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Oversight Hearings on Wackenhut Covert Operations at the Alyeska Pipeline
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GEORGE MILLER
CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT
HEARINGS ON ALYESKA COVERT OPERATIONS
NOVEMBER 4, 1991
This is the first of two days of hearings before the House
Interior Committee on the subject of covert surveillance
authorized by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and conducted
by The Wackenhut Corporation.
On August 7 of this year, the Committee on Interior and
Insular Affairs filed a written request for documents from
Wackenhut and Alyeska in connection with allegations that the
Wackenhut Corporation conducted undercover surveillance of
Charles Hamel on behalf of Alyeska and its owner companies. In
letters to both Wackenhut and Alyeska, I expressed concern that
the surveillance of Mr. Hamel was for the purpose of obtaining
information on and/or interfering with Mr. Hamel's communications
with this Committee.
Charles Hamel has been a source of information for Congress,
state and federal regulatory agencies, and the media, concerning
environmental, health and safety violations by Alyeska and its
oil company owners. Mr. Hamel has served as a conduit for
whistleblowers, including Alyeska employees, to make public
information on oil industry practices. At the same time, Mr.
Hamel has at least two significant business disputes with Alyeska
and Exxon.
I want to make very clear that it is not the purpose of these
hearings to determine whether Mr. Hamel, Alyeska or Exxon are
correct in the matter of their lawsuits and business disputes.
Nor is it the purpose of these hearings to examine whether Mr.
Hamel's various allegations about oil company environmental
violations are true or not. These are matters for another day and
other forums.
While the validity of Mr. Hamel's environmental allegations is
not the focus of these hearings, the fact that Mr. Hamel was an
important source of information for this Committee's ongoing
investigation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Alyeska
operations is very relevant.
In the next two days, we will explore the issue of whether
Alyeska's use of a "bogus" environmental group formed by
Wackenhut spies was an effort to disrupt and compromise a source
of information for this Committee's continuing investigation of
oil industry practices in Alaska.
These hearings are intended to lay bear the full story of what
happened during the covert surveillance of Mr. Hamel and others.
We also will seek to determine why the spy operation was
initiated and, equally important, why it was terminated.
In my view, it is important to find out why some of the
largest and most powerful corporations in this country would
resort to such elaborate "sting" tactics to invade and destroy
the privacy of Mr. Hamel, federal and state officials,
environmentalists and ordinary citizens.
It has been suggested that the sole purpose of Alyeska's
spying on Mr. Hamel was simply to recover "stolen documents."
However, if the explanation was that simple, this Committee would
not be involved in these hearings. If Alyeska's sole concern was
"stolen documents," the laws of this country provide an adequate
means of redress in the courts.
We believe that the testimony and the evidence presented in
these hearings during the next two days will show that the covert
surveillance operation involved the much more sinister and
disturbing motives of silencing environmental critics and
intimidating whistleblowers.
In the course of the Committee's investigation, we have
received large numbers of documents, electronic recordings and
other materials. At various times, the Committee members have
authorized by unanimous votes the issuance of subpoenas and the
use of certain documents for which attorney-client privilege was
claimed.
Our goal has been to conduct a thorough and fair
investigation. We have attempted to accommodate a number of
concerns raised by the witnesses. In conclusion, I especially
want to express my appreciation for the cooperation that I have
received from Congressman Young in this endeavor.
TESTIMONY OF SHERREE RICH
BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
2226 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C.
November 4 & 5, 1991
Good afternoon, Chairman Miller and Members of this
Subcommittee-
My name is Sherree Rich. I am testifying today in response to
a subpoena about my employment with Wackenhut. I am currently a
Child Abuse Investigator with the State of Florida. Prior to
that, I worked for six months for the Wackenhut Corporation.
Prior to accepting employment with Wackenhut I had worked for
the Tallahassee Police Department for two and a half years, and
the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office for three and a half
months on a special undercover operation.
I accepted employment with the Wackenhut Corporation in
August, 1990, after applying and being interviewed at the Tampa
office of the Wackenhut Corporation. Since I was interested in
becoming an investigator I was referred to Wayne Black, of the
Miami Special Investigations Division (hereinafter "SID). Several
weeks after my initial interview I was contacted by Wayne Black
for an interview. Wackenhut arranged to fly me to Miami for an
interview at the SID offices. During that interview I advised Mr.
Black that I was interested in becoming an investigator. He
agreed to train me as an investigator. Because of recent
undercover experience in my previous job, he requested that I
begin work on an undercover operation that Wackenhut was
conducting in the Washington, D.C. area.
After completion of my background investigation I was hired,
and went to Miami for final processing and preparation for the
operation. The final preparation for leaving to conduct the
activity was to get a large amount of cash for use in setting up
the undercover office.
Mr. Wayne Black and I flew up to Washington on or about August
11, 1990. On the flight to Washington, D.C. I was provided a
number of articles to read about Exxon's activities in Alaska,
environmental issues about oil spills, and the Alaska pipeline
from Alaska newspapers. We were joined later by Rick Lund and
Vern Johnson. We checked into the Crystal City Marriot Hotel,
where I stayed for approximately 4-5 weeks. All of my hotel
expenses for were covered by Wackenhut.
During the first few days after arriving in Virginia I was
briefed on what my duties were to be in connection with the
undercover operation. Initially I was told very little about what
the real purpose of the investigation was. I was directed to open
and set up and office, posing as "The Ecolit Group," which I knew
to be a false identity standing for "ecological litigation." This
included opening a personal bank account in my name, with ECOLIT
on the check. I deposited several thousand dollars. It also
included ordering cards with my name on the ECOLIT card
identifying myself as a "staff researcher." I also ordered cards
for Wayne Black, identifying him as Dr. Wayne Jenkins. As part of
my cover I also joined the Library of Congress as a researcher. I
ordered the Anchorage Daily News as part of the cover so that the
office looked legitimate. I also purchased several books about
environmental issues and several environmental posters, such as
"SAVE THE WHALES" and "SAVE THE EARTH" as props.
The bogus office was located at 2341 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Suite 525, in the Century Building, Arlington, Virginia. The
office was in a suite of offices that shared common secretarial
answering and reception services, and a common lobby. In order to
appear legitimate I also received daily telephone calls from
Miami, posing as if it was the Miami ECOLIT office, as well as
faxes and occasional letters.
At about the same time, Mr. Richard Lund, posing as Mr. John
Fox, rented a suite in the same location called Overseas Trading
Company. Although we were working together in this undercover
operation, we pretended only to know Mr. Fox casually because he
assisted in getting our computers. In fact, Mr. Rick Lund, and
another gentleman named Vern Johnson, wired the offices with
video and audio microphones and cameras for the purpose of
recording all of the communications and transactions between
Hamel and Black. This included putting in a video camera inside a
portable stereo which was wired to Rick Lund's office where it
was picked up on a receiver and recorded. The sound system was
also wired through the ceiling panels to the office two or three
offices down the hallway. I was present when all the wiring was
done in these offices.
I was present during the time when Rick Lund and Vern Johnson
wired Ecolit's office in Arlington, Virginia. We arrived at the
QRC offices (where we rented the Ecolit office) at night. Rick
and Vern ran wires from John Fox's office, International Overseas
Trading, through the ceiling into the Ecolit office. Rick had
attached the wires to a remote controlled, toy dune buggy. He
used this vehicle to drive across the inside of the ceiling from
his office, across the intervening office to the Ecolit office so
he could get the wires to the Ecolit office. He ran the wire from
the ceiling through a stanchion in the wall, cut a hole in the
wall to bring the wire out and ran the wire under the carpet.
Up until the opening of the office all I had been told was
that we were conducting the investigation into a person named
Charles Hamel. According to Wayne Black, Mr. Hamel had spent
about ten years trying to seek revenge on Exxon for receiving a
raw deal on oil brokering. Throughout the entire course of my
involvement with the undercover operation, Exxon and Alyeska were
used interchangeably by all of my superiors. I came to understand
that Alyeska was a company formed by seven oil companies, and
assumed that it was the Exxon portion of Alyeska that was
requesting the investigation.
As I became more familiar with the investigation I learned
that Mr. Hamel was receiving documents and information, allegedly
illegally, from sources within Alyeska. Wayne Black and Rick Lund
told me that Hamel would receive Exxon and Alyeska information
and then turn it over to Congressman Miller, and also get the
Environmental Protection Agency involved, and that by doing so
Hamel was causing Alyeska and Exxon a great deal of financial
hardship and negative publicity. It was my understanding that the
purpose of the investigation was to find out who the sources of
information were and let Alyeska know who they were, so that they
could handle the leaks. I believed that as soon as an employee
was identified he or she would be terminated. In fact, I believe
that one employee was identified and terminated during this time
frame.
It was my understanding that the investigation would last for
six months to a year. In order to staff the office I was told to
rent an apartment in Crystal City, Virginia. I did so; all of the
expenses and costs for the apartment were paid by Wackenhut,
including a rental car, gas, food, and utilities. The only thing
I was responsible for were personal telephone calls and personal
items. I was not aware of any State of Virginia or local
authority license to conduct this activity.
My job was to appear to be researching environmental causes in
and around the Washington, D.C. area, and to convince Mr. Hamel
of the legitimacy of the operation. Throughout the course of the
investigation, when Wayne "Jenkins" Black received documents from
Hamel, I was to scan those documents into a computer. I was
responsible for paying all of the bills for the office.
While the operation was going on someone from the Miami office
drove up a Recreational Vehicle Camper fully equipped with living
quarters and electronic surveillance equipment, such as portable
telephones, two way radios, and other equipment that I did not
recognize but understood to be used for picking up telephone
calls. The RV was parked near Mr. Hamel's condo and the park for
one night.
I was aware that Wackenhut had someone pick up Mr. Hamel's
trash to go through it for information, and also knew that while
Mr. Black was at Mr. Hamel's house he was wired to pick up all of
their conversations, and that during his visit there he went
through a bunch of Hamel's documents that were lying around and
read from those documents into the "wire" so that the information
could be transmitted back to Rick Lund. On one occasion I was
also wired to go to Hamel's house, when I gave him a check for
$2,000.
It was my understanding that Hamel was having personal
financial problems, and that part of the plan was to "hook" him
into working with Wackenhut's undercover operations was to make
funds available to help him support his environmental causes. I
presented two checks to Mr. Hamel, one in the office and one at
his house.
I was never present at any meetings in the office or the hotel
room, and never went to dinner with Mr. Hamel, but I know that
Mr. Black met with him in the office and that those meetings were
videoed taped by Mr. Lund in his office down the hall.
The operation lasted about three months, during which time Mr.
Black came from Miami on a number of occasions. At the end of
that time frame I was told that the operation was closing down. I
was told that it was closing down because Alyeska attorneys
wanted to stop the operation. I believe that one of the concerns
that led to closing down the operation was because Wackenhut was
confirming that Hamel did, in fact, have information on
environmental wrongdoing which Wackenhut had no way to handle.
For the last few weeks of the operations it was unclear to me
how long it would actually last. Comments were made about closing
it down early. Then Mr. Black stopped talking to Mr. Hamel
entirely , and directed me to "cover" for him by saying he was in
a meeting or not in his office in Miami. To the best of my
knowledge Mr. Black never called him back. Then Mr. Black
returned to Miami, and I was instructed to close down the office
and load the computer equipment, files, posters, and all of the
props and papers we had collected into a rental van, and drive it
to Miami, which I did.
I continued to work at Wackenhut until January, 1991. During
that time I had one further follow up involvement with the Hamel
investigation. Sometime in October or November, I was briefly
interviewed by two attorneys regarding my activities in the
Virginia office. I was only asked by them "why" I was hired, and
what my function was in Virginia. Prior to the interview I had
been told by Wayne Black to just answer the questions that they
asked very briefly, and not to add anything.
On my last day of work I was directed by Gil Mugarra to pick
up the trash for one of the other investigator's assignments.
This involved getting up at about 3:00 a.m. in order to insure
that you were able to pick up the trash without being seen and
before the garbage pick up. I questioned this assignment since it
was not my case, and discussed it with other investigators and
with Mr. Mugarra. Following these conversations I believed that
the assignment had been returned to the original investigator. No
one ever told me that the trash assignment was to be my last. The
next day, Black called me into his office and asked me what had
happened. He advised me that I was being put on suspension
because I had "refused" to pick up the trash. That was not true.
He told me that he would call me the next morning around 8:30
a.m., instead he called me around noon the next day and advised
me that I could quit or be fired. I asked him if he would give me
a good reference if I quit, and he said that the only thing that
would be on my personnel file would be that I quit, so I
resigned.
I hope that this information is helpful to the Committee
investigating this matter. I will be pleased to try and answer
any questions that you may have.
TESTIMONY OF CHARLES HAMEL
BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
2226 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C.
November 4 & 5, 1991
Chairman Miller, Members of the Committee, Good Afternoon.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify on the
Alyeska investigation conducted into my business activities and
my private life.
My name is Charles Hamel, of Alexandria, Virginia. May I
introduce my wife, Kathleen Morgan Hamel and my son Chuck, Jr.,
Prince William Sound commercial salmon fisherman of Cordova,
Alaska. Accompanying me this afternoon is my friend and counsel,
Billie Pirner Garde.
I grew up in Watertown, Connecticut, attending Assumption Prep
School and a year at Assumption College in Worcester,
Massachusetts. My sophomore year was at the Universite de
Montpellier in France, after which I was drafted into the United
States Army in Europe during the Korean War. I served in Military
Intelligence on loan to the French Army in Koblenz, Germany. Upon
my honorable discharge, I remained in Europe as Administrative
Officer, Off-Shore Procurement Program, United States Embassy, in
Brussels, Belgium, in support of the U.S. forces in Korea. In
1954 I returned home to continue my studies in foreign trade here
at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Senator
Hubert Humphrey helped me gain an elevator operator job in the
Capitol. Thereafter I was a student staff member in the offices
of Senator Ralph Yarborough and Majority Leader Lyndon B.
Johnson.
In 1958 I became the Administrative Assistant to the late
Senator Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut. Following years in foreign
trade, I again returned to the Capitol for two years as Executive
Assistant to my former prep school roommate, Senator Mike Gravel
of Alaska. Among my duties, as his assistant, I worked
relentlessly to convince Alaska residents, commercial fishermen,
Natives and the public that the oil industry would be good for
Alaska and would surely build an environmentally sound pipeline
and port terminal. Prior to construction, I traveled the 800 mile
right-of-way from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
In the foreign trade business, I worked mainly as a management
consultant, and commodities, ship and cargo broker/agent. In this
capacity, I had the opportunity to represent foreign countries
and arrange purchases of grain and other commodities on their
behalf. Once I negotiated the purchase, I would arrange the ocean
transportation of those commodities to other parts of the world.
I also brokered the sale of oil and arranged long term crude
tanker contracts. Eventually, I became an independent oil and
shipping broker. In addition I acquired partial ownership in oil
leases in Alaska and the lower U.S. I worked very hard and was
fortunate enough to be very successful for a period of years.
In 1980, all my hard work and success began to fall apart when
my clients discovered that they were not getting the crude that
they were paying for, but were instead receiving oil that was
significantly diluted with water. I could not cover the losses
and by 1982 I had lost my clients, my source of income, and my
credibility in the eyes of the business community I represented.
From that point forward I began to lose everything I had worked
for over the years.
At first, Exxon executives led me to believe the dilution
problem was caused by malfeasance at the Panama Canal trans-
shipment point. My investigations in Panama proved otherwise. I
brought my discoveries to the attention of Exxon and other oil
company executives who I had come to know personally over the
years. However, soon I realized that the water in the oil was no
mistake and it was, by no means, limited to me or my clients. In
fact, I was provided Exxon documents that proved that Exxon, Arco
and British Petroleum were quite aware of the water problem.
I had sincerely believed that the Alaska oil executives and
Owners of the Alyeska Pipeline would take prompt corrective
action. Nothing was done. Instead they denied the truth, and
apparently hoped that I would forget about my business, the
damage to my credibility and reputation, and my lost income. I
could not do that then, or now. I built my business not only on
hard work but on the honesty of my word. When the Alyeska owners
cheated my clients, they were, in effect, making me out as a
dishonest businessman before my own clients.
In 1985, I decided to expose the dishonesty of the oil
industry in regards to the water in the oil issue, and attempted
to insure that there was some accountability of the industry in
connection with their business practices. By this time I had also
come to the conclusion that the oil industry was turning Alaska
into an environmental disaster. Employees I talked to in Valdez,
friends I knew in the industry, people I had worked with for
years were all discussing the dismal performance of Alyeska in
regards to their commitment to environmental and worker safety.
I realized that I was not the only victim of the dishonesty of
the oil industry in Alaska - we were all victims, and no one was
doing anything about it. We were living in a conspiracy of
silence waiting for an environmental disaster to occur and, as
you know, it did. I decided that I had to do something to prove
to the public that the oil industry had violated their legal and
moral obligations to Alaska. The more I heard, the angrier I got
about what was going on. Alyeska was polluting the water by
introducing toxic sludge, including cancer-causing benzene, into
the pristine waters of Port Valdez and Prince William Sound.
Alyeska was poisoning the Valdez fjord's air by venting extremely
hazardous hydrocarbon vapors directly into the atmosphere. There
was no regulatory oversight, and thus no regulatory violations.
It was as if the environmental regulations of the United States
did not even apply north of the Canadian border -- no regulators,
no oversight, no enforcement -- nothing. In fact, the oil
industry wasn't putting out anything but poison and lies.
In order to pursue the excessive water in the oil matter, I
filed an administrative complaint with the Alaska Public
Utilities Commission ("APUC"). At the hearing, former Alyeska
employee, Erlene Blake, at great risk, testified that, as senior
laboratory technician responsible for testing the amount of water
in the oil, she continually discovered excessive water in the
oil, but had been directed by her supervisors to falsify the log
entries to show only acceptable levels in the samples. During
this same period, she was required to falsify laboratory analysis
with regard to water quality. The reports to the United States
Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") were false. Because she
was so troubled by those instructions, as suggested by an
assistant lab tech, she secretly maintained log books of
duplicate entries, recording the true lab analysis beside the
falsified data -- a red book for the water in oil and a yellow
log book for the EPA violations.
Alyeska adamantly denied her allegations and discredited her
testimony by claiming she couldn't produce the notebooks with the
double entries of oil and water. In fact, Ms. Blake could not
produce the logs because an Alyeska supervisor broke open her
personal locker and stole them. She couldn't prove her
allegations, and neither could I. But we knew it was true. So did
Alyeska.
Not long after the hearing I was contacted by an Alyeska
employee - Bob Scott. Two Alyeska supervisors boasted to Mr.
Scott and several fellow technicians that the log books had been
removed from her locker, had not been destroyed and were not
produced as required by the APUC subpoena. He was ashamed of
Alyeska management's illegal actions. He knew that Alyeska had
cheated me, had deceived the APUC, and had discredited one of
their own honest employees. He also knew that Alyeska was
violating numerous environmental and worker safety regulations.
Bob Scott was among the first of many employees that provided
me information about violations of environmental regulations by
Alyeska. As I learned of these abuses, I in turn, provided the
information to the appropriate government agencies responsible
for investigating these matters, including EPA, the General
Accounting Office and the Alaska Department of Environmental
Conservation. In the beginning it was very difficult to get any
government action on the employee's allegations. I then turned
the information over to the press and, sometimes, to members of
Congress. There was a profound skepticism everywhere that the oil
industry would knowingly pollute the environment and harm their
own employees in Alaska. The Alyeska public relations campaign
was working. Few newspapers would print the facts. Few regulators
would even listen.
Alyeska tried hard to discredit me by attacking my motives, my
sources of information, my credibility, and attempting to portray
me as a vengeful - if not slightly insane - opponent of the oil
industry. But their "kill the messenger approach" backfired. It
seemed that the harder Alyeska tried to discredit me publicly,
the more their employees came to me with information privately.
In fact, frequently the public denial of facts, known to be true
to Alyeska employees, led those employees to my doorstep.
By the end of 1985, I had provided substantial documentary
evidence to the EPA about environmental wrongdoing by Alyeska.
Rather than deal honestly with these facts, Alyeska sued the EPA
to force disclosure of the documents. The United States District
Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, I am grateful to say,
denied Alyeska access to the documents because to do so could
have identified my sources, who feared retaliation.
In 1985 the oil industry attempted to find out what it would
take to make me go away. As requested, I calculated my actual
business losses at $12 million dollars. I also insisted that
actions be taken to clean up the environmental issues I had
raised, including an audit of the Valdez terminal, a pollution
monitoring program funded by Alyeska and run by an independent
group not accountable to the oil industry, and a medical
monitoring fund for the Alyeska technicians who had been
needlessly exposed to toxic vapors. The industry obviously was
not prepared to meet those demands to get rid of me.
I continued to receive information from employees -- horror
stories of poison and pollution which I conveyed to the media,
Congress and government agencies. Alyeska had to be dragged
kicking and screaming through each corrective action. However, it
was apparent to fishing community leaders like Dr. Riki Ott and
Rick Steiner of Cordova, my loyal supporters throughout the
years, that a major disaster was imminent. Early in 1989 the
severity of the problems demanded Congressional intervention and
your Committee's Majority staff agreed. But within weeks the
Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred, and everything in Alaska changed
forever. The allegations I had been pointing out to the EPA for
years to no avail were suddenly "high priority," and even the
public began to doubt the public relations departments of the oil
industry.
The day after the spill, leaders of the fishing community and
fish processors telephoned for my help. I immediately flew to
Valdez to do what I could. In addition to helping the fishermen,
I assisted this Committee with housing and support services
during their on site investigation, and also provided a network
of information to members of the media who were attempting to
provide accurate coverage. As with most disasters, even the oil
spill brought out the best of people in Alaska trying to help. I
made numerous new friends, and put old friends together with new
ones. The evidence continued to mount.
The more information I was provided, the more disgusted I
became. The more disgusted I became, the harder it was to ignore
the information that employees provided me. What I perceived as
the "Sovereign State" of Alyeska, continued to operate as a
company without accountability, beyond regulation, absent a
corporate conscience. I desperately wanted to go on with my life,
to leave behind me the disillusionment that I felt, to do what
other men at my age are doing -- walking on the beach with their
wife, enjoying the hard earned fruits of their labor. Instead,
the fruits of my labor were stolen from me, and the peace and
contentment I tried to achieve were replaced by worrying and
concern for those people who turned to me for help. Personally,
these were terrible, dark nights for Kathy and me. And it went on
for years.
One day in April, 1990, a Dr. Wayne Jenkins came to me. He
described his company, Ecolit Group, as a well funded group of
attorneys who wanted to help me. They would provide me the tools
to protect those workers who had turned to me for help, Ecolit
could help protect their jobs, and supply me support staff and
assistance to manage what had become a full time, financially
costly, job of protecting whistleblowers and coordinating
government investigations. I thought it was too good to be true.
As I wrote in a note to my Anchorage attorney and faithful
supporter, Julian Mason, Ecolit was "the stuff that dreams are
made of." This Ecolit Group showed up in answer to a dilemma that
seemed to have no end for me. I was tired, almost broke, and
broken in spirit. I wanted to be able to turn the reins of these
responsibilities over to someone else. My wife had been caring
for her invalid parents in Washington State without my help. It
seemed as if we had spent a decade fighting to keep what we had,
losing our assets, and becoming the only hope for many Alaskans
who turned to us for help, for no one else was there for them to
turn to.
The Ecolit Group seemed such a perfect answer. Dr. Jenkins was
anxious to learn all about my Congressional contacts, my
informants, interested media, and my plans. He expressed moral
outrage at the environmental wrongs being committed by the oil
industry, and was anxious to provide legal support to stop the
polluting, the dumping and other wrongs that I revealed to him.
Now that I have had the opportunity to review the transcripts and
tapes of my meetings with Wayne Black, I am embarrassed at many
of the things that I said trying to get him interested in helping
to do the right things without compromising my sources.
Obviously I did compromise many of them. Inadvertently, of
course, but nonetheless, I let them down and I will always have
to deal with that. I also let this Committee down. In my zeal to
find an answer to the problems I was facing - no resources and
increasing obligations to more and more people - I exaggerated my
influence with this Committee and I exposed information that I
had been entrusted with by Committee staffers. In my business
activities I knew that if it sounds too good to be true, it
probably isn't true. In this instance, I failed to recognize the
warnings that should have tipped me off to Ecolit's true purpose.
Yet, I could never have known nor little imagined the extent
of the betrayal of my trust. The details of the Wackenhut
surveillance are now well known. Alyeska authorized the stealing
of our trash, monitoring and taping our telephone calls,
concealing video cameras in hotel rooms, stealing our mail, and
illegally obtaining our personal and financial information.
Alyeska successfully launched an internal "witch hunt" to target
everyone who had communications with me. By illicitly obtaining
AT&T telephone records they identified the people who we called
nationwide and people who called us, and - worst of all -
violated my confidences with people who trusted me. Bob Scott was
fired, lost his home, lost his retirement. Others have lost their
jobs, become suspected of being sources of information and now
live in fear of being monitored by their employer. All that I
tried to do to help stop Alyeska's wrongdoing was being turned
upside down by them.
I am repeatedly asked how all this makes me feel. When I first
learned of the surveillance activities I was afraid for my family
and friends. Next I became angry, furious that Alyeska would
stoop to dishonesty, deception and theft out of paranoia that the
truth would somehow find its way to the public. It is the classic
psychological projection when Alyeska justifies their elaborate
sting operation by claiming that I had "stolen" documents. I
never picked through Alyeska's trash, broke into its offices,
taped their phone calls. I never posed as one of their own. I
never attempted to destroy their careers, or worse, invade their
families' privacy. I have always done exactly as I said I was
going to do -- insist on responsible environmental management of
the oil industry in Alaska. Today I am simply saddened and
disgusted; but, in a strange way, grateful and relieved that this
entire incident has come to light because it demonstrates better
than I could ever do that Alyeska, and its owners, cannot be
trusted.
The last ten years of my life have been spent trying to warn
the public that Alyeska and Exxon cannot be trusted with our
natural resources, they cannot be trusted as business partners,
and they cannot be trusted about their alleged claim that we
desperately need more oil. It is now up to the Congress to sort
out the truth from all the lies.
In 1988, ARCO, Exxon and British Petroleum failed to tell this
Committee about the existence of the Pt. McIntyre billion barrel
oil field directly under the West Dock, virtually within sight of
the Alyeska Pipeline, while they were testifying that Prudhoe Bay
was running dry. In fact, both ARCO and Exxon knew that they had
discovered the Pt. McIntyre field years earlier. In 1989, my
General Partner, Exxon, told me that our Pt. McIntyre leases were
dry. I sold my interest in the leases for what Exxon told me was
a fair price. Several weeks after selling Exxon my interests, the
major discovery was announced. Once again, they lied to you, they
lied to the Congress, they lied to the public, and they defrauded
us all.
The public relations departments of the oil industry, their
lawyers and lobbyists desperately want this Committee and the
public to believe that I attempted to humiliate the oil industry
in retaliation for the economic losses I suffered. Alyeska and
the oil industry have tried desperately for years to convince
themselves and the public that I am an extortionist - a
businessman motivated to expose environmental wrongs for personal
profit. The truth is that the oil companies were and continue to
be motivated to ignore environmental wrongs to increase corporate
assets. Do not misunderstand me, I believe that responsible oil
development is necessary to our national interest. However,
Alyeska and its oil company owners believe that in order for
someone to be "for" the oil business, one must also be "against"
environmental protections that might stand in the way of
corporate profits. I refuse to believe that fallacy, and I
certainly refuse to conduct myself and my activities in a manner
that these members of the oil industry find acceptable.
I refuse to believe that the only way to advocate for a clean
environment and regulatory compliance is to take a vow of poverty
and join a not-for-profit environmental organization. I also
refuse to believe that I must choose between pursuing the
economic damage that I have been caused by Exxon and the other
Alyeska owners and insisting that they clean up their
environmental act.
Most importantly, I refuse to believe that any citizen of this
country has to tolerate the invasion of privacy that I have been
subjected to simply because I have exercised my Constitutional
rights and responsibilities as a citizen to petition Congress,
and to assist the news media in the presentation of facts and
evidence that certain members of the oil industry have chosen to
ignore. I may not ever be able to walk on the beach with my wife
in peace or to recoup the money that I have been cheated out of,
but both my wife and I will know that we have done everything
within our power to keep the beaches clean for our children and
grandchildren.
As a final note I want to state publicly how deeply my wife
and I appreciate the courage and honesty of the former Wackenhut
employees and investigators who came forward and told the truth.
The nation and Alaska are better because of the integrity of
these people. Had it not been for Rafael "Gus" Castillo, Ana
Contreras, Sherree Rich, Ricki Jacobson, Adriana Caputti,
Mercedez Cruz, and others, none of this would have come to light.
These are brave individuals, who had nothing to gain by coming
forward, but had much to lose. Each of these employees, like the
many Alyeska employees who took similar risks to bring forward
the truth about Exxon and Alyeska's activities, have more
integrity than the oil industry could ever buy and more courage
than Alyeska could ever defeat. Thank you for giving me the
opportunity to testify and I will be glad to answer any questions
that you may have.
SUPPLEMENTAL STATEMENT OF
RICKI SUE JACOBSON
BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
November 4 and 5, 1991
Committee On Interior and Insular Affairs
United States House of Representatives
1324 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C.
Good afternoon, Chairman Miller and Members of this Committee.
My name is Ricki Sue Jacobson. I am here today in response to the
Committee's subpoena regarding my employment with Wackenhut
Corporation. I reside in Miami, Florida with my three children
and I am currently training to be an executive secretary.
I accepted employment with the Wackenhut Corporation in
November of 1989. I had no previous investigative experience.
Until that time, I had worked as a realtor since approximately
1976. However, in early Fall of 1989, a friend of mine suggested
to me that I would make a good investigator and recommended that
I contact an acquaintance of hers if I were interested. Her
acquaintance was Mr. Wayne Black. At that time, Mr. Black was not
with Wackenhut Corporation, but was operating his own practice. I
contacted Mr. Black and he explained that his firm was being
bought out by Wackenhut and that he would soon be employed there.
After several meetings and discussions, and once Mr. Black had
joined Wackenhut, I was hired as an entry level trainee. For
licensing purposes, my position was known as "private
investigator intern".
At the time my employment began, Mr. Black told me that my
duties would basically involve property and asset searches,
especially since I had a good real estate background. He also
indicated that I would occasionally be doing "witness locates".
In the initial weeks of my employment, I worked with more
experienced investigators. During this period, I also worked on
some surveillance assignments. In approximately February or
March, 1990, Mr. Black asked if I would like to travel to Alaska
on an assignment. Originally, I hesitated because I do not like
being away from my children for long periods of time. However,
after being assured by Mr. Black that I would be gone only
briefly, I agreed. I was not told the name of the client or the
nature of the operation. I was given only the case number, which
was 427.
Mr. Black briefed me for my assignment during March of 1990
and I was due to leave around March 20, 1990. In my briefing, Mr.
Black told me I would be attending an environmental conference in
Anchorage, that I would be travelling under an assumed name, and
that I was to have no public contact with Mr. Black or Mr. Rick
Lund while in Anchorage. Mr. Lund was an investigator under
contract with Wackenhut who often worked with Mr. Black. My
assumed name was "Ricki Eidelson". Eidelson is my maiden name and
Mr. Black suggested I use it since it would be easy to remember.
In the course of my briefing, I was also instructed by Mr. Black
to become generally familiar with various ecological groups
because I would be attending the conference pretending to be an
ecological researcher for an environmental group in Miami. The
environmental group I would be representing was called "Ecolit"
and was a fictitious organization created by Wackenhut for the
purpose of this assignment. After preparing in accordance with my
instructions, I Pago travelled to Anchorage on or about March 20,
1990. Prior to my departure I was given false identification
documents to support my assumed name. These documents included a
Florida driver's license issued in my fictitious name, business
cards from Ecolit, and luggage tags. Mr. Black and Mr. Lund
travelled on board the same plane, but we had no contact with
each other, as per the instructions I had received. Mr. Black's
assumed name was Wayne Jenkins, also supposedly with the Ecolit
group. I believe Mr. Lund's assumed name was John Fox, though I
am not certain. At this time I still had no knowledge of the
client's name, the nature of the operation or effort of which I
was a part, or the name of any persons who might be the subject
of any investigation to be conducted by Wackenhut.
After my arrival in Alaska, I travelled to my hotel, the
Captain Cook, and registered. Mr. Black and Mr. Lund also
travelled to the hotel, though separately from me. Shortly after
we arrived at the hotel, Mr. Black and Mr. Lund met with me in my
room and discussed various details of my assignment. The essence
of their instructions was that I was simply to attend, and take
notes at, the environmental conference scheduled to begin the
next morning. However, in the course of this meeting, Mr. Lund
also asked that I attempt to see the conference registration list
and to let him know if the name "Charles Hamel" appeared on that
list. This was the first time I ever heard the name "Charles
Hamel", and nothing further was said about him. When I inquired
later about the list, I was told that a registration list was not
available and I therefore reported to Mr. Black and Mr. Lund that
I was unable to determine whether Mr. Hamel had registered at the
conference.
On March 22, 1990, the third day of the conference, while I
was seated with other conference attendees in the dining room of
the hotel, Mr. Black approached me and whispered "the guy we want
you to eyeball is in the lobby." I believe these were Mr. Black's
exact words. He then motioned for me to follow him. I was
surprised because I did not know anything was expected of me
beyond my attendance at the environmental conference. However, I
walked to the doorway of the dining room and Mr. Black pointed
out Mr. Hamel standing in the lobby. Mr. Hamel was speaking with
a man and a woman. I observed them for a few moments, but did not
overhear their conversation. When they left the lobby, I returned
to the dining room and later reported my observation to Mr.
Black.
During the evening of March 22, 1991, the day the conference
ended, I visited a local restaurant and bar with a fellow
conference attendee. Upon my return to the hotel, I noticed
Charles Hamel standing in the lobby area. Believing that Mr.
Black and Mr. Lund would be interested in Mr. Hamel's
whereabouts, I contacted one of them (I do not remember which)
and advised him of Mr. Hamel's presence in the lobby. I was
instructed to keep Mr. Hamel under observation and, if he left
the lobby area, to follow him. After a short time, I followed Mr.
Hamel into the hotel bar. He was in the company of another
gentleman and I learned later that his name was Rick Steiner. I
sat a few stools away from Mr. Hamel and Mr. Steiner and, after a
few moments, I used the phone in the bar and called Mr. Black or
Mr. Lund (I do not remember which), and notified him of my
whereabouts. A few moments later, Mr. Black and Mr. Lund entered
the bar separately, as if they did not know one another, and took
separate seats. After approximately twenty to thirty minutes, Mr.
Hamel and Mr. Steiner left the bar. My observation terminated at
that time. However, I believe either Mr. Black or Mr. Lund
followed Mr. Hamel and Mr. Steiner out of the bar. During the
time I was in the bar, I do not recall engaging in any direct
conversation with Mr. Steiner or Mr. Hamel, and I do not believe
I did. However, I recall having brief eye contact with one or
both of them in the course of various comments I was exchanging
with the bartender.
Sometime after I returned to my room that evening, Mr. Black
and Mr. Lund came to my room and we discussed the events of that
evening and our travel arrangements home, now that the conference
had ended.
I left Alaska on the morning of March 24, 1991. While waiting
to board my flight in the Anchorage Airport, I noticed Mr. Hamel
in the concourse area. I was very surprised that I happened to be
booked on the same flight. After being seated in the coach
section, Mr. Hamel noticed me and apparently recognized me. After
exchanging a few words, he invited me to sit with him and I did.
I was very nervous because my assignment was over and I did not
know how to handle this particular situation. Since Mr. Hamel had
just been the subject of our surveillance in the bar, and because
I wanted to be very careful, I introduced myself using my assumed
identity and purpose.
Mr. Hamel's destination was Seattle, the first stop on my
flight to Miami. During the time we sat together, Mr. Hamel very
candidly discussed many things of concern to him, including a
lawsuit with Exxon, his own oil leases and problems he
encountered with water being mixed with his oil. He also
mentioned that he had various sources inside Alyeska Corporation
feeding him various types of sensitive information. He discussed
secret meetings and even the suicide of one person involved. I
did not understand much of what he was saying and felt very
astonished and uncomfortable at the great degree of trust he was
showing a complete stranger. In addition to these discussions,
Mr. Hamel asked me a lot about myself and about Ecolit. In the
course of that part of our discussion he mentioned that he would
be coming to Miami and that, when he did, he would visit Ecolit.
After I returned to Miami, I reported my experience with Mr.
Hamel to Mr. Lund and then to Mr. Black and subsequently dictated
a memorandum to Mr. Black containing the same information. I
maintained no activity logs during my stay in Alaska because I
was told by Mr. Black that none of the usually required activity
logs were to be maintained in connection with the Alaska trip.
Several days after my return to Miami, at the direction of Mr.
Black, I contacted Charles Hamel one or two times at the number
Mr. Hamel gave me on the airplane. The purpose of my phone call
was to attempt to arrange an introduction between Mr. Hamel and
Wayne Black (posing as Wayne Jenkins of the Ecolit Group). Mr.
Black was present during my calls to Mr. Hamel and spoke with Mr.
Hamel himself once the introduction had been made. Subsequently,
it is my understanding that he made several additional phone
calls to Mr. Hamel. I witnessed approximately two of the calls
made by Mr. Black (Jenkins) to Mr. Hamel. I observed at least one
of these telephone calls being recorded by Mr. Black. The device
used was a wire with a suction cup attached to the receiver and
the other end attached to a small tape recorder on Mr. Black's
desk. I know other phone calls to Mr. Hamel were recorded because
Mr. Black played for me the tape of at least one of the phone
calls which he made to Mr. Hamel.
In the days immediately following my return to Miami, Wayne
Black arranged to establish an official Ecolit office in Miami,
in the Coconut Grove area. This was done because Mr. Hamel had
stated to me on the airplane that he would be coming to Miami and
would come by to see Ecolit's offices and get to know more about
the group. However, within a few weeks after my return, Mr. Hamel
had indicated that he would not be coming to Miami. Therefore,
Mr. Black determined that we would have to travel to Washington,
D.C. in order for him to meet Mr. Hamel. At that point, Mr. Black
directed me to travel to Washington with him to make the
introduction. I did not really want to go, and I did not want to
be a part of any further deception of Mr. Hamel. In fact, on
April 30, 1990, I wrote a letter to Mr. Black explaining this and
I have provided that letter to this committee in response to the
subpoena served upon me. Nevertheless, after much discussion, Mr.
Black did succeed in convincing me to travel to Washington with
him and to introduce him (as Wayne Jenkins) to Mr. Hamel with the
understanding that I would not again be asked to have contact
with Mr. Hamel or to engage in any further deceit pertaining to
Mr. Hamel. I wrote Mr. Black an additional letter, on May 6,
1990, which he received on Monday, May 7, 1990, confirming my
earlier statements to him that I was uncomfortable about my role
in the Hamel matter, that I was above my head in terms of my
experience as an investigator, and that I wanted no further
contact with Hamel or this case. I would add, however, that at
this point in time, May 6, 1990, I still had received no
information from Wackenhut regarding the identity of the client
or the nature or purpose of the operation. My letter of May 6,
1990 was provided to this committee in response to the subpoena
served upon me.
I arrived in Washington, with Wayne Black, on approximately
May 9, 1990. Mr. Hamel picked us up at a restaurant in downtown
Washington and drove us to his office. Wayne Black was introduced
as Wayne Jenkins of the Ecolit Group, and Mr. Hamel introduced
Mr. Black and myself to several other persons present at Mr.
Hamel's offices. Mr. Hamel picked up his mail at his offices and
placed the mail and several other items, such as newspapers, in
the back seat of his car. He then drove us to his home in
Alexandria, Virginia. During the time we were riding to Mr.
Hamel's home, Wayne Black was seated in the back seat and I was
seated in the front passenger seat. At one point during our trip,
I looked back and observed Mr. Black going through Mr. Hamel's
mail. I did not see Mr. Black actually take any of the mail.
After we arrived at Mr. Hamel's home, Mr. Hamel took the mail and
other items into his home and placed them on his desk in the
livingroom of his home. Nearby, on the floor, were many other
stacks of papers. Mr. Hamel left the room twice while we were
there. During each of his absences, I observed Mr. Black leafing
through Mr. Hamel's mail and the numerous papers stacked on the
floor. Mr. Black was very happy about the opportunity to observe
Mr. Hamel's mail and papers and commented to that effect several
times. I became extremely nervous and apprehensive and very much
regretted being there.
After a while, Mr. Hamel reappeared with his wife and we all
chatted for awhile, primarily about Ecolit. Mr. Hamel seemed
quite suspicious about Ecolit and asked many questions of Mr.
Black. After awhile, Mr. Hamel and his wife invited us to join
them for dinner at a nearby restaurant. Just prior to departing
for dinner, Mr. Black used the bathroom in the Hamel home. A
short time later, while walking to the restaurant with Mr. and
Mrs. Hamel, Mr. Black quietly stated to me that he intended to
tape the dinner conversation. Specifically, he advised me not to
talk too much so that the tape would not contain too much
unnecessary chatter. Sometime after we reached the restaurant,
Mr. Black went to the restroom and after he returned he whispered
that the tape had not worked, that the conversation did not
record. Based on this, I concluded that Mr. Black had wired
himself at the Hamel home and attempted at the restaurant to tape
the dinner conversation with the Hamels.
After dinner, we walked back to the Hamel home and Mr. Hamel
drove Mr. Black and me around Alexandria and then to the airport.
on the flight back to Miami, Mr. Black removed from his brief
case two long envelopes, bearing metered postage, which he
indicated he had taken from Mr. Hamel, although I cannot recall
whether he stated the items were taken from Mr. Hamel's car or
his home. I reacted with surprise and asked how he could have
taken the items and he responded that "they were stolen anyway"
and that they did not really belong to Mr. Hamel.
After returning to Miami, I discontinued all contact with Mr.
Hamel. I resigned Wackenhut on or about June 25, 1990. Between
the time of my return and my resignation, among other duties, I
continued to man the undercover Ecolit office and, on one
occasion, I was asked to -- and did -- examine trash which I was
told had been taken from Mr. Hamel's residence. I resigned in
writing and my resignation letter has been provided to this
committee in response to the subpoena served upon me. I have had
no further contact with the investigation pertaining to Mr.
Hamel, or with the Wackenhut Corporation except in connection
with these proceedings.
I hope that this information is helpful to the Committee and I
will be happy to try and answer any questions which you may have.
/s RICKI SUE JACOBSON
SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED before me the 1st day of November,
1991 in the County and State aforesaid.
/s JACK B. GERBER NOTARY PUBLIC My Comm. expires April 26, 1992
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