http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2009/03/bugs_counter-espionage_and_oth.php
Maricopa County Supervisors Spend $14,600 Sweeping for Bugs
By Ray Stern in NewsMonday, Mar. 16 2009 _at_ 8:57AM
It seems like the very definition of paranoia: Spending thousands of
dollars sweeping for hidden electronic devices -- and finding none.
But that's what Maricopa County Supervisors are doing -- with your money.
The county has now spent $14,600 sweeping for bugs on the 10th floor
of the county building at 301 West Jefferson Street, and no bugs have
been discovered. We first heard about the bugs in a March 10 Arizona
Republic article by Yvonne Wingett about the deteriorating
relationships of county officials. Wingett casually mentions the
bugs, then moves on to other subjects in her article:
And, last December, officials spent $10,000 to have offices in the
10th floor of the county administration building in downtown Phoenix
swept for bugs; none was found.
Last week, New Times put in a public records request with the county
for all records related to bugs and counter-measures taken against
suspected bugs. The county released two invoices: One for $10,000 for
the December sweep, and another $4,600 -- still unpaid -- for a sweep
conducted on February 27th.
Richard de Uriarte, county spokesman, told New Times that was pretty
much all we were going to get, since this deals with security. We
pressed him on who's been ordering the sweeps for bugs: One of the
County Supervisors, he says. He's apparently not authorized to
release the name -- much less the e-mails, memos and other documents
about bugs we were looking for.
Presumably, it's well within the capabilities of a police agency like
the Sheriff's Office to plant bugs, and deputies could do it legally
with a wiretap order. Whether they would do it illegally -- you decide.
Clearly, it would help the county's case if a single bug was found.
Until that happens, this publicly funded Spy Vs. Spy game comes off
looking a bit cuckoo.
It's a little ironic that the people wasting taxpayer money to scan
for nonexistent bugs believed to be planted by their conservative
Republican enemies, except for Mary Rose Wilcox, conservative
Republicans. But it's also typical:
The last time we remember hearing high-level allegations of bugging
was in the late 1980s by then-Governor Evan Mecham, (below), who
famously complained that his enemies were shining laser beams on his
office's windows in a high-tech eavesdropping scheme. Here's a
passage from a New York Times article about Mecham:
Ken Smith, Mr. Mecham's press secretary, said that there was
continuing concern that the Governor's office was the target of some
sort of electronic surveillance but that no evidence had been uncovered.
Nutbar Mecham just used his radio as a bug-block. The county is using
Arizona Technical Security, a Scottsdale company.
Jeff Evert, the company's owner, told New Times that if the county
had hired him to do anything, he wouldn't talk about it. He wouldn't
budge even when told we were looking at the bill. At least someone in
this world has ethics, right?
Among Evert's many qualifications, the company's Web site says, Evert
has taken Counter-Eavesdropping 101, 102 and 103, is as bona fide
member of the Espionage Research Institute. The site sagely advises
potential customers not to call the company from any telephone that
might be bugged.
Problem is, the same secret agents who surreptitiously plant bugs can
remove them just as easily to make detection harder.
Maybe the county should sweep for bugs twice a day.
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James M. Atkinson Phone: (978) 546-3803
Granite Island Group Fax: (978) 546-9467
127 Eastern Avenue #291 Web:
http://www.tscm.com/
Gloucester, MA 01931-8008 E-mail: mailto:jm..._at_tscm.com
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No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the
enemy until it is ripe for execution. - Machiavelli, The Prince, 1521
Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:17 CST