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Air Force, sheriff, court keeping secrets

A Lincoln County sheriff's deputy was responding to complaints by Air Force security officers in April when he seized equipment from a network news team on assignment near the secret Groom Lake base, a court document revealed Wednesday shows.

Despite repeated requests, the Pahranagat Valley Justice Court and the Lincoln County district attorney's office had declined to release the affidavit by Sgt. Douglas Lamoreaux for two months, or identify the complainant.

The search warrant affidavit shows that, on April 8, "Nellis Range Security" requested that the Lincoln Country sheriff's office "take appropriate measures to secure the photographic and recording equipment" of an ABC news team on assignment at Freedom Ridge, 35 miles west of Alamo. The crew had traveled to the ridge to shoot a story about Air Force plans to withdraw 4,000 acres of public land for a buffer zone around the secret base, referred to in the affidavit simply as a "vital military installation."

The government has never acknowledged the existence of the base, which has been used to test advanced U.S. aircraft, including the SR-71 and U-2 spy planes and the F-117 stealth fighter. Nevertheless, using a contracted security force, it has tried to suppress attempts to photograph the facility from ridges on public land.

One week after the incident, the sheriff's office returned the equipment to the news team without filing a case for prosecution. District Attorney Thomas Dill refused to show the warrant affidavit to the Review-Journal, even though the case is closed and the document contains no sealed or secret information.

Nevertheless, on Wednesday the Review-Journal obtained a copy of the affidavit from Rachel resident Glenn Campbell, who had accompanied the news team to Freedom Ridge and whose equipment was also seized in the incident.

The document shrouds the identity of those who lodged the complaint against Campbell and the news team, referring to them simply as "Nellis Range Security Officer #1" and "Nellis Range Security Officer #2."

Although the unidentified officers called on Lincoln County sheriff's officers to seize the equipment, Campbell said some members of the secret security force have shown him badges indicating that they have been deputized by the county sheriff's department to patrol the Freedom Ridge area.

"I'm not happy about an unidentified paramilitary force patrolling public land," said Campbell, the leader of a private research company, the Secrecy Oversight Council, who has advocated free access to public lands adjacent to the base.

"The situation is ripe for abuse. These guys answer to none."