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FBI investigates underground tunnel requests

[During my undergraduate years, I -- and many other students -- used the underground steam tunnels on our campus (not UT) as quick shortcuts between buildings, particularly on cold and messy winter days. There was no posted map of the network, and certainly the administration did not encourage it, but any student, by the time they were a senior, knew how to get from one end of campus to the other without setting foot outside. (As I recall, one tunnel even had a soda vending machine in it, which gives you some idea as to the volume of underground traffic.) Sadly, I imagine that, these days, the access points are all kept locked and sealed. - Th.]

Student interrogated after filing FOIA request with UT

Mark Miller had slept three hours in his parked car after a long night at an anime festival in a downtown hotel.

Then, the call. A number and a voice he didn't know.

"Hey Mark, we're at your dorm," the voice said. "We want to talk with you."

"Who are you?" asked Miller, a physics freshman.

"Law enforcement."

Two men met him in the hotel lobby and flashed badges: FBI. Secret Service. The questions began.

"Do you belong to any student activist organizations?"

"Have you ever thought of joining any student activist organizations, like UT Watch?"

He wasn't an activist. Nor a suspect or the messenger of a bomb threat, for that matter.

What interested the agents, from Austin's Joint Terrorism Task Force, was an open records request he filed with UT administrators for information about the underground campus tunnel system.

"The point was to see if there was any type of a threat to campus or public safety due to the nature of the information being sought," said Mark Rich, a special agent in the FBI San Antonio field office. "I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that a records request was made. It was what the request involved."

A network of underground utility tunnels connects campus buildings to provide water, steam, coaxial tables, compressed air and fiber optics. Miller was curious about the dimensions of the network. He said a physical plant official told him such details were secret "because of 9-11."

So he filed the request Dec. 16, 2003. Agents called him Jan. 30, 2004.

John Jones, the Secret Service agent who questioned Miller, called the matter an "ongoing investigation" and would not comment.

Rich, of the FBI, said the investigation won't be closed until the task force determines Miller's request is no terrorism threat.

"The question is how did the FOI act request get from [Miller] to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and how did the Joint Terrorism Task Force find out about it?" said Edna Perry, special agent-in-charge of the Austin Secret Service office.

UT officials don't have a certain answer to that question.

Patricia Ohlendorf, vice president for legal affairs, said federal agents had visited campus to assess terrorism vulnerabilities as part of the University's argument against disclosing the tunnel plans.

"I'm sure, that's how they found out about the public information request," she said. "I think their activities are totally separate from ours."

She didn't know that agents questioned Miller. UT President Larry Faulkner, who met with Ohlendorf to decide to withhold the records, also said he wasn't aware of the investigation. UT open records coordinator Annela Lopez would not comment.

Miller said the agents wanted to know everything from his major to why he wears long hair.

They asked, how did he know open records laws? How did he know about campus tunnel systems? Did he ever think of joining UT Watch or filing a lawsuit through the American Civil Liberties Union?

"What disturbed me was the fact, that they went on for about 10 minutes asking me if I belonged to things like UT Watch. Anything to overthrow the government," Miller said. "They used the term 'activist organization.' Any stuff like that."

He said he had no luck visiting the Austin Secret Service office to ask what information on him had been collected. He also filed an open records request for this information with the FBI. It was denied.

"The next step is, of course, to file a FOIA request for the 'zero file' generated from the investigation of why I submitted an open records request. Good irony," Miller wrote Feb. 1 in his online journal, which includes entries on the 10 or more requests he has filed with the University.

He sought information about contracts to provide Internet service in dormitories and to install Webcams in classrooms. While not a member of UT Watch, he contributed to the group's security cameras Web page.

"In a way, it's flattering [that agents mentioned UT Watch]. In another way its kind of disturbing," said group member Nick Schwellenbach. "If UT or the FBI wants to investigate someone who wants to find out about the steam tunnels, in a way, it's overreacting."

In a Feb. 25 ruling, Attorney General Greg Abbott agreed with the University that the tunnel plans are exempt under HB 9, the homeland security bill that also closed access to campus surveillance camera locations The Daily Texan requested.

Faulkner said protecting the tunnel plans is more important than protecting surveillance information.

"I think there's a relation," Faulkner said. "This is actually a more serious question than the security cameras."

Suzy Woodford of the open government group Common Cause Texas lobbied against the security exemptions in HB 9. She said the task force investigation stepped on Miller's civil rights.

"Without a subpoena, without any clear evidence that this person is up to no good, I think this is chilling, and this could have a very adverse impact on people who are requesting information," Woodford said.

Questioning an open records requester is not usual for agents, said Perry, of the Secret Service. She said she didn't learn about the investigation until Miller showed up at the agency's office.

"It would not be normal for us in this office, but [Jones] is not assigned to this office," she said. "The Joint Terrorism Task Force probably would look into something like that. [Miller] could be a terrorist. He could be planning a plot."

Posted by thinkum at May 7, 2004 12:16 PM