IN the UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT of FLORIDA Case No. 12-61735-Civ-Zloch BROWARD BULLDOG, INC., a Florida
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Case 0:12-cv-61735-WJZ Document 99-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 01/11/2018 Page 1 of 183 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA Case No. 12-61735-Civ-Zloch BROWARD BULLDOG, INC., a Florida ) corporation not for profit, and DAN ) CHRISTENSEN, founder, operator and editor ) of the BrowardBulldog.com website, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) ) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, ) 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW ) Washington, DC 20530, and ) FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, ) 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW ) Washington, DC 20535, ) ) Defendants. ) ) Declaration of Thomas R. Julin in Opposition to the FBI’s Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment GUNSTER, YOAKLEY & STEWART, P.A. Case 0:12-cv-61735-WJZ Document 99-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 01/11/2018 Page 2 of 183 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2002-2011 The Origins of the Bulldog’s Investigation of 9/11 .............................................................2 Thursday 09-08-2011 The Bulldog Uncovers a Secret FBI Investigation of Possible 9/11 Conspirators .................................................................6 Friday 09-09-2011 The FBI Tells The Miami Herald it Determined the al-Hijji Family is Not Related to Any Threat or the 9/11 Plot...........................................11 Friday 09-09-2011 Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham Tells the Bulldog that the FBI’s Statement is “Total B.S.” ........................................................13 Saturday 09-10-12 9-10-2011: An FBI Analyst Secretly Confirms the Bulldog has Uncovered the FBI’s Secret Investigation ...............................................14 Thursday 09-15-2012: FBI Director Robert Mueller is Alerted that the Bulldog has Uncovered the FBI’s Secret Sarasota Investigation ......................................16 Thursday 09-15-2012: The FBI Tells the Tampa Bay Times it Did Not Develop Evidence to Connect the al-Hijjis to the Hijackers or the 9/11 Plot .................................20 Thursday 09-15-2011: Graham Tells the Bulldog that the FBI’s Statement is “Total B.S.” .................................20 09-26-2011 The Bulldog’s FOIA Request ............................................................................................21 10-2011 Sen. Graham Confirms the FBI is Engaged in Aggressive Deception ..............................22 11-2011 The FBI Refuses to Explain its Aggressive Deception ......................................................24 12-21-2011 The FDLE Produces Records Showing the al-Hijjis Had Been Linked to Osama bin Laden in 2004 ...................................................25 GUNSTER, YOAKLEY & STEWART, P.A. Case 0:12-cv-61735-WJZ Document 99-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 01/11/2018 Page 3 of 183 05-23-2012 The FBI Violates FOIA by Refusing to Produce Any Records of its Secret Investigation ..........................................................26 03-28-2013 This Lawsuit Forces the FBI to Release Some of the Records of its Secret Investigation ................................................................26 04-04-2014 The Court Directs the FBI to Conduct a More Through Search for Records of its Secret Investigation ....................................................28 05-01-2014 The FBI Locates 80,266 Pages of “Secret” PENTTBOM Documents in Tampa ....................................................................30 03-25-2015 The Meese Commission Attacks the Bulldog ....................................................................31 04-08-2015 The FBI Commits Further FOIA Violations by Withholding Requested Meese Commission Records .......................................................33 06-15-2016 The Bulldog Sues the FBI for Failing to Produce Meese Commission Records ...............................................................34 02-28-2017 Judge Altonaga Concludes the FBI’s Actions Have Been “Distressing,” “Shocking,” and “Shameful” ...................................................36 04-18-2017 Evidence Found of Esam Ghazzawi’s Contact with U.S. and Saudi Officials ..............................................................................38 07-26-2017 Final Judgment and Appeal ...............................................................................................39 2018 Bob Graham’s Continuing Role in this Litigation .............................................................40 2018 The 9/11 Litigation in New York .......................................................................................40 ii GUNSTER, YOAKLEY & STEWART, P.A. Case 0:12-cv-61735-WJZ Document 99-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 01/11/2018 Page 4 of 183 Declaration I, Thomas R. Julin, declare under penalty of perjury that the following statement is true and correct: 1. My name is Thomas R. Julin. I am lead counsel for the plaintiffs, Broward Bulldog, Inc., and Dan Christensen (collectively, “the Bulldog”), in this lawsuit. I have personal knowledge of the following facts, other than those facts that I have learned from the Declarations of others who have personal knowledge of the facts set forth therein. Declarations of others that are on file with the Court are cited by their Docket Entry numbers. Declarations not previously filed in this action, but filed in other actions, are attached to this Declaration. 2. On November 27, 2017, the defendants, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (collectively, “the FBI”), filed their renewed motion for summary judgment, DE-96, their statement of uncontroverted material facts in support of that motion, DE-97, a fifth declaration of David M. Hardy, DE-97-1, an Updated Universe of Documents, DE-97-2, and an Index Explaining the Location of Responsive Records, 97-3. A Declaration of Michael G. Seidel, DE-97-4, an Appendix for Numbered Redactions, DE-97-5, and a Notice that the FBI had submitted Exhibits A and B to the Fifth Declaration of David M. Hardy in camera. 3. I serve as lead counsel to the Bulldog in a related Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Broward Bulldog, Inc. v. United States Department of Justice, No. 16-61289-Civ- Altonaga/O’Sullivan (“Bulldog II”), which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. 4. I am submitting this declaration to advise the Court of the status of Bulldog II and its relevance to this case. In Bulldog II, the Bulldog has obtained a number of important GUNSTER, YOAKLEY & STEWART, P.A. Case 0:12-cv-61735-WJZ Document 99-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 01/11/2018 Page 5 of 183 documents which reflect that the FBI has not made a reasonable or adequate search for documents responsive to the FOIA requests that are the subject of this case. 5. I also am submitting this declaration to organize and explain the significance of the information contained in the documents released to date by the FBI in response to the Bulldog’s FOIA requests. That information is evidence that the FBI has not conducted a reasonable or adequate search for records responsive to the FOIA request at issue and has redacted and withheld records in this case in order to conceal its own misfeasance or malfeasance rather than for purposes authorized by Congress through exemptions to FOIA’s disclosure requirements. 2001-2011 The Origins of the Bulldog’s Investigation of 9/11 6. The Bulldog began reporting about 9/11 in the fall of 2011. Well before that, former U.S. Senator Robert Graham had begun to sound a warning to the American public that key aspects of the 9/11 investigation conducted by the FBI were being kept secret and that this secrecy seriously jeopardized national security by shrouding the possibility that the 9/11 hijackers were assisted by a network of Saudi government agents throughout the United States. 7. His concerns arose from his service as co-chair in 2001 and 2002 of U.S. Senate and House Joint Intelligence Committees’ Inquiry (referred to as the “JICI”) into the events of September 11. DE-29-5 ¶ 53. The JICI had the specific charter to review the activities of the Intelligence Community and was limited to approximately one year’s duration. The JICI completed its work with the submission of a Final Report to Congress on December 20, 2002. DE-29-5 ¶ 13. 8. JICI staff conducted an intensive investigation of the 9/11 plot, the activities of the 19 hijackers, and the existence of a network of support that allowed them to carry out their 2 GUNSTER, YOAKLEY & STEWART, P.A. Case 0:12-cv-61735-WJZ Document 99-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 01/11/2018 Page 6 of 183 attacks. DE-29-5 ¶ 17. 9. As part of its inquiry, the JICI had instructed the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to provide it with all information regarding the 9/11 attacks. DE-29-5 ¶ 21 & ¶ 23. 10. Graham feels that evidence linking the Saudi elite to the 9/11 hijackers “has not been fully explored and pursued, to the considerable detriment of the American public.” DE-29- 4 ¶ 11. Graham also was “convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia.” DE- 29-4 ¶ 12. He also felt that the FBI had not been forthcoming with the JICI. DE-29-5 ¶ 27 11. Graham had been frustrated in trying to get his message out through the JICI report in 2002 because a 28-page section of the JICI’s Final Report dealing with “sources of foreign support for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers” remained classified at the time of the report’s release. DE-29-5 ¶ 24. 12. The JICI turned over the records it had accumulated to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (“the 9/11 Commission”), which was created by Congress and