In a new case of alleged mishandling of classified materials, a Navy
contract linguist who served in Bahrain until earlier this year was charged
with unlawful retention of national defense information after several
classified documents were found in his possession.  

But although James F. Hitselberger, an experienced Arabic translator, was
charged under an Espionage Act statute (18 USC 793e), he is not suspected
of espionage.  The government "concedes that Defendant... did not
disseminate the classified information to a 'foreign power'," a Magistrate
Judge noted on Monday when the case was unsealed.

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/hitsel/index.html

Rather, Mr. Hitselberger told NCIS agents that "his sole purpose was to
take the materials to his quarters to read" and he "claimed not to know
that the documents... were classified, notwithstanding their clear
markings."

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/hitsel/complaint.pdf

The case has a number of unusual features, beginning with the defendant
himself, who is a peripatetic collector of rare documents. While at the
University of Texas at Austin in the 1990s, he was said to have been
"working on an open-ended Ph.D. in an unknown subject."  His living
quarters in Bahrain, in which a classified document was allegedly found in
April of this year, were "extremely cluttered and contained hundreds of
newspapers [and] numerous books."

Remarkably, Mr. Hitselberger had donated many of his most valuable
documentary discoveries over the years to the Hoover Institution at
Stanford University, which actually maintains a "James F. Hitselberger
Collection." It notably includes political posters and leaflets that he
gathered in pre-revolutionary Iran.

        http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt909nf448/

Unfortunately, according to a newly unsealed complaint, Hoover's
Hitselberger Collection also contained classified records that he had
contributed.

"Agents visited the Hoover Archives and reviewed the collection.  In an
area open to the public, the agents found a classified document titled
Bahrain Situation Update dated February 13, 2012.... In a secure,
non-public area of the Archives, agents also discovered two other documents
marked SECRET."

A disconcerted Hoover Institution archivist told Mr. Hitselberger in May
by email that "in light of the FBI investigation of your collection here at
Hoover, we will no longer accept additions to the collection, as we don't
want to risk receiving more classified material."

In April of this year, Mr. Hitselberger was dismissed from his post in
Bahrain and was expected to return to the United States.  Instead, however,
he traveled for months through Germany, Sweden, Malta, Bulgaria and the
United Kingdom, and was beyond the reach of U.S. authorities.

"Although the government was aware of Defendant's whereabouts during that
time, the countries would not extradite him [to the U.S.] because the
offense charged was characterized as a 'political offense'," according to a
November 5 memorandum of findings of fact by DC District Magistrate Judge
Deborah A. Robinson.

But last month, when it was learned that he was traveling to Kuwait, the
Government of Kuwait agreed to expel him into U.S. custody if he arrived
there without a valid passport.  So the U.S. suspended his passport, and
upon arrival placed him under arrest.

In traditional espionage cases, a suspected spy is sometimes identified by
unexplained affluence or ostentatious behavior.  But, as noted, this is not
an espionage case and there is no question of affluence.

To the contrary, the government and the court seemed disturbed by Mr.
Hitselberger's extraordinary frugality which, they suggested, might enable
him to quietly vanish.

"Defendant has demonstrated his ability to live abroad and survive on his
apparently modest means," wrote Judge Robinson. "Defendant's pattern of
residing in, and relocating to, various countries without ascertainable
income bespeaks his ability to live abroad undetected with limited
resources."

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/hitsel/findings.pdf

Mr. Hitselberger was ordered detained without bond.

NATURAL GAS IN THE US ECONOMY, AND MORE FROM CRS

New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that
Congress has not made available to the public include the following.

Natural Gas in the U.S. Economy: Opportunities for Growth, November 6,
2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42814.pdf

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Title VII,
Derivatives, November 6, 2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41398.pdf

Same-Sex Marriages: Legal Issues, November 5, 2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31994.pdf

Mayo v. Prometheus: Implications for Patents, Biotechnology, and
Personalized Medicine, November 6, 2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42815.pdf

U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: Trends and Current Issues, October 26,
2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21118.pdf

Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: An Economic Analysis,
October 26, 2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21857.pdf

Employment for Veterans: Trends and Programs, October 23, 2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42790.pdf

Yemen: Background and U.S. Relations, November 1, 2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL34170.pdf

Bahrain: Reform, Security, and U.S. Policy, November 6, 2012:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/95-1013.pdf

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

The Secrecy News Blog is at:
     http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
     http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html

To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to
     http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/unsubscribe.html

OR email your request to saftergood@fas.org

Secrecy News is archived at:
     http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html

Support the FAS Project on Government Secrecy with a donation:
     http://www.fas.org/member/donate_today.html

_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood@fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood