The expected
U.S News story
The Letter of the Law on warrantless physical searches is now up. As the press release promised, the article includes allegations that an attorney's home and office may have been physically searched. The attorney in question turns out to be Thomas H. Nelson of Portland, Oregon. Although Nelson is a friend of Brandon Mayfield and served as his spokesman, Nelson was not a lawyer on Brandon Mayfield's case. Nelson believes it was the case of Soliman al-Buthe that led to the physical searches.
On Sept. 23, 2005--nearly three months before the Times broke the NSA story--Thomas Nelson wrote to U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut in Oregon that in the previous nine months, "I and others have seen strong indications that my office and my home have been the target of clandestine searches." In an interview, Nelson said he believes that the searches resulted from the fact that FBI agents accidentally gave his client classified documents and were trying to retrieve them. Nelson's client is Soliman al-Buthe, codirector of a now defunct charity named al-Haramain, who was indicted in 2004 for illegally taking charitable donations out of the country. The feds also froze the charity's assets, alleging ties to Osama bin Laden. The documents that were given to him, Nelson says, may prove that al-Buthe was the target of the NSA surveillance program.
Nelson recently filed a wiretapping lawsuit that was apparently based on these documents, previously diaried here
Government's own docs cited in wiretapping suit against NSA and here
OR Islamic Charity Sues over NSA Wiretapping and covered in an NPR story
Oregon Lawsuit Challenges Domestic Spying which aired March 2, 2006.
How does Nelson know he was searched?
The searches, if they occurred, were anything but deft. Late at night on two occasions, Nelson's colleague Jonathan Norling noticed a heavyset, middle-aged, non-Hispanic white man claiming to be a member of an otherwise all-Hispanic cleaning crew, wearing an apron and a badge and toting a vacuum. But, says Norling, "it was clear the vacuum was not moving." Three months later, the same man, waving a brillo pad, spent some time trying to open Nelson's locked office door, Norling says. Nelson's wife and son, meanwhile, repeatedly called their home security company asking why their alarm system seemed to keep malfunctioning. The company could find no fault with the system.
So, to summarize:
- Government wiretaps Soliman al-Buthe.
- Soliman al-Buthe takes Thomas H. Nelson as defense attorney.
- Government accidentally gives Soliman al-Buthe evidence of the wiretapping.
- Goverment searches home and office of attorney Thomas H. Nelson in an attempt to recover the evidence of wiretapping.
- NSA refuses FOIA request from Thomas H. Nelson.
Incompetence, cover-up, possibly warrantless physical search, secrecy. It's all there. One case already filed. Hopefully another to follow.