was connected to members of the
Mexican-based Zaragosa Fuentes family who are
suspected of heavy narcotics smuggling and money
laundering. What's to keep a terrorist from paying off
an angry or greedy customs inspector to allow the
terrorist to bring in an atomic weapon inside of a
tanker truck?
Customs Director issues "Get Out Of Jail Free
cards".
A high level U. S. Customs official, San Diego Customs
CMC Director Rudy M. Camacho was caught issuing
special yellow laminated "bypass"cards, with Camacho's
signature on them, to close and personal Mexican
friends who cross the border so that they can be given
"special courtesies". In our recent phone conversation
with John Carman, a former U.S. Customs employee, he
revealed to The Observer of West Texas that, "I have
personally seen these cards and am aware of these
cards being seized with 'currency and narcotics'
violators at the Tijuana border crossing in San
Ysidro." Customs Supervisors are instructed to
"seize" or "pick up" these cards whenever they are
encountered during a Customs seizure of any kind. They
are also instructed to notify Camacho's office
immediately to notify him of the circumstances.
This practice of using these yellow laminated "bypass"
cards was ALSO previously used by former Customs
Director Alan J. Rappoport who resigned suddenly after
finding out he was under investigation by the Treasury
OIG back in November 1990. This was less than 20 days
after the largest cocaine seizure at Otay Mesa on or
about October 4, 1990. These "bypass cards"
are not
allowed and there is NO DIRECTIVE from Customs
Headquarters that allows them or their existence.
Customs headquarters has denied the existence of these
cards and failed to investigate their existence.
B. Just fly the friendly skies.
We have a copy of the original overflight list found
at the U.S. Customs Service Airport/Seaport office in
San Diego back in January 1994 by John Carman and was
subsequently turned over to Customs supervisors and
the San Diego Customs CMC Director Rudy M. Camacho who
determined it to be an "Illegal list" and that it
could NOT be utilized. Customs Internal Affairs was
also notified by John Carman with no results. The 167
different names on the list have been cross checked by
INS officials and NONE of the names have passports or
documents to enter or remain in the United States. The
names were also checked with other U.S. intelligence
sources to determine their connection to the U.S.
officials. It "appears" that some of the names are
compiled of Mexican government officials or Mexican
cartel members and their families. Also, what are the
real identities of these privileged individuals?
The list also does NOT specify ANY Customs or U.S.
Immigration checks or inspection will be done. The
aircraft are authorized to land at Los Angeles
International Airport (KLAX), Las Vegas McCarran Field
(KLAS), San Francisco International (KSFO) and Denver,
Colorado (KDEN).
The FOUR aircraft are designated by their foreign
aircraft license numbers as: XA-FOU; XA-MIC; XA-PUV;
XA-SBC.
Only a Customs Commissioner, in conjunction with
Immigration & Naturalization Service officials can
authorize "special" over flight exemptions under the
Federal Code of Regulations. All persons entering the
United States are subject to inspection and must
report for Customs inspection and to declare their
citizenship to a qualified INS official or cross
designated Customs official. Ref: 19 USC 482, 19 USC
1581, 49 USC 1509, 19 USC 1644, 19 CFR 6.10, 19 USC
1582, 1496, 1499, 1467, 19 CFR 162.5.
The overflight list has been determined to be illegal
by "several" high ranking Customs officials and
nothing has been done to correct this issue to this
day. There are allegations that bribery money may have
been paid to maintain certain names on this "illegal
list".
The following information was taken from a web page
extolling the virtues of the Gulfstream V- the same
type of aircraft as the four different Mexican
aircraft designated as having "Overflight Permisson"
to enter the U.S. by the Department of the Treasury,
U.S. Customs Service, Los Angeles, California: "In
1997, Gulfstream introduced the world's first
ultra-long range business jet. The Gulfstream V
features the most sophisticated technology available
to support the rigorous demands of intercontinental
missions. Powered by two Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan
engines, the Gulfstream V's ability to travel non-stop
for 6,500 nautical miles and at speeds up to Mach
0.885 sets The World StandardT for world travel. The
Gulfstream V routinely flies non-stop from Aspen to
Frankfurt, London to Hong Kong, Beijing to New York,
and Moscow to Los Angeles. More than 140 government
and military Gulfstream aircraft are in service with
34 nations in a variety of roles." This is a
terrorists dream come true.
Over the past several months, we as a nation have been
on high alert, but yet our government officials have
given foreign aircraft permission to enter our country
at will. Who is to say that instead of flying in
"friendly tourists on a shopping spree," these same
aircraft can not be used to fly in terrorists, deadly
chemicals or even nuclear weapons.
C. What if?
But what if our enemies are not intending to flying
in? Instead, what if they are plotting to bring the
horror of terror into our communities in other ways
from remote locations? Use the railroads! In an
article in Business Journal that is precisely what
former U.S. Customs Service special agent Darlene
Fitzgerald-Catalan asserts that we must guard against.
Catalan claims further that she has evidence to back
up her warnings. In "U.S. Customs: Badge of
Dishonor,"
Darlene Catalan, a special U.S. Customs agent, blows
the whistle on one of America's dirtiest little
secrets -- our borders are still wide open, not only
to human migration, but to illegal drugs and terrorist
weapons.
Catalan explains this is not because of lack of
manpower or neglect. It's due to corruption by federal
officials -- payoffs, cronyism, fraud and abuse.
Catalan chronicles the way rail cars entering the
country go uninspected -- by design, leaving our
country open to the prospect of "dirty nuke" terrorism
and bio and chemical hazards.
That evidence points to our nation's railroad system.
Catalan, as well as other government whistleblowers,
claim that the nation's railcars -- and the system
that is used to transport them to every nook and
cranny of the country -- can be used by terrorists as
weapons to inflict devastating harm on Americans.
The issue first came to light, according to Catalan,
during a major investigation she helped spearhead in
the late 1990s. The investigation, she adds, uncovered
a narcotics smuggling operation in Southern California
that was making use of railcars to move illegal drugs
across the Mexican border into the United States.
Catalan claims that higher-up Customs managers
mysteriously "torpedoed" her investigation, which she
contends linked the smuggling operation to the
Arellano-Felix drug cartel in Mexico.
Catalan alleges that in the wake of trying to blow the
whistle on the "torpedoed" investigation, she was
subjected to retaliation and severe emotional abuse,
which included a death threat, that eventually led her
to resign from her job in 1999.
"I had seized eight thousand pounds of marijuana and
32 kilos of cocaine in a pressurized rail tanker car,"
Catalan recounts in a recent statement prepared for
the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on
International Security, Proliferation and Federal
Services. She adds in the statement that the drugs
were shipped into the United States from a rail yard
in Guadalajara, Mexico, that "was under the direct
control of the infamous Arellano-Felix (drug) cartel.
Our government knows but what has it done?
Catalan's statement was originally submitted to the
Senate subcommittee in support of proposed amendments
to the Whistleblowers Protection Act. Catalan has
redrafted the statement in the wake of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks and has sent copies to every U.S.
senator, and numerous U.S. representatives as well.
Doug Hartnett, a spokesman for the Government
Accountability Project (GAP) in Washington, D.C., says
Catalan's redrafted statement was submitted to the
Senate subcommittee.
"This information (concerning the possible use of
railcars by terrorists) isn't something that dedicated
terrorists committed to blowing something up couldn't
figure out on their own," Hartnett says.
Another former Customs special agent Sandy Nunn,
submitted a similar statement to the Senate
subcommittee as well. Nunn, who also resigned from her
job at Customs in 1999, has joined Catalan in blowing
the whistle on the aborted railcar investigation.
"After further investigation, it was found that ...
well over 100 of these tanker cars with similar weight
characteristics and so forth had passed into the
commerce of the United States undetected by inspection
and investigators," Nunn says in her statement to the
subcommittee. "What was in those tanker cars remains a
mystery."
Who's listening?
Over the past two years, Catalan and several other
current and former Customs employees, including Nunn,
have attempted to spur investigations into why the
railcar smuggling investigation was shut down. Among
the agencies they have contacted are the FBI and the
U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
"Seven of us laid this rail operation out to the FBI,"
Catalan explains. "We made this problem crystal clear
in terms of how these railcars can be controlled."
She says, to date, no one in the government has done
anything.
After consulting with her attorneys, Catalan says she
was convinced that it was time to come forward with
additional information on the railcar investigation,
particularly in light of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"They (the attorneys) said I have an obligation to go
public," Catalan says, "that I can't wait until after
something gets blown up, only to say, `I told you
so.'"
And so, Catalan has made available to the media the
same statement she sent to congressional members and
GAP, but has this statement been published by the
major news media? Certainly not.
According to that statement, the same railroad tanker
cars being used to smuggle drugs could easily be
converted for use in an even more sinister smuggling
operation:
"... These (rail) tanker cars are the perfect
instruments for a terrorist attack against the U.S. As
previously stated, anyone with cash and phony
identification can lease or sublease these cars using
a front company as the importer/exporter of record.
... The terrorist would simply lease/sublease a tanker
car -- even more easily accomplished south of the U.S.
border -- and pay cash to set up an account with any
of the major railroads.
"... These tanker cars can be remotely sent to any
railroad spur that is put up for lease by any private
industry/citizen willing to lease their spur. ... Then
the terrorist can remotely move them and, if need be,
abruptly change the routing of these cars via a simple
phone call to their customer service rep or via the
Internet, from anywhere in the world."
Catalan, who is trained in counter-terrorism tactics,
goes on to state that these "metal,
cylindrical-shaped" rail tanker cars could easily be
converted into giant "pipebombs" that could be
detonated remotely.
Who's watching?
Catalan, in her statement, asserts that pressurized
rail tankers are not being systematically checked by
Customs as they cross the border.
That claim is backed up by sources within Customs who
explain that there are thousands of railcars crossing
the Mexican and Canadian borders daily and inadequate
resources to thoroughly check each one.
Further, in the case of pressurized tanker cars,
special hazardous materials teams need to be called in
to complete inspections, an expensive and
time-consuming process.
John Carman, a former uniformed officer with the U.S.
Secret Service as well as a former U.S. Customs
Inspector, agrees with that analysis as well.
Carman says he was among the first people within
Customs to identify the railcar smuggling problem,
and, along with Nunn, Catalan and others, has been
instrumental in blowing the whistle on the lack of
attention to the issue.
"If I can smuggle drugs on these railcars, I can
smuggle anything," Carman explains. "Customs simply
does not have enough time or people to inspect all of
these railcars. If one or more of these railcars
(loaded with explosives or biological agents) got
through, it could do a lot of damage."
That fact is underscored, Catalan adds, by the
vastness of this nation's rail system.
"Now consider the fact that one can simply remotely
send these giant instruments of death, simultaneously,
to any one of thousands of rails spurs, virtually
undetected," Catalan says in the statement prepared
for the Senate subcommittee. "... Now add to this the
fact that once this is done, the perpetrators will be
extremely difficult to trace and no suicide bombers
are needed."
Catalan says rail spurs are located near major
buildings throughout the country.
She adds that an even more frightening scenario would
be if one or more explosive-laden rail tanker cars
were to be detonated in a major urban rail yard --
where hundreds of other railcars loaded with hazardous
materials are located.
"These tanker cars in general carry a plethora of
hazardous material," Catalan told the Business
Journal. "If one or more is blown up in a rail yard,
it could start a devastating chain reaction."
Catalan contends that a task force needs to be
organized immediately that is well-trained to address
the rail threat.
Officials with U.S. Customs headquarters in
Washington, D.C., did not provide comment on Catalan's
claims and the potential railcar threat by the
Business Journal's deadline.
What's in the railroad car?
John Bromley, spokesman for the Omaha, Neb.-based
Union Pacific Railroad Co., says the railroad does
track information on railcars such as weight,
destination and the type of commodities being
transported.
"But we don't inspect the cars to ensure the commodity
that is supposed to be in them is actually in there,"
he adds. "We do not open the cars. If someone in the
government is doing that, I can't say."
Learn more...
Other information about corrupt government officials
in the U S Customs Service can be seen at:
www.CustomsCorruption.com.
You will also find
recommended reading and links to other web pages
devoted to protecting America from corrupt Customs
Officials. Much of the material in this article was
printed by special permission by the author from the
"internet" version of, "Corruption at the Border",
By John Carman.
