Posted on 04/19/2004 1:23:06 PM PDT by RippleFire
WASHINGTON - A Secret Service document written shortly after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing described security video footage of the attack and witness testimony that suggested Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites) may have had accomplices at the scene.
"Security video tapes from the area show the truck detonation 3 minutes and 6 seconds after the suspects exited the truck," the Secret Service reported six days after the attack on a log of agents' activities and evidence in the Oklahoma investigation.
The government has insisted McVeigh drove the truck himself and that it never had any video of the bombing or the scene of the Alfred P. Murrah building in the minutes before the April 19, 1995, explosion.
Several investigators and prosecutors who worked the case told The Associated Press they had never seen video footage like that described in the Secret Service log.
The document, if accurate, is either significant evidence kept secret for nine years or a misconstrued recounting of investigative leads that were often passed by word of mouth during the hectic early days of the case, they said.
"I did not see it," said Danny Defenbaugh, the retired FBI (news - web sites) agent who ran the Oklahoma City probe. "If it shows what it says, then it would be significant."
Secret Service spokesman Charles Bopp declined to discuss the video footage reference, saying it would be addressed by witnesses later this week at the capital murder trial of McVeigh co-defendant Terry Nichols. "It is anticipated Secret Service employees will testify in court concerning these matters," he said.
Other documents obtained by AP show the Secret Service in late 1995 gave prosecutors several computer disks of enhanced digital photographs of the Murrah building, intelligence files on several subjects in the investigation and a file detailing an internal affairs inquiry concerning an agent who reconstructed key phone evidence against McVeigh.
"These abstract sheets are sensitive documents which we have protected from disclosure in the past," said a Secret Service letter that recounted discussions in late 1995 with federal prosecutors on what evidence would be turned over to defense lawyers.
Lawyers for Nichols say they have never been given the security video, photo disks or internal investigative file referenced in the documents.
The trial judge has threatened to dismiss the death penalty case if evidence was withheld. McVeigh was executed in 2001 on a separate federal conviction. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison on federal charges before being tried by the state this year.
The government has maintained for years that McVeigh parked the Ryder rental truck carrying a massive fertilizer bomb outside the Murrah building and left alone in a getaway car he parked around the corner. The bombing killed more than 160 people.
The only video prosecutors introduced at trial showed the Ryder truck without any visible passengers as it passed a security camera inside a high-rise apartment building a block away from the Murrah building.
But the Secret Service log reported on April 24 and April 25, 1995, that there was security footage showing the Ryder truck pulling up to the Murrah building. The log does not say where such video came from or who possessed it.
A log entry on April 25 states that the security footage allowed agents to determine the time that elapsed between suspects leaving the truck and the explosion.
An entry a day earlier on the same log reported that the security video was consistent with a witness' account that he saw McVeigh's getaway car in the lead before a woman guided the truck to its final parking spot in front of the Murrah building.
"A witness to the explosion named Grossman claimed to have seen a pale yellow Mercury car with a Ryder truck behind it pulling up to the federal building," the log said. The witness "further claimed to have seen a woman on the corner waving to the truck."
A Secret Service agent named McNally "noted that this fact is significant due to the fact that the security video shows the Ryder truck pulling up to the Federal Building and then pausing (7 to 10 seconds) before resuming into the slot in front of the building," the log said. "It is speculated that the woman was signaling the truck when a slot became available."
Defenbaugh said the FBI had talked to several witnesses suggesting two people had left the truck, but prosecutors never introduced the scenario at trial because it couldn't be corroborated. That's why a new security video would be significant, he said.
"It would have taken the investigation in a very specific direction," Defenbaugh said. "Rather than having to go down an eight-lane highway during rush hour, we would have gone down a faster path with just two or four lanes."
Defenbaugh said the FBI kept a log similar to the Secret Service document inside the Oklahoma City investigation command center that might help solve the mystery of the video. Justice officials declined to discuss documents, citing the ongoing Nichols' trial.
In addition to the witness mentioned in the Secret Service document, a woman working in Murrah's Social Security (news - web sites) office who was rescued from the rubble and a driver outside the building both reported to the FBI seeing two men leave the truck, according to government documents.
The Secret Service (news - web sites) log contained other information about the case — including that McVeigh made 30 calls to an Illinois gun dealer in the months before the attacks to seek dynamite and that the gun dealer subsequently failed a lie detector test. The Secret Service lost six employees in McVeigh's bombing, the single largest loss in agency history.
Nichols' attorneys last week asked the judge to dismiss the case on grounds the government withheld evidence, including the security video footage.
New documents obtained by AP show the Secret Service provided prosecutors other evidence that may not have been provided to defense lawyers, including a file showing the Secret Service agent who reconstructed crucial phone evidence against McVeigh was subjected to an internal affairs investigation and eventually cleared for her conduct in the case.
FBI officials say that file details allegations the agent wrongly collected grand jury-subpoenaed phone information about McVeigh's calls without FBI knowledge, and kept it for weeks while she produced analysis that helped the investigation.
The internal investigation caused complications for prosecutors. They decided it tainted the agent as a witness and they chose instead to hire an outside expert to re-do the phone analysis for trial, officials said.
Bopp said the Secret Service did nothing wrong.
"The Secret Service worked cooperatively with the FBI and other federal state and local law enforcement throughout the investigation," Bopp said. "The expertise of the Secret Service on electronic crimes and telecommunications provided unique and timely information to the ongoing investigation."
On the Net:
The FBI: http://www.fbi.gov
The documents obtained by The Associated Press can be viewed at http://wid.ap.org/documents/okc/okcdoc2.pdf
How about a blast-from-the-past? In that original article that started it all, Mr. Khalsa-Salsa claimed that Teg had no security cameras. (excerpted below). You probably remembered that already, though. ;-) I'm just posting it for everyone else.
BTW, have you guys done a recent search on Akal? It seems we're a little short on military, so the Pentagon awarded them a $70+ million contract to guard military bases and installations in at least 8 states (the "U.S. Army's Northern Region"). I'll post it later if no one beats me to it. Kinda busy right now.
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
April 21, 1995, Friday
Journal North, Pg. 1
FIRM RAN SECURITY AT OKLA. BOMB SITE
Patrick Armijo JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
"The FBI has taken over the investigation and it's dealing with all the agencies involved," a Teg Security official in Santa Fe said.
Teg Security of Santa Fe provided security at the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that was bombed Wednesday morning.
The bombing, believed to be caused by a 1,000-pound to 1,200-pound car bomb, blew away one-third of the building, leaving 52 confirmed deaths. More than 400 people were injured, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
"We are helping out," said Sat Kartar S. Khalsa, chief commander for Teg Security. "The FBI has taken over the investigation, and it's dealing with all the agencies involved," he said.
Khalsa said that no Teg employees were injured in the blast and all are accounted for.
The federal government contracts with Teg to provide security for three buildings that form a line of federal offices in Oklahoma City. He said that Teg offices are in the third building in the line and the Murrah Building is the first building in the federal complex.
Khalsa said that Teg had no security cameras watching the area where the bomb was placed.
Teg, with from 60 employees to 70 employees in Santa Fe, has been operating out of Santa Fe headquarters since August 1991. The company provides security only in New Mexico and Oklahoma.
The three federal buildings in Oklahoma are the only federal contract for Teg, Khalsa said.
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
PR Newswire
October 3, 2003, Friday
FINANCIAL NEWS
US Army's Northern Region Contracting Center Awards Major Contracts To Akal Security
DATELINE: ESPANOLA, N.M., Oct. 3
Akal Security Inc of Espanola, New Mexico today announced that it has been awarded three major contracts by the United States Army.These contracts require Akal to provide over 1,500 armed security guards to protect Army bases and installations in Washington, Kansas, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama. The first 12 months of the contract is estimated to be worth approximately $70 million.
In a competitive procurement, the Army selected Akal to perform these services as part of a program to support Army facilities with contract guards, lessening the burden on military personnel with post-9/11 responsibilities. Congress approved the program in the fiscal 2003 Defense Authorization Act. All of the guards will have thorough background checks and receive comprehensive training from Akal instructors and the Army before starting work.
The Army has authorized Akal to begin work on these contracts immediately, with guard service to commence in late 2003. This contract further reinforces Akal's position as a key supporter of America's homeland security. Akal provides thousands of personnel to protect sites critical to national security.
Akal Security is one of the five largest U.S. companies providing security personnel to Government and industry. Founded in New Mexico in 1980, Akal has over 8,000 employees in the U.S. and abroad. Most of Akal's work is in protecting critical, highly secured facilities including federal courthouses, major airports, federal detention centers, hospitals and local utility and transportation systems. Akal operates in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
SOURCE Akal Security Inc
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
InfoProd
October 26, 2003
USA: AKAL SECURITY AWARDED CONTRACT FOR SECURITY GUARD SERVICES.
According to the DoD., Akal Security Inc., Santa Cruz, N.M., was awarded on Sept. 30, 2003, a delivery order amount of $ 31,791,980 as part of a $ 102,461,165 firm-fixed-price contract for security guard services. Work will be performed at Fort Campbell, Ky. (45%), Fort Stewart, Ga. (19%), Anniston Army Depot, Ala. (13%), Blue Grass Army Depot, Ky. (13%), and Sunny Point, N.C. (10%), and is expected to be completed by Sept. 29, 2004.Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on July 15, 2003, and 20 bids were received. The Northern Region Contracting Center, Fort Eustis, Va., is the contracting activity.
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
November 13, 2003 Thursday
SPECIAL SECTION; Pg. 12
Security business has really boomed
Emily Van Cleve For the Journal
AKAL started as a small firm in Espanola and now has officers worldwide
When Gurutej Khalsa and Daya Khalsa founded AKAL Security with three other business partners 23 years ago, they had no idea the Espanola-based company would become a multimillion-dollar corporation.
"The company started with a $1,200 loan on a pickup truck," says Daya Khalsa, senior vice president in charge of business development. "Our first contracts were with a few clients in Espanola. We soon expanded to serving Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
"Within the first year, our three other partners left the business, and Gurutej and I continued on."
The security business is booming around the world, and AKAL has aggressively sought out new markets to serve. The company employs 8,000 people at a variety of facilities in 400 cities in 47 states and 12 other countries.
More than 90 percent of AKAL's contracts are with local, state and federal agencies.
The federal government generates 70 percent of AKAL's business. Four thousand AKAL security officers work in 80 percent of the federal courthouses around the country.
"Our contract with the federal government stipulates that all security officers placed in a federal court have to be retired police officers," says Khalsa. "These officers are screening people who enter the building, standing guard during trials, protecting offices of senior federal officials and guarding the outside of the facilities."
AKAL operates two large academies -- one in Espanola and the other in northern Virginia -- to provide training to certain security guards for specific types of assignments.
During the past five years, AKAL Security has experienced its largest growth in its two-decade history. Khalsa says the company is 10 times the size it was in 1998.
AKAL security officers can be seen guarding NASA facilities, utility companies, water systems, county hospitals and major office buildings.
Many new security businesses have been started during the past decade and AKAL faces more competition than when it formed. Khalsa says his company's success is due to several factors.
"One of the keys to our success is our commitment to our clients," he says. "We have to be available 24/7 to handle all kinds of crisis situations. Our managers have to know what to do and be able to do it quickly.
"The other key lies in the way we manage and relate to our employees. We have great respect for our employees. They are high-caliber, well-trained people who are ready to deal with the variety of situations that they face daily.
"In this world, there's a tremendous need for protection products," Khalsa says. "We're always working hard to keep up with the demand."
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
The Olympian (Olympia, WA)
January 9, 2004 Friday
NATIONAL; Pg. 1A
Civilians on guard at Fort Lewis
Christian Hill, Staff
Shortage of troops puts gate duty in private hands
FORT LEWIS - Civilian security guards have replaced soldiers at the gates of Fort Lewis and seven other Army installations nationwide because so many military personnel have been deployed overseas.
The new guards underwent a month of training by Akal Security, the civilian company that employs them, and by the military, said Steve Smith, an Akal official at Fort Lewis.
The changeover at Fort Lewis occurred Jan. 2.
The Army has awarded three contracts for the work to Akal, a New Mexico-based company. The one-year contracts have been valued at $70 million, according to some news reports.
"Due to the high, uptempo deployment and redeployment of soldiers, including military police, it was determined there was a need for civilians to be put in positions here," Smith said.
Traditionally, military police have pulled guard duty.
But soldiers had more important duties during the buildup to the U.S-led invasion of Iraq and the ongoing occupation, Smith said.
With the deployment of about 1,000 more Fort Lewis soldiers in the coming weeks, nearly one-third of the base's active-duty force is serving in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Akal Security has hired more than 1,500 security guards nationwide, including about 350 at Fort Lewis.
Some of the other installations taking part include Fort Campbell, Ky.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; Fort Hood, Texas; and Fort Riley, Kan. All have deployed thousands of soldiers to support the war effort.
Federal law suspended
The defense spending bill that President Bush signed in December 2002 temporarily suspended a federal law that prohibits the Department of Defense from outsourcing work to civilian security guards. Congress has approved the program.
The ban, while it was in effect, didn't apply beyond the nation's borders. U.S. bases in foreign nations, including Bosnia and Germany, use civilian guards, said Ali Bettencourt, an Army spokeswoman.
The contract with Akal will expire in September, but the Army can extend it through the end of 2005, Smith said.
Wages for the armed guards, who wear blue uniforms instead of camouflage, start at $13.67 an hour, Smith said.
Many have military, police or security experience, he said.
Founded in 1980, Akal has a five-year contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to provide security at numerous federal courthouses.
In late 2002, the Army called up 10,000 of its National Guard members to provide security at Air Force installations worldwide.
Some are stationed at McChord Air Force Base, assisting its security forces, said Lt. Tim Wade, a base spokesman.
Both Fort Lewis and McChord have retrofitted their gates to meet tougher military security standards in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
States News Service
March 5, 2004 Friday
SEN. DOMENICI ANNOUNCES $100 MILLION CONTRACT AWARD TO AKAL SECURITY OF N.M.
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
The office of Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., issued the following press release:
Sen. Pete Domenici reported that Akal Security Inc. of Santa Cruz, N.M., has been awarded a $100 million contract to provide security at federal installations in four Midwestern states.
The multi-year contract is being awarded by the Department of Homeland Security for federal security needs in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana, Domenici said.
"This is a massive award and certainly a signal of confidence in the services that Akal can provide for the federal government," Domenici said. "I am pleased that this northern New Mexico company was selected to do this work."
The DHS awards such contracts with private-sector firms to provide security at federal buildings and installations. Domenici is a member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that sets funding levels for the DHS.
In 2001, Akal was awarded a $88.2 million contract to provide federal court security services within the Fifth Judicial Circuit, which includes federal court facilities in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Founded in 1985, Akal Security Inc. provides security guard services, including thousands of security officers for federal courthouses, detention facilities, and military installations.
Whew. I know I'll sleep better at night now.
Were? Think again. And we have an election coming up. The hispanic vote may be important, but how important is the 'Spanish' vote?
It would make more sense for McVeigh to clam up about his AQ connection (as appears to be the case at this late date) than to clam up about Waco. What was there about Waco to clam up about anyway?
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