1

Paul R. Murphy

From: Paul R. Murphy <ah2wa@hughes.net>Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 3:25 AMTo: 'Jeff Parks'; 'Paul Murphy'Cc: 'Bill Elfo'; 'Carey James'; 'Don Boyd'; 'Kevin Mede'; 'Steven Cooley'; 'Spencer Kope'Subject: RE: Security Sensitive Information - Reminder

Follow Up Flag: Follow upFlag Status: Completed

Categories: Red Category

Chief Parks,

Firstly, what I discovered was a result of a proactive random patrol approach that should becommended, not discouraged by a letter of reprimand, for what amounts to a paperwork violation.

On 07-05-08, I found 1 improvised trail into a heavily wooded area of no apparent consequence toany nearby facilities. It was not and could not be determined if the trail was legitimately there as ageologic, survey, or pipeline inspection access, a riding trail made by local juveniles for motorsportspurposes, or dozens of other possible reasons that are not of a criminal or terror threat nature. Thisis why I summoned cover and checked it out that day, then later flagged down Shane on 07-09-08to possibly learn from him what his thoughts of it were. It wasn’t until that conversation on 07-09-08 that potentially suspicious information came to light, which had already been developed andreported by Refinery Security, which Shane also advised had already been up-channeled andreported through USCG and DHS channels.

Secondly, it was premature and disappointing of you to jump to conclusions and order Sgt. Mede toreprimand me about an alleged policy violation prior to inquiring of me about the specificinformation I’d found and the specific conversation I had with Shane on 07-09-08. You took a onesided view of the situation, from a brief casual email, and never even asked me about it. Had I beenasked, you would have learned that I simply told Shane that I, as in the singular “me”, frequently dorandom patrols through the area because of it being a known criminal hangout, Vince Jones’questionable visitors and parties, and it being a suspected contraband exchange point. I did openlyspeculate that the trail “could be an area for air drops”, as in smuggling activities, simply thinkingout loud. I never stated or implied that the WCSO was conducting any sort of official “investigation”,or that “we”, as in the collective WCSO, had undertaken any sort of “operation”.

Lastly, clear text email is NOT a secure method of communications, regardless of where themessage originates or is received. Only encrypted email, with unique 128 bit SSL encryption keys(or better) at both the send and receive ends guarantees any level of security, which we do not use.Clear text email can be intercepted anywhere from point of origin to destination and read by anyonewith a computer. Whatcom County email is no exception to this.

As such, the letter of reprimand is not just or warranted. I intend to follow up on the reprimand witha formal response after reviewing WCSO Guild CBA protocol language.

2

P. Murphy

Regards,

P. R. Murphy

360-920-4020

email: ah2wa@hughes.net

MSN live IM: Murph147@hotmail.com

From: Jeff Parks [mailto:JParks@co.whatcom.wa.us]Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 12:54 PMTo: Paul MurphyCc: Bill Elfo; Carey James; Don Boyd; Kevin Mede; Steven Cooley; Spencer KopeSubject: Security Sensitive Information - ReminderImportance: High

Deputy Murphy,

The following information was relayed to WCSO Command Staff regarding potential "threat information"and WCSO counter-surveillance and patrol activity at or involving a critical infrastructure site. We couldfind no official documentation (case report) on this situation. I was able to locate some information youhad forwarded directly to Spencer Kope via email.

******

The following information is provided as a follow up to the email sent on 06/10/2008;

Narrative of a refinery security patrol officer:

"At approx. 1912 hours on 07/08/08 I was flagged down by a WCSO Deputy. The deputy asked me what I knew aboutthe trails running from west of the Henry Road pole gate toward the northwest. He told me that recently he and a teamof law enforcement officers had walked the trails in an attempt to discover their purpose. Further, he told me theyspeculated the trails may lead to clearings which could be used as “drop-sites” for those considering perpetratingdamage upon BP’s marine facility.

I shared with the deputy some of the information I was aware of in reference to the case of trespassing by a pair of ATVsthree or four weeks ago (Lonseth @ Jackson Road to Gulf Road beach).

The deputy told me that the WCSO would be monitoring the area for suspicious activity. I provided him with Lt. Smith’sname and telephone number and suggested he or someone within the S.O. contact him with additional questions orconcerns.

The (above) information was provided by Whatcom County to a refinery security officer.

The Following Directive was sent out on July 3, 2008

To all commissioned WCSO personnel:

3

As many of you are aware, Whatcom County has within its boundaries a number of facilities and locations that are eitherclosely associated with or contain critical infrastructure such as refineries, pipelines, dams, power transmissionlines, substations and transportation corridors. Locations that are secured and/or have limited access should be treatedwith a heightened awareness and concern for security and potential acts of sabotage or activities that could besurveillance and pre-planning for attacks. There are also locations that are very accessible and have little externalhardening or physical security, such as pipelines, railways, bridges, pumping stations, power transformers, etc.

Calls to these sites, as well as observed instances of suspicious or unauthorized activity should always be documented ina case report and those reports are to be forwarded to the proper authority such as the FBI. Local law enforcement isviewed as the first line of defense, not only by patrolling and responding to these locations, but through developinginformation and intelligence that may later provide invaluable in prevention and deterrence.

We encourage the security entities and managers responsible for sites located in the County to call 911 and request aresponse from WCSO when suspicious activity, trespass, or situations exist that could indicate a threat or potentialthreat to security. Please remember to treat these with the concern that is warranted. If there is any question as to alocation or site and how it may relate to Key Resource or Critical Infrastructure please do not hesitate to contact me orDon Boyd at DEM. (End of Directive)

Deputy Murphy,

Please review and comply with the request to document information as described and directedabove. Your email, via a personal email address is not an appropriate or sanctioned method ofcommunication for L.E. Sensitive information concerning Homeland Security matters. Please furnish suchinformation via a written case report or FIR as per the standard operating procedures of the Sheriff'sOffice.

I applaud, and appreciate your efforts and initiative and for checking on your observations and followingup where others might not. Please keep up the good work. Please realize that these well intentionedactions carry a responsibility to follow our internal protocols.

Thank you,

I was poking around the end of Gulf Rd. last week, checking on one of my projects: Vince Jones, BC Smuggling, Inc.and found a freshly cut trail, west into the tree line roughly halfway between Henry Rd and Gulf Rd. on Powder PlantRd. Bonsen, Van Loo and I later trekked in to see where it went and found that it went all the way to a creek bed ravineabout ¼ mile in (north westerly) through heavy brush. It terminates at a swampy looking ravine, in an area where theheavily treed canopy opens up a bit. It all appeared to be freshly cut and appeared to have taken considerable effort todo so, but we couldn’t identify the purpose of it at the time. To me, it had the feel of being something haphazard andillicit, but I’m hard pressed to say what the purpose would be.

I was in the same area tonight doing an area check and found 2 more of these trails not far from the first one. While Iwas there, I met up with one of the refinery security patrols, Shane Walls, and asked him about the trails. Walls tells methat they also discovered the trails, about 6-8 total, and they don’t know what to make of them either. Walls tells methat they have verified that the trails are not geological, survey or pipeline related and that neither of the large plantsknows why they were made either. Walls also told me that they found 1 trail that terminates just short of the US CoastGuard station off Cherry Point and speculated that perhaps it may have been intended as a back access to that area forreasons unknown at this time.

Shane told me that their security office has already notified the refinery and aluminum plants and that DHS has alsobeen advised of the discovery by USCG personnel. As it’s already been reported and up-channeled to DHS, I didn’t seeany point in creating a duplicate report for our already plentiful archive of useless paper.

4

No further action is required of us at this time and this is primarily an FYI to keep an eye on things out there until thepurpose of those trails can be identified.

Murphy

Regards,

P. R. Murphy360-920-4020email: ah2wa@hughes.net <mailto:ah2wa@hughes.net>MSN live IM: Murph147@hotmail.com <mailto:Murph147@hotmail.com>

Chief Jeff ParksWhatcom County Sheriff's OfficeBureau of Enforcement and Investigations311 Grand Avenue / Public Safety BldgBellingham, WA 98225(360) 676-6650jparks@whatcomcounty.us

Our Vision - "The Office of Sheriff: Dedicated to making Whatcom County the safest in theState through excellence in public safety."