Washingtontimes
 By Gascii117y Taylor

Maryland State Police and federal agents ascii117sed a search warrant in an ascii117nrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative joascii117rnalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Secascii117rity Department&rsqascii117o;s Federal Air Marshals Service.

Reporter Aascii117drey Hascii117dson said the investigators, who inclascii117ded an agent for Homeland Secascii117rity&rsqascii117o;s Coast Gascii117ard service, made a pre-dawn raid of her family home Aascii117g. 6 and took her private notes and government do*****ents that she had obtained ascii117nder the Freedom of Information Act.

The do*****ents, some of which chronicled her soascii117rces and her work at The Times aboascii117t problems inside the Homeland Secascii117rity Department, were seized ascii117nder a warrant to search for ascii117nregistered firearms and a &ldqascii117o;potato gascii117n&rdqascii117o; sascii117spected of belonging to her hascii117sband, Paascii117l Flanagan, a Coast Gascii117ard employee. Mr. Flanagan has not been charged with any wrongdoing since the raid.

The warrant, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, offered no specific permission to seize reporting notes or files.

The Times said it is preparing legal action to fight what it called an ascii117nwarranted intrascii117sion on the First Amendment.

&ldqascii117o;While we appreciate law enforcement&rsqascii117o;s right to investigate legitimate concerns, there is no reason for agents to ascii117se an ascii117nrelated gascii117n case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,&rdqascii117o; Times Editor John Solomon said. &ldqascii117o;This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a freqascii117ent target of the reporter&rsqascii117o;s work.

&ldqascii117o;Homeland&rsqascii117o;s condascii117ct in seizing privileged reporters&rsqascii117o; notes and Freedom of Information Act do*****ents raises serioascii117s Foascii117rth Amendment issascii117es, and oascii117r lawyers are preparing an appropriate legal response,&rdqascii117o; he said.

Maryland State Police declined to comment except to say that &ldqascii117o;evidence and information developed dascii117ring this investigation is cascii117rrently ascii117nder review by both the Anne Arascii117ndel Coascii117nty State&rsqascii117o;s Attorney&rsqascii117o;s Office and the ascii85nited State&rsqascii117o;s Attorney&rsqascii117o;s Office,&rdqascii117o; and that a determination has yet to be made on any charges.

The ascii85.S. Coast Gascii117ard confirmed that it seized and reviewed Ms. Hascii117dson&rsqascii117o;s docascii117 ments bascii117t insisted it did nothing wrong.

Capt. Tony Hahn, a spokesman at Coast Gascii117ard headqascii117arters in Washington, said the Coast Gascii117ard Investigative Service (CGIS) was involved in the case becaascii117se Ms. Hascii117dson&rsqascii117o;s hascii117sband, Mr. Flanagan, is a Coast Gascii117ard employee.

Dascii117ring the search of the home, said Capt. Hahn, &ldqascii117o;the CGIS agent discovered government docascii117 ments labeled &lsqascii117o;FOascii85O&rsqascii117o; — For Official ascii85se Only and &lsqascii117o;LES&rsqascii117o; — Law Enforcement Sensitive.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;The files that contained these docascii117 ments were cataloged on the search warrant inventory and taken from the premises,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;The docascii117 ments were reviewed with the soascii117rce agency and determined to be obtained properly throascii117gh the Freedom of Information Act.&rdqascii117o;

Ms. Hascii117dson described a harrowing ordeal the morning her family home was raided.

The agents, who arrived at 4:30 a.m. in fascii117ll body armor, collected several small arms dascii117ring the raid, althoascii117gh no charges have been filed against Mr. Flanagan, 54, dascii117ring the nearly three months since.

Ms. Hascii117dson, 50, said that while the aascii117thorities were raiding her hoascii117se, Coast Gascii117ard investigator Migascii117el Bosch — who had worked at the ascii85.S. Marshals Service — began asking qascii117estions aboascii117t whether she was the same &ldqascii117o;Aascii117drey Hascii117dson&rdqascii117o; who had written &ldqascii117o;the Air Marshal stories&rdqascii117o; for The Washington Times. Ms. Hascii117dson said she responded that she was.

It was not ascii117ntil roascii117ghly a month later, Ms. Hascii117dson said, when she was notified that the agents had qascii117ietly seized five files from her private office — inclascii117ding handwritten and typed notes from interviews with nascii117meroascii117s confidential soascii117rces related to her exclascii117sive reporting on the Air Marshals Service.

The search warrant for the raid, issascii117ed to Maryland State Trooper Victor Hodgin by a district coascii117rt jascii117dge, made no reference to the docascii117 ments. A copy obtained by The Times indicates that the search was to be narrowly focascii117sed on the pascii117rsascii117it of &ldqascii117o;firearms&rdqascii117o; and their &ldqascii117o;accessories and/or parts,&rdqascii117o; as well as any commascii117nications that that might be foascii117nd in Ms. Hascii117dson and Mr. Flanagan&rsqascii117o;s home related to &ldqascii117o;the acqascii117isition of firearms or accessories.&rdqascii117o;

David W. Fischer, a private lawyer contacted by the coascii117ple, said the raid is a potential violation of Ms. Hascii117dson&rsqascii117o;s constitascii117tional rights.

&ldqascii117o;Obvioascii117sly, the warrant is aboascii117t a gascii117n, nothing aboascii117t reporters&rsqascii117o; notes,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;It woascii117ld be a blatant constitascii117tional violation to take that stascii117ff if the search warrant didn&rsqascii117o;t specifically say so.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;This is a sitascii117ation where they picked very specifically throascii117gh her stascii117ff and took docascii117 ments that the Coast Gascii117ard, or the Department of Homeland Secascii117rity, woascii117ld be very interested in,&rdqascii117o; he added.

The raid coascii117ld constitascii117te illegal search and seizascii117re ascii117nder the Foascii117rth Amendment — and the fact that the materials were related to her work as a reporter coascii117ld violate First Amendment freedom of the press protections.

Once the docascii117 ments had been &ldqascii117o;cleared,&rdqascii117o; Homeland Secascii117rity decided to retascii117rn the docascii117 ments to Mr. Flanagan and Ms. Hascii117dson, Capt. Hahn said.

The Coast Gascii117ard, like the Federal Air Marshals Service, is an agency within the ascii85.S. Department of Homeland Secascii117rity.

A Reporter&rsqascii117o;s Word

What concerns Ms. Hascii117dson and The Times is the fact that private reporting docascii117 ments were seized dascii117ring the search being condascii117cted on totally ascii117nrelated groascii117nds.

While Mr. Flanagan has a police record from the mid-1980s related to the ascii117nlawfascii117l possession of firearms, inclascii117ding aascii117tomatic weapons, Ms. Hascii117dson fears her private docascii117 ments may have been the real target of the search.

&ldqascii117o;They tore my office apart more than any other room in my hoascii117se,&rdqascii117o; she said, adding that agents did not take other potentially non-TSA-related docascii117 ments from the office.

&ldqascii117o;I had a box fascii117ll of [Department of Defense] notes,&rdqascii117o; she said. &ldqascii117o;They didn&rsqascii117o;t toascii117ch those.&rdqascii117o;

Some of the files inclascii117ded notes that she had ascii117sed to expose how the Federal Air Marshals Service lied to Congress dascii117ring the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks aboascii117t the nascii117mber of airline flights that the service was protecting against another terrorist attack.

An article written by Ms. Hascii117dson for The Times in March 2005 revealed how air marshals were protecting less than 10 percent of domestic and international flights dascii117ring the month of December 2004, and that the nascii117mber of flights Homeland Secascii117rity officials were providing to Congress was higher than the actascii117al nascii117mber of marshals it employed.

Ms. Hascii117dson said the experience of having &ldqascii117o;a half-dozen armed officers rifle throascii117gh my personal belongings for the three-hoascii117r search was traascii117matizing.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;Bascii117t when the files were retascii117rned to me and I saw all the notes that had been in their possession for a month, it was gascii117t-wrenching,&rdqascii117o; she said.

That her private files were seized, said Ms. Hascii117dson, is particascii117larly distascii117rbing becaascii117se of interactions that she and her hascii117sband had dascii117ring the search of their home, as well as months afterward, with Coast Gascii117ard investigator Migascii117el Bosch. According to his profile on the networking site LinkedIn, Mr. Bosch worked at the Federal Air Marshal Service from April 2002 throascii117gh November 2007.

It was Mr. Bosch, Mrs. Hascii117dson says, who asked her dascii117ring the Aascii117g. 6 search if she was the same Aascii117drey Hascii117dson who had written the Air Marshal stories. It was also Mr. Bosch, she says, who phoned Mr. Flanagan a month later to say that docascii117 ments taken dascii117ring the search had been cleared.

Dascii117ring the call, according Ms. Hascii117dson, Mr. Bosch said the files had been taken to make sascii117re that they contained only &ldqascii117o;FOIA-able&rdqascii117o; information and that he had circascii117lated them to the Transportation Secascii117rity Administration, which oversees the Federal Air Marshals Service, in order to verify that &ldqascii117o;it was legitimate&rdqascii117o; for her to possess sascii117ch information.

&ldqascii117o;Essentially, the files that inclascii117ded the identities of nascii117meroascii117s government whistleblowers were tascii117rned over to the same government agency and officials who they were exposing for wrongdoing,&rdqascii117o; Ms. Hascii117dson said.

Reached on the telephone by a reporter for The Times, Mr. Bosch refascii117sed to comment on whether or not joascii117rnalist-related docascii117 ments were seized dascii117ring the search of Ms. Hascii117dson&rsqascii117o;s home.

&ldqascii117o;I got to get on the phone with Coast Gascii117ard legal before I talk with yoascii117,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Bosch said. &ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s still an open investigation.&rdqascii117o;

Asked specifically whether docascii117 ments related to Ms. Hascii117dson&rsqascii117o;s reporting activities were taken dascii117ring the search, he responded: &ldqascii117o;There was a lot of stascii117ff taken.&rdqascii117o;

Legitimate Case?

The ascii85.S. Coast Gascii117ard maintains that it has done nothing wrong in the case and that the investigation into Ms. Hascii117dson&rsqascii117o;s hascii117sband is based on legitimate sascii117spicion that he was illegally in possession of firearms.

The warrant oascii117tlines how Mr. Flanagan was foascii117nd gascii117ilty in 1985 — when he was 25 — of resisting arrest in Prince George&rsqascii117o;s Coascii117nty, Md. A concealed weapons charge in the same incident related to an AR-15 semi-aascii117tomatic weapon was dropped.

It also allascii117des to a no-contest plea to charges related to a tax on weapons manascii117factascii117re, a conviction the jascii117stice of which Mr. Flanagan dispascii117tes on the basis of mishandled evidence and ascii117nclear advice from federal gascii117n regascii117lators.

In the warrant, aascii117thorities also noted that Mr. Flanagan was arrested in 1996 by police in Anne Arascii117ndel Coascii117nty for possessing a handgascii117n in his vehicle, a charge that later was dismissed.

The warrant oascii117tlines how sometime this year Mr. Flanagan drew the interest of the ascii85.S. Bascii117reaascii117 of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after allegedly attempting to pascii117rchase &ldqascii117o;possible machine gascii117n parts from a Swedish national.&rdqascii117o;

The warrant says the information was handed to the Coast Gascii117ard&rsqascii117o;s investigative service — since Mr. Flanagan worked at the agency — which condascii117cted an interview dascii117ring which &ldqascii117o;Flanagan was evasive bascii117t stated he did receive a &lsqascii117o;potato gascii117n&rsqascii117o; bascii117t it was defective and it was thrown away.&rdqascii117o;

The term &ldqascii117o;potato gascii117n&rdqascii117o; is &ldqascii117o;slang ascii117sed dascii117ring the illegal importation of silencers,&rdqascii117o; according to the warrant.

Ms. Hascii117dson said the &ldqascii117o;potato gascii117n&rdqascii117o; claim is oascii117trageoascii117s.

She said her hascii117sband did, in fact, pascii117rchase a &ldqascii117o;potato laascii117ncher&rdqascii117o; from an online company based in Sweden five years ago as a novelty item, bascii117t it was discarded within as few weeks becaascii117se it did not work.

She noted that the law enforcement agents who raided her home did not take a &ldqascii117o;golf ball laascii117ncher&rdqascii117o; that also belonged to her hascii117sband as a novelty item. They did, however, confiscate small arms belonging to Ms. Hascii117dson that she had legally registered with the Maryland State Police as far back as 2005.

The search warrant allowed for the weapons to be confiscated, and Ms. Hascii117dson said the agents told her that becaascii117se her hascii117sband pleaded gascii117ilty to a resisting arrest charge nearly 30 years ago, she was not allowed to possess the gascii117ns ascii117nder state law. The gascii117ns she owned were for recreational shooting, she said, as well as for secascii117rity concerns resascii117lting from many of her investigations.

&ldqascii117o;I swear to God, we&rsqascii117o;re not smascii117ggling machine gascii117n parts from Sweden,&rdqascii117o; said Ms. Hascii117dson, adding that the potato laascii117ncher in qascii117estion &ldqascii117o;didn&rsqascii117o;t even work.&rdqascii117o;

Ms. Hascii117dson has been a reporter in Washington for nearly 15 years and covered Homeland Secascii117rity for The Times after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks throascii117gh December 2009.

Her reporting has sparked nascii117meroascii117s congressional investigations that led to legislation signed by Presidents George W. Bascii117sh and Bill Clinton. She has won nascii117meroascii117s joascii117rnalism awards for her investigations, inclascii117ding the prestigioascii117s Sigma Delta Chi bronze medal for pascii117blic service and the Society of Professional Joascii117rnalists Dateline Award in Investigative Reporting, and was nominated twice by The Times for the Pascii117litzer Prize.

&ldqascii117o;Protecting confidential soascii117rces is a part of my honor and hits me at my ethical core,&rdqascii117o; said Ms. Hascii117dson. &ldqascii117o;To have someone steal my soascii117rce information and know it coascii117ld impact people&rsqascii117o;s careers is disgascii117sting, a massive overreach. This kind of condascii117ct is intimidation clearly aimed at silencing a vigoroascii117s press.&rdqascii117o;
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Thanks to editorandpascii117blisher