Category: Uncategorized

Operation Jump Start
By Karen Gleason
Del Rio News-Herald

Published June 24, 2006

The troops have arrived.

On Tuesday (June 20) the first contingent of Texas National Guard troops assigned to the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector arrived for the beginning of Operation Jump Start.

“You are truly part of an historic national security effort designed to strengthen our nation’s borders,” said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Randy R. Hill in welcoming the Guardsmen during their orientation Tuesday.
“Your work will allow us to increase deterrence and strengthen border security capabilities while we train additional Border Patrol agents.”

According to a Border Patrol news release announcing Operation Jump Start, “the assignment of the Texas National Guard troops to the Del Rio Sector is part of a program announced by President Bush in May.”

“Operation Jump Start is an immediate, short-term national security effort designed to strengthen border security,” the news release adds.

The Texas National Guard troops stationed in Del Rio will assist the Border Patrol agents here in support activities such as intelligence analysis, operation of the agency’s firing range, automotive mechanics and infrastructure maintenance, according to Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Hilario Leal Jr., of the Del Rio Sector’s public affairs staff.

Leal said the Guardsmen, all of whom volunteered for the border security detail, will serve throughout the Del Rio Sector’s area of operations, which includes just over 200 miles of the Texas-Mexico border.

Leal said the Department of Defense has asked that the exact number of Guardsmen posted in the Del Rio Sector not be released.

He said the troops here are part of the more than 800 National Guardsmen in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Leal also said Friday that the Texas National Guard troops will be assigned to the Del Rio Sector for at least a year, but will rotate out as new Border Patrol agents, also promised by Bush, arrive here for duty.

“We are glad to be here to support such a professional agency,” said Lt. Col. Jose Figueroa, commander of the Del Rio Sector National Guard Task Force.

“The support we are getting from the Del Rio Sector agents is excellent. The welcome we have received from the local community has been wonderful and we look forward to our time in the area.”

Leal added, “The partnership between the National Guard and the Border Patrol has a long history, and one of the next chapters in that history will be written here.”

Writer’s note: A news release from the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector public affairs office was used in the preparation of this story.

So far, no good. We have asked the Texas Governor and Attorney General for documents that would help us understand the timeline and development of Operation Jump Start, which is sending Texas citizens to the border.

The Attorney General’s office claims to have documents that could help establish a timeline, but has declined to release the docs, citing confidentiality.

The Governor’s office has so far admitted to only two documents involving Operation Jump Start: a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Rules for Use of Force (ROF). The MOU has been web posted by the Governor, but the ROF has been declined for release.

The claim that the Governor’s office has no further documents is puzzling on its face, because the MOU mandates that the Governor pre-approve Jump Start missions in order to qualify for federal reimbursement. Indeed, the President and the Governor have emphasized that Jump Start missions are technically commanded by the four governors involved. In a June 30 press release, the Governor’s office once again makes the claim that, “Perry authorized up to 2,300 Texas troops to support the mission.” Yet when we asked a second time for documentation of the Governor’s authorization of this troop level, we were referred back to the MOU, a document signed by four governors and the Pentagon outlining the general framework of Operation Jump Start, which makes no mention of troop levels whatsoever.

If the MOU is to be implemented by four different Governors, then common sense tells us that each Governor is going to have some additional paperwork to do.

For Monday we are preparing another request regarding “the schedule” that sets the standard for being “on time” in Operation Jump Start. The Governor says the operation is going according to plan. So where is the plan?

We will be clear about the fact that we are not seeking any information that would endanger the lives of troops. But we do want to see some evidence of a plan through June 30 that stipulates a troop level of 2,300. And we remain skeptical of claims that nothing besides the MOU or Rules of Force exist in the Governor’s documentary record.

At least the AG admits to having documents, yet even in his case we fail to see why the public cannot be allowed to see the first requests that the AG received to develop the legal framework for Operation Jump Start.

Simply based on documentary behaviors so far, Operation Jump Start looks like militarization of the people’s right to know.

But 16 years after De Luna died by lethal injection [in Texas], the Tribune has uncovered evidence strongly suggesting that the acquaintance he named, Carlos Hernandez, was the one who killed Lopez in 1983.

Ending years of silence, Hernandez’s relatives and friends recounted how the violent felon repeatedly bragged that De Luna went to Death Row for a murder Hernandez committed.

Part One

June 23, 2006

From: Asst. AG for Public Info
To: AG Open Records Div

On June 8, 2006, the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) received a written request for information from Greg Moses. A copy of the request is enclosed.

The OAG asserts that the responsive information is excepted from disclosure under the Public Information Act (“PIA”). Specifically, the OAG invokes all of the exceptions provided by, and the exceptions incorporated into, sections 552.101 through 552.147 or the PIA, including sections 552.101, 552.103, 552.107, 552.108 and 552.111. Pursuant to section 552.301(a) of the PIA, this letter is submitted in order to seek a decision as to whether the exceptions apply. To assist in your review, the OAG will provide a brief of written comments in support of these exceptions and the brief will be submitted not later than the 15th business day form the date the request was received.

Request for Public Information

June 8, 2006

…please provide the following documents related to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) released by the Governor’s office June 4, 2006. By the term document I intend to reference both paper and electronic forms of communication, including pdf and email.

Background: a comment made by Guard Chief Gen. Blum in a May 16 press conference (posted at the DHS website) indicates that legal review of Operation Jump start was already underway with state Attorneys General.

Request: Please provide documents that indicate the earliest requests for involvement of the Texas Attorney General’s Office in the operation that has come to be known as Operation Jump Start.

POINTS OF LAW referenced by OAG

§ 552.101. EXCEPTION: CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION.
Information is excepted from the requirements of
Section 552.021 if it is information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision.

§ 552.103. EXCEPTION: LITIGATION OR SETTLEMENT
NEGOTIATIONS INVOLVING THE STATE OR A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION.
(a) Information is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if it is information relating to litigation of a civil or criminal nature to which the state or a political subdivision is or may be a party or to which an officer or employee of the state or a political
subdivision, as a consequence of the person’s office or employment, is or may be a party.
(b) For purposes of this section, the state or a political subdivision is considered to be a party to litigation of a criminal nature until the applicable statute of limitations has expired or until the defendant has exhausted all appellate and postconviction remedies in state and federal court.

(c) Information relating to litigation involving a
governmental body or an officer or employee of a governmental body is excepted from disclosure under Subsection (a) only if the litigation is pending or reasonably anticipated on the date that the requestor applies to the officer for public information for
access to or duplication of the information.

§ 552.107. EXCEPTION: CERTAIN LEGAL
MATTERS. Information is excepted from the requirements of Section
552.021 if:
(1) it is information that the attorney general or an
attorney of a political subdivision is prohibited from disclosing because of a duty to the client under the Texas Rules of Evidence or the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct; or

(2) a court by order has prohibited disclosure of the
information.

§ 552.108. EXCEPTION: CERTAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT,
CORRECTIONS, AND PROSECUTORIAL INFORMATION..

(a) Information held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if:

(1) release of the information would interfere with
the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime;
(2) it is information that deals with the detection,
investigation, or prosecution of crime only in relation to an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication;

(3) it is information relating to a threat against a
peace officer or detention officer collected or disseminated under Section 411.048; or

(4) it is information that:
(A) is prepared by an attorney representing the
state in anticipation of or in the course of preparing for criminal litigation; or

(B) reflects the mental impressions or legal
reasoning of an attorney representing the state.

(b) An internal record or notation of a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that is maintained for internal use in matters relating to law enforcement or prosecution is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if:

(1) release of the internal record or notation would
interfere with law enforcement or prosecution;
(2) the internal record or notation relates to law
enforcement only in relation to an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication; or
(3) the internal record or notation:

(A) is prepared by an attorney representing the
state in anticipation of or in the course of preparing for criminal litigation; or

(B) reflects the mental impressions or legal
reasoning of an attorney representing the state.

(c) This section does not except from the requirements of Section 552.021 information that is basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime.

§ 552.111. EXCEPTION: AGENCY MEMORANDA.

An interagency or intraagency memorandum or letter that would not be available by law to a party in litigation with the agency is excepted from the
requirements of Section 552.021.