Free Republic

(The Center Square) – An Operation Lone Star task force that has seen a number of successes is expanding throughout the state to combat cartel and gang crime, led by Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd. Law enforcement officials from over 30 agencies met for an operational meeting this week to discuss future goals as well as expansion efforts with Texas Border Czar Mike Banks. The Center Square has reported exclusively on Boyd’s task force operations since the multi-agency initiative was launched in 2022. Initially, the OLS Task Force involved 20 agencies, including 12 sheriff’s offices, seven city police departments and...

Former aerospace workers ensnared in Operation Lightning Strike are hoping that the U.S. District Court will clear their names with the deposition of an ex-literary agent. Former NASA contractor Dale Brown said he hopes to clear his name with the testimony of a former literary agent. In a deposition filed with a petition for review, John R. Craig testified that FBI operative James H. Francis manufactured evidence in an ongoing investigation to enhance his chances of securing a book deal. "He manipulated facts and actions to make them," said Craig in a sworn deposition taken on March 20. "He would...

A group of people who were either acquitted of or pleaded guilty to bribery charges related to an FBI sting operation in the early 1990s aimed at NASA contractors have asked a federal judge to review their cases because they claim new evidence shows they were the victims of a flawed and corrupt investigation. The sting, dubbed "Operation Lightning Strike," started in December 1991 and ended in July 1993. Agents aimed to root out corrupt contractors and government workers willing to violate federal procurement laws. The sting involved an FBI agent posing as a corrupt businessman who wanted to get...

An FBI agent fabricated evidence in a 1992 sting operation that led to charges against 18 NASA employees in order to promote a book, a document filed Friday in federal court alleges. The accusations in the document, made by an alleged former FBI operative, are part of an effort to overturn the convictions of 12 NASA employees who pleaded guilty to corruption charges in Operation Lightning Strike. The allegations against the lead FBI agent in the 20-month undercover operation are in the document filed by the NASA-13 Defense Committee, a group formed to defend the people accused in the investigation....

March 18 — With the nation back on high alert and officials warning that terrorists may already be planning major new attacks, ABCNEWS has learned the government will begin detaining dozens of suspected Saddam Hussein sympathizers in at least five U.S. cities this week. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge today cited the danger of attacks by Iraqi agents in the United States and overseas when he announced the national threat level was moving from yellow, or "elevated," to orange, which means "high." "Iraqi state agents, Iraqi surrogate groups, other regional extremist organizations and ad hoc groups, disgruntled individuals may use...