Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 16:19:32 -0600 From: ACTION ALERT Moderator Subject: ACTION ALERT: McVeigh Discharge [ submitted by SLDN Moderator Note: No relation/no connection to the Oklahoma City bomber ] Secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, has indicated that the Navy will discharge Senior Chief Timothy R. McVeigh despite evidence that the Navy potentially violated both the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue." The discharge will occur on Wednesday, January 21, 1997, unless a federal court orders the Navy to freeze the discharge pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by McVeigh on Thursday, January 15, 1997. The Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, and the Commander-in-Chief, President William J. Clinton, retain discretion to stop the discharge and avoid potentially embarrassing litigation. They, however, need to hear from you that you are concerned about the government's actions in this case. The first concern is that the Department of Navy and Department of Defense violated ECPA by obtaining McVeigh's subscriber information from AOL without a warrant, subpoena or McVeigh's consent. That is a violation of U.S. law. The second concern is that McVeigh's command initiated an inquiry against McVeigh based only on a suspicion that the AOL profile was his, thus compelling the Navy to confirm McVeigh's identity through AOL. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" specifically states that suspicions are not credible information to start an inquiry. President Clinton stated in announcing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" that the policy would provide "a decent regard to the legitimate privacy and associational rights of all servicemembers." Former Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, said that servicemembers would have to work hard to get on the radar screen under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue." Those promises have failed in this case. Please email, fax & call the following people with your concerns: President William J. Clinton, email: president@whitehouse.gov; voice: (202) 456-1111; snail: White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20500 Vice-President Albert Gore, vicepresident@whitehouse.gov, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20500 Secretary of Defense William Cohen, comment via DoD web page: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html; voice: (703) 695-5261; fax: (703) 695-1219; snail: 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20301-1000 Also, please distribute this to others interested in assisting Senior Chief McVeigh. As always, if possible, send us a copy of your correspondence to sldn@sldn.org if possible and let us know what, if any response you receive. Thank you for your commitment to protecting those targeted under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue. For more information, visit Sr. Chief McVeigh's web site at http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/9241/ and SLDN's web site at http://www.sldn.org. -- _____________________________________________________________________________ * ACTION-ALERT is a moderated mailing list. * * To subscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: subscribe action-alert * * To unsubscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe action-alert * * Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! * * List Information: http://www.qrd.org/qrd/electronic/email/action-alert * _____________________________________________________________________________