U.S. terror suspects accused of targeting Marine base

On the heels of our analysis yesterday of the terror attack drill conducted at Fort Monmouth and how it relates to our case at Earle, Reuters reports that the two men charged in North Carolina last month with plotting terror attacks overseas also planned to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, authorities said on Thursday.

A new indictment against "alleged" ringleader Daniel Patrick Boyd (see past NOPE blogs about Mr. Boyd, about a month ago) and Hysen Sherifi charges the men with conspiring to murder U.S. military personnel and possessing armor piercing ammunition. Clearly these are wonderful, upstanding civilians .... As Reuters reports:

"These additional charges hammer home the grim reality that today's home-grown terrorists are not limiting their violent plans to locations overseas, but instead are willing to set their sights on American citizens and American targets, right here at home," U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding said.

Reiterating yesterday's commentary, NOPE scratches its collective head wondering why, considering the wealth of knowledge we have on global terrorism and military bases now on the radars of terrorists, U.S. Navy leaders in Washington are so eager to build an unimpeded civilian access road thru the heart of Weapons Station Earle, all for the sake of obligating a 30-year housing privatization contract that has nothing to do with enhancing the base's mission. We encourage our supporters to challenge their elected officials and the U.S. Navy on this, and to attend our October 27 rally at Colts Neck High School.

Fort Monmouth drill validates NOPE's concern about proposed civilian housing at Earle and threat of base attack

Roughly a month after we blogged here about a hostage drill at Weapons Station Earle, we find Fort Monmouth conducting an emergency readiness drill, simulating a terror attack. Interesting, in that by 2012 there will presumably be no more U.S. Army mission at Fort Monmouth, but that's another story...

Our takeaway from Fort Monmouth's drill (read the full text of the story in today's Asbury Park Press), other than the emergency responders did such a great job that the commander wrapped up the exercise two hours ahead of schedule (Miller time!), is that the drill was designed to simulate a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a building on the base, fired by a terrorist from the parking lot of a nearby dentist's office!

"We never try to test the "powder puff' scenarios," said Michael Ruane of the
James Thomas Group, a garrison contractor that designed and ran Wednesday's
event.

NOPE recognizes the need of our nearby military bases to conduct emergency response drills, but the respective planning by the U.S. Navy for a hostage drill and the U.S. Army of a rocket-propelled grenade attack on the base suggest to us that opening an active U.S. military munitions facility (NWS Earle) to civilians is idiotic to the highest order.

The notion of opening an unimpeded, roughly 2-mile long access road to the Laurelwood houses at Earle from Rt. 34 in Colts Neck and cutting, in essence, right behind the extremely well guarded main gate at the Navy base flies in the face of reason, and will leave open the possibility of more than just a "drill" at one of our most important weapons installations.

Imagine, if you will, droves of unchecked cars coming and going to the Laurelwood homes, traversing the new "Alternate 4" road selected by the U.S. Navy, and the possibility of one car stopping along the shoulder of this new $12 million road (cordoned off from the active base by a mere 7 feet of rented security fencing but running squarely thru the base) to launch a grenade attack on a U.S. Navy train ready to move explosives to a U.S. Navy ship at the harborside base in Middletown, or perhaps to fire upon a building that houses active Navy service members or private contractors working within the confines of a supposedly secure Naval Weapons Station Earle...

How would Navy leaders in Washington explain to the U.S. public that a dozen of its own service members were killed because of its own stubbornness to get out of an 80s-era privatized housing contract?

Again, the options are: a) no unimpeded access route, no civilian housing at Weapons Station Earle, and diminished threat of an attack within the boundaries of the Navy base, or b) free access to Laurelwood for the 1,200 or more presumed civilian residents at Earle and ANY visitors from 2010-2040, compromised base security, and the possibility of a disaster at a strategically important mission.

YOU decide...attend our RALLY at Colts Neck High, Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 730pm, and visit our table at Tinton Falls Day, this Saturday, September 26 from 3p-7p, at the Sycamore Soccer Complex along Sycamore Avenue, next to Atchison School.

SAVE THE DATE: NOPE RALLY, Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Specifics to follow, but NOPE will be staging an autumn rally at the Colts Neck High School auditorium on Tuesday, October 27 at 730 p.m. Stay tuned!

Civilian housing at Earle would cost U.S. taxpayers AT LEAST $360 MILLION

Roughly a month away from a big community rally we are planning, it is appropriate on a slow Monday in the NOPE news cycle to redirect readers' attention to the business case analysis we released last November, justifying the financial merits of an outright revocation or buyout of the Laurelwoood housing "outlease" (i.e. the portion covering civilian housing).

Candidly, your Navy leaders in Washington have been remiss to address such analysis, billing it as "too complicated" to analyze (see the Laurelwood EIS for full text). We are hopeful, however, that the Senate's GAO will expose what NAVFAC egregiously ignored throughout the Laurelwood Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and public comment process - that unless OUR local communities speak up, Laurelwood becomes OUR financial mess - and that the Navy and its developer will amicably reach a resolution and alleviate our headache.

The analysis considers perpetual and one-time costs and risks not only to the U.S. taxpayer through 2040 (at least a $300 million obligation, mostly to Earle-area residents, largely in terms of educational costs), but to the U.S. Navy itself (at least $60 million) if it goes thru with the civilian outlease. We would encourage all visitors to take a look at this easy-to-follow 8-page brief and invite any questions or comments at njNOPE@gmail.com and/or justsaynope@verizon.net.

Good news from the Menendez office

Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg have co-signed a letter to the top-ranking Senate and House Armed Services committee "conferees" (John McCain among them), urging inclusion of Congressman Chris Smith's amendment (already approved in the House) to F2010 defense spending legislation that would require the GAO to study the security and financial ramifications to all stakeholders of proposed Laurelwood civilian housing at NWS Earle.

This is good news to NOPE. The need for the letter is a technical matter as it relates to D.C. politics, but nonetheless validates the merits of NOPE's argument that the Laurelwood EIS put forth by Navy factfinders is utterly flawed, short on facts, and misleading to federal, state and local agencies required to comment on the "environmental impact statement."

Two New Contacts in the Blogosphere

NOPE has reached out to one member of the blogosphere - Michael Schindler, a Navy veteran and contributor to The Washington Times, as well as the Founder of Operation Military Family - in hopes that he will share our story with his readers.

Mr. Schindler's blog, The Military Wire (link embedded), discusses and raises "public awareness on issues that affect our service members and their families," and NOPE sees (among the slew of obvious pitfalls of civilians living on an active weapons base) the Laurelwood housing issue as a major compromise of the quality of life of the active service members living in other housing (i.e. Stark Road) at Weapons Station Earle, not to mention a significant compromise of base security and a distraction to Earle's singular mission to provide ammunition to the U.S. fleet (i.e. MPs pulling cars over for speeding on the proposed "Alternative #4" entry road to Laurelwood or settling domestic disputes at a Laurelwood home, rather than focusing on guarding weapons shipments from the bayfront installation to the Main Base in Colts Neck).

We also have heard from Amy Fankhauser of Howell TRUTH, a grassroots school-budget advocacy group that apparently has been keeping tabs on our case and encouraging greater resident participation in Howell (NJ) BOE matters in light of budget contraints that prompted the district to close Southard School. For some time we have tried to engage Howell's (a member of the Freehold Regional school district) elected leaders (and all elected township officials throughout Monmouth County) in support of our cause, and perhaps the contact with Howell TRUTH and other grassroots groups will prove the catalyst to such support.

We'll keep you posted on the results of this outreach.

Quick Update on our EPA challenge

NOPE's own Charles Basile of Colts Neck, whose firm, the Wall Street Group (of Jersey City), has graciously donated many of the printed materials distributed by us since inception, received a letter from EPA Region 2 chief John Filippelli that amounted to an implicit copout that a) the EPA can only take the Navy at its word that breaching the Laurelwood contract is not a "reasonable alternative" to the "No Build Alternative" we have long espoused, and b) yes, the Navy should have released its EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) much earlier than it did in order to give the EPA more time to study environmental alternatives to opening up the Laurelwood houses on the base to civilian occupants. In our view, these answers are unacceptable from an agency whose presumed mission is environmental protection. (Breaching an EPA Superfund site in addition to displacing wetlands and wreaking environmental havoc, as the Navy will do to obligate the civilian out-lease portion of the Laurelwood contract, seems to fit this description).

Fulton Wilcox, who along with Diana Piotrowski has spearheaded our EPA case, is organizing NOPE's response, which NOPE will share here once finished, and in the meantime we will continue to press environmental officials on the Navy's misleading "purpose and need."

1988 Department of Navy letter raises questions about original motive to extend the Laurelwood housing contract by 20 years

We highly recommend that anyone seeking documentation pertaining either to the Laurelwood housing situation at Weapons Station Earle or any other endeavor requiring extensive research of federal documents invoke the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). With experience as our guide, the coordinators of this program are relentless in their pursuit of fulfilling citizens' information requests - a tremendous service to U.S. taxpayers.

NOPE's earliest request yielded a treasure trove of documents, namely the actual contract and more than 70 supplement agreements between the U.S. Navy and its developer (email us if you would like a copy), now called Laurelwood Homes LLC. With such access, we were able to discover that the Navy is bad when it comes to the bargaining table, seemingly giving up its right in 2002 to invoke federal National Emergency rules in order to nullify the Laurelwood housing contract at no cost - all so a private developer could refinance the mortgage and rake in over $200 million in rents for 52 years when all is said and done. We also learned from these documents that, unbeknownst to the public - as should have been disclosed in NAVFAC's "Environmental Impact Statement" (EIS) on the Laurelwood civilian housing plan - that U.S. taxpayers might be on the hook for another $20 million if Laurelwood cannot find tenants for the 300 homes by September 2010. Both sides say NOPE has misinterpreted the language of "Supplement Lease No. 43", but our attorneys beg to differ.

Yesterday, another document showed up in our chairman's mailbox - an understated two-sentence letter (attached) signed by then-Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Shipbuilding and Logistics) Keith E. Eastin in 1988. Apparently, Mr. Eastin, who remains involved in installations management with the U.S. Army, ruled that adding 20 years to the lease (and implicitly signing off on civilian housing at Earle thru 2040) was a good idea to "promote the national defense."

NOPE's legal team will follow up on this letter and perhaps track down Mr. Eastin for further details on the history of the Laurelwood contract and why it was essential for the Navy to open up Weapons Station Earle to civilian occupants for 30 years, rather than ending the privatized Laurelwood housing contract as soon as 2020 (as the attached letter would indicate).

Stay tuned for more details. NOPE remains baffled about how civilian housing on an active weapons facility already thin on security personnel promotes the national defense.

One Poet's Reflections Eight Years After 9/11

Today's post is somewhat outside the scope of our typical mission to inform NOPE supporters and the general public about the Laurelwood housing situation at Weapons Station Earle, but a Middletown-based blogger poet by the pseudonym "findingmyroom" eloquently encapsulates thoughts and emotions of so many of us living outside NYC and how the 9-11 terror attacks turned our attention to Weapons Station Earle as a target.

"Never did anyone think they (the Twin Towers) would fall at the whim of a group of fanatics with box cutters on planes," as written by findingmyroom, is especially striking, considering that some of us in NOPE either were in NYC that morning or worked at Fort Monmouth or Earle, which clamped down on security in the aftermath and continues to heighten security measures to get on the base - precisely why the U.S. Navy's decision to open an unimpeded civilian access route to the Laurelwood housing complex is all the more baffling. We still have yet to hear a logical reason (i.e., the Laurelwood EIS was utterly incomplete, lacking in relevant security and financial impact assessments) for cutting a hole in the security fencing a few hundred yards south of the main gate on Rt. 34 of a massive military weapons installation; obligating an 80s-era privatized housing contract is not a sufficient reason to compromise national and regional security.

Gone are the days of the community softball leagues at Earle's ballfields and other feel-good community events on the base, replaced by justifiable concerns among citizens well beyond the list of our thousands of supporters...not so much about what the present security force at Earle is doing, but about the greater potential for domestic terrorism and NWS Earle as a potential target in the wake of 9/11.

Details on October NOPE Rally to come

Members of NOPE's leadership team met last night to set in motion plans for a major rally in late-October, most likely in Colts Neck. Please stay tuned here for details on specific date, time and location, which we expect to square away by next week.

Let's be clear that NOPE's fight is far from finished, and that people in the surrounding communities need to get off the couch and show up for our events, as was the case with big turnouts to our 2008 and early 2009 briefings. Our 3,000 supporters, and others still oblivious to our battle, need to know more about all of the time and effort NOPE and our elected leaders (Representatives Smith and Holt, Senators Lautenberg and Menendez, the District 12 team of Beck-O'Scanlan-Casagrande, local elected officials) have put forth, and how we will prevail in this battle to stop civilian residents from ever stepping foot on Weapons Station Earle.

We still have several coals on the fire as the Navy's contract compliance deadline nears in April 2010, and need to continue to turn the screws to prevent a bad situation that everyone but the Navy itself knows will compromise base and national security, devastate our school districts and taxpayers financially and impact the environment. EVERYONE IN THE COMMUNITY NEEDS TO COME OUT TO THIS EVENT AND STAY INFORMED, and we will have more details in the days and weeks to come.

NOPE files another environmental challenge, re: convergence of planned Laurelwood access route and EPA Superfund site

This afternoon we are mailing another challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, questioning the apparent overlap of the Navy's route selection (i.e. "Alternative 4" from the EIS) to the Laurelwood homes and a 6-acre area designated a "Do Not Disturb" area near the planned unimpeded civilian entrance at the eastern-most point (on the map that we've linked, near the blue circle on the right) of Macassar Road, within Weapons Station Earle.

In addition to EPA Region 2 Strategic Planning Chief John Filippelli, NOPE has sent similar letters to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Mark Mauriello, Monmouth County Public Health Coordinator Michael Meddis, as well as to Thomas Frieden, Administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) in Atlanta, GA.

This latest environmental discovery was the handiwork of Diana Piotrowski, NOPE's Communications Director, who upon reviewing the Laurelwood Final EIS for the umpteenth time, this time against an ATSDR Public Health Assessment of Weapons Station Earle in August of 2006, identified that Site 1 (shown in Appendix A-1 in the ATSDR's report) "is restricted" and portrayed as an area with "infrequent" human contact.

In short, Site 1 (one of 29 EPA Superfund sites at NWS Earle) was an area where the Navy burned ordnance materials from 1943-1975 and was thereafter plowed over and burned (using diesel-soaked hay) three times and declared as a restricted area. ATSDR's map (see Figure 2 on page 41 of the report) put Site 1 at about the same spot where part of Alternative 4 is expected to run, prompting us to question whether the U.S. Navy's EIS guidance and selection of route Alternative #4 infringes upon a restricted environmental area.

Our letters to the above-noted agencies request clarification to NOPE about this coincidence, if not a full-scale investigation into the convergence of ATSDR Site 1 and Laurelwood Final EIS Alternative 4, and the impact of road construction to that area, not to mention potential harmful exposure to chromium, explosives compounds and petroleum hydrocarbons to both Naval personnel residing in Stark Road Housing and the presumed civilian occupants at Laurelwood.

NOPE welcomes any contact with resident environmental experts on this issue, and encourages you to email or call us (732.322.0130) pertaining to this issue if you can assist in our environmental challenges of the Laurelwood civilian housing plan. Otherwise, we will keep you posted here on the EPA, DEP, Monmouth County and ATSDR response to our query.

Navy in motion on DEP permit application; no major surprise

NOPE has obtained a copy of NAVFAC's (the Navy's facilities management arm) letter of intent to apply for permits on its planned civilian access route thru Weapons Station Earle and to the Laurelwood housing development - a perceived first step in the Navy's plans to begin work on the project. We have attached a copy of the letter submitted August 6, 2009 to the DEP, though the language does not make clear whether the Navy is simply lining up its environmental maps with those of the state's environmental watchdog, or whether this is a sort of "fast-track" effort to obtain permits.

If you recall, it appears that the Navy has until April 30, 2010, to fully clear the route (i.e. remove trees, handle wetlands issues) upon which Laurelwood Homes LLC, the owner of the 300 homes at Weapons Station Earle to be converted to civilian housing, would then pay for and pave the road before opening up the homes for rental to any civilian.

Unless the DEP officials we met and our state representatives blatently lied to NOPE that the DEP will not fast-track the permits, we suspect that the Navy will breach its contract with Laurelwood (i.e., unable to complete the clearing work by the end of next April, per terms of the contract) and Mrs. Fischer, owner of the 300 homes, will sue the Navy, sending the fate of the proposed civilian housing project into litigation.

NOPE will remain in contact with District 12 Senator Beck and Assembly members O'Scanlan and Casagrande on this issue, asking them to watchdog the DEP to ensure that NAVFAC is not given fast-track permits or precedence over other applications in the DEP's permit queue.

Quick Update

We hope this finds you well approaching Labor Day!

As late August-early September has been vacation time for many of the core NOPE group, we have been pretty quiet bloggers the past 10-12 days, but stay tuned over the next week for some new discoveries regarding our environmental case and as we closely watch whether the Smith Amendment to the FY2010 Defense Authorization Act that already passed the House will pass in the Senate version. As we speak, we are taking steps to promote passage on the Senate level.

In the meantime, we encourage you to take a look at some of the older posts explaining NOPE's bid to prevent civilian housing at NWS Earle.

Red Bank Hub: NOPE continues opposition

The Hub story is nice publicity, but flawed in a few ways, namely that NOPE encourages the Navy to exercise its contractual right to void the Laurelwood housing contract, which it says it will not do (why, we do not know). With this in mind, we recommend the Navy meet Seattle-based developer Teri Fischer halfway and work toward an amicable buyout to make this housing debacle and security threat disappear - basically, put Navy and local resident interests ahead of those of a housing developer 3,000 miles away.

Be clear...NOPE in no way is a mouthpiece for the developer, Seattle-based Teri Fischer, nor will we ever be, and in fact we'd feel no remorse if her company walked away without a cent on the outlease portion of the contract (i.e. the civilian residency clause that runs from September 2010 to 2040). Her company has already netted some $75 million of rental payments from the Navy since 1990. THAT very clear assertion was left out of the Hub story. We continue to make clear that the Navy would be well within its rights to void the deal under grounds of a declared national emergency, as stated in the contract. (Anyone seeking a copy of the full contract can email us at justsaynope@verizon.net or post an email address in the comment section below; we'd be happy to forward it to you after having obtained it through open public records acts.)

Otherwise, the Hub story slants heavily toward the school issue and contains some misinformation. Simply, NOPE's stance is that NO TOWN in the surrounding area should ever educate a single civilian occupant that might live at Laurelwood...period! We sense that what could end up happening (and it seems a few politicians are leaning toward this in the event civilians ever live at Laurelwood) is that the Monmouth County Superintendent could split the kids among many surrounding districts (i.e. each district within 10-15 miles of Earle takes 30-50 kids to "soften the blow"). BOEs and school superintendents outside Colts Neck and Tinton Falls should be paying close attention to this issue, and call their state legislators to question their leaders on this issue and discourage such a notion.

The essential piece of the overall Laurelwood housing story, which is buried in the Hub piece and that no one in the commercial media seems to recognize or care to explore, is the Laurelwood contract itself and how the U.S. Navy (read: not NWS Earle commanding officer, Captain Maynard, or anyone working at the base, but a much higher decision-maker within the Navy ranks in Washington, D.C.) has put its Monmouth County neighbors in jeopardy on account of a short-sighted contract and mulish thinking. Our interpretation is that Contract Amendment No. 43 signed in 2002 sends the parties (the Navy and Laurelwood Homes, LLC) to buyout negotiations by default if the Navy fails to comply with the April 30, 2010 deadline to clear the planned 1.7-mile access route to the homes. And the bottom line is that some high-ranking official or Navy number cruncher, seemingly with no clue or interest about the impact to our communities, is going to severely compromise the mission at NWS Earle by inviting civilians to live on its otherwise secure grounds. Preposterous...

Laurelwood and Anti-War Protesters

One of our supporters brings up an interesting hypothetical for the Navy: how will NWS Earle react if civilian anti-war, or other types of protesters, take up residence at the base's Laurelwood housing? We pose this question, knowing that some of our blog's most-avid visitors are from the Navy (40% since we launched the blog on July 1; we have the data to back this up - it's not a contrived figure).

Navy officials need look no further than Olympia, Washington, home to protest groups United for Peace and Olympia Port Militarization Resistance (OPMR, which objects to use of civilian ports for shipments to Iraq). AP reports allegations the Army illegally infiltrated OPMR, whose members "sometimes engaged in civil disobedience by trying to block the shipments," and about 200 protestors were arrested amid protests in November 2007, as two videos from YouTube (video 1, video 2) showing police pepperspraying seemingly peaceful protests would attest.

We have not seen these sorts of protests in our area, but should the war in Afghanistan and occupation of Iraq drag on, the likelihood of more protests in more places increases. It would be pretty awkward for the Navy having protesters residing on the base and engaging in action on a road that dissects the base, rather than just demonstrating in the streets like in Olympia, WA.

Shooting & Hostage Drill at Earle raises NOPE's doubts about law enforcement self-sufficiency

It appears that earlier this month a drill was conducted to prepare Navy security personnel at NWS Earle Mainside and other law enforcement interests for a scenario where "a sailor is shot by her husband in their temporary quarters aboard (the) base" who then "flees the scene."

That this scenario (which evidently involved the base command, Earle tenants, NCIS, customs agents and state and local police) was played out in "temporary quarters" could support a view of this drill as a precursor to what could happen (whether the miscreant is a relative of a sailor or a crazed civilian resident) once the base becomes overrun with civilian occupants and visitors come September 2010, unless the Navy reverses course on an otherwise ridiculous plan for what to do with largely vacant Laurelwood housing.

Parsing through the Navy jargon in this puff piece written by an Earle PR person, the drill was part of Earle's Higher Headquarters Assessment (i.e. appraisal of military operations), which suggests routine business. Clearly the neighbors in the surrounding Earle communities would hope for high marks on these kinds of drills, and apparently the participants quoted in this press release fell all over themselves with praise. In our view, the exercise suggests something less than the security self-sufficiency asserted in the kickoff Federal Register announcement of the Laurelwood opening to civilians.

The involvement of the New Jersey State Police raises red flags regarding the eventual role of state law enforcement in all of this and use of NJ taxpayer dollars to police Laurelwood housing on federal property through the year 2040. NAVFAC's Laurelwood EIS portrays law enforcement as NWS Earle's bailiwick (in other words, foot the bill for any additional security detail to patrol the new road, guard the base from intrusion by Laurelwood residents, and handle all police and court matters involving the homes and new 1.7-mile access road), and we can only speculate that in the event that Laurelwood becomes overrun with civilians that the Navy will need to reach out to state and local law enforcement and emergency responders for help once oversight becomes burdensome to the base commander and a distraction to NWS Earle's sole mission - to provide ammunition to the fleet.

The last thing that we as Earle's neighbors need is for unnecessary distractions brought on by civilian housing at Laurelwood to NWS Earle's own security and core mission such as the scenario played out in the recent shooting-and-hostage drill.

APP: Freeholders reject plan to house veterans at Earle

The Monmouth County Freeholders at yesterday's meeting rejected a special interest group's request to rent the Laurelwood housing units at Earle for "disabled and senior citizen veterans" once the Navy turns the houses over to the developer next year - good news for Neighbors Opposed to Privatization at Earle.

The namesake "Accettola Plan" put together by a Colts Neck resident supposedly with a background in public housing and endorsed by the Neptune Housing Authority (NHA), while noble, was extremely thin on details and disorganized when presented in Tinton Falls in January. NOPE's - and presumably the Freeholders' - opposition to this plan has nothing to do with slighting veterans or whomever else could end up renting the 300 homes on an active weapons base. The type of tenant is irrelevant to NOPE.

The point is that no civilian should ever gain access to the base or Laurelwood housing. To be sure, NOPE's leadership includes a prominent, high-ranking military retiree and other war veterans who view the plan as ill-hatched. Yes, we recognize the Navy's circular, semantical argument in its EIS that fencing off the houses and its own, new road would separate them from the active parts of NWS Earle, but the point remains that if any civilian housing plan comes to fruition, that the Laurelwood residents, their guests and the general public would be able to drive thru the heart of the Earle Mainside base thru 2040 - not a wise plan in post-9/11 world. The Accettola Plan and NHA fail to recognize this and continually tugs on peoples' emotions to "do what's right for veterans," without grasping the magnitude or pitfalls of the Navy's plan or how Laurelwood residents too are in harm's way.

As well, NOPE recognizes the need to find affordable housing for veterans in need and has mentioned this many times in our dealings with elected federal, state and local elected officials, which makes Fort Monmouth (set for closure in 2012 and home to a hospital and other facilities that can be used by the veterans or retrofitted for their purposes) a far better option for the Accettola Plan than Earle. And as former Freeholder and current candidate John Curley was quoted as saying in yesterday's APP, "our veterans deserve better."

NWS Earle hacker's hopes dashed

Gary McKinnon, the British man fighting extradition to the U.S. for hacking into DoD computer systems up until 2001 and disabling Weapons Station Earle's network for about a month around 9/11, was dealt an apparent setback this week when another criminal hacker with allegedly the same autistic condition (Asperger's Syndrome) was sentenced to 55 months in prison for participating in a multimillion-dollar computer fraud scheme (see story).

On the surface, the entire McKinnon case may appear to be a sidebar (i.e. "cyber" vs. "physical" terror attack) to unimpeded civilian access and housing at an active military weapons facility, and to some may seem a stretch in terms of the Navy's physical security of its own Earle base, but nonetheless raises doubt about a key component of NAVFAC's argument in the Laurelwood EIS that NWS Earle can defend itself with the physical influx of a presumed 1,000-plus civilian residents by September 2010.

If the government couldn't prevent an allegedly autistic hacker from an overseas location from disabling mission-critical computer networks, how can the civilian residents of the areas surrounding Earle's Mainside rest assured that everything will run smoothly physically once civilians have free rein of the proposed access route to the Laurelwood homes at Earle? This doubt is only compounded by the January 2009 report from the U.S. Congress's Government Accountability Office (GAO), which found that NWS Earle did not follow the Navy's own quality assurance guidelines in oversight of the contractor security guards that assist in guarding Earle (Myers Investigative & Security Services, of North Carolina), not to mention that it could not provide documentation that contractor security guards had completed a background check. Think about it.

Perspective on 2007 mass casualty drill

Nearly two years ago, Earle conducted what the Sept. 7, 2007 Asbury Park Press dubbed a "mass casualty drill," simulating an aftermath scenario of a chemical weapons attack involving a truck carrying chlorine gas and its intended target, an ordnance-filled military train. Clearly, we should all cross our fingers that such an indict never comes to fruition in Monmouth County, and on the other hand rest easier that the Navy prepares for even a worst-case scenario.

As a civilian, there is something extremely startling, however, about the accompanying photo of first responders dressed in glaring orange HazMat suits, carrying a victim from the scene of the drill (at the corner of West Front Street in Middletown and Normandy Road). One can only imagine the devastation of such an attack, and from such drills we can only suspect that such a preparedness drill means that Navy leaders have at least contemplated that such an attack is a potential reality in the wake of 9/11.

The thought, however, of base forces being unnecessarily distracted by an added responsibility of policing a small town of civilian residents on its base as soon as September 2010 gives NOPE extreme pause in whether Earle can be truly prepared to a) protect its neighbors from such an attack along a 14-mile government road and rail line, and b) respond adequately in the event of such a horrific disaster. Again, much of NAVFAC's study into the Laurelwood plan is filled with rhetoric about how security and Earle's mission (which is solely to provide ammunition to the fleet) will not be compromised by a presumed 1,000-plus civilian residents and unimpeded access to this strategic weapons installation. If, unlike many of us, you're willing to buy that bill of goods, then more power to you, and cross your fingers that none of the civilian tenants or civilian visitors to Earle's Mainside complex in Colts Neck between 2010 and 2040 has ill will toward the Navy or democracy in general. In the meantime, here is the APP story from Sept. 2007.
---
Source: Asbury Park Press
Preparedness & coordination
Law-enforcement and emergency groups attend Earle mass-casualty drill
By MICHELLE GLADDEN
FREEHOLD BUREAU
The simulated scenario at Naval Weapons Station Earle was the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack involving a truck carrying chlorine gas and its intended target, an ordnance-filled military train.
So, early Thursday morning members of the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management, county Prosecutor's Office, county hazardous-materials unit, State Police and state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness gathered at the corner of West Front Street and Normandy Road, the 15-mile military thoroughfare.
All were on site for Earle's mass casualty drill, an all-day exercise to assess the military base's preparedness level and its ability to successfully coordinate with the local and state emergency authorities, base spokesman Patrick Fisher said.
"This will be unfolding without a lot of people knowing (the details)," Fisher said before the drill. "Only about 15 to 20 people know the scenario."
The other base responders would have to rely on training to assess the situation quickly and effectively execute commands.
The 64-year-old naval base, which sits on more than 11,000 acres, uses Normandy Road, a restricted roadway, and adjacent railroad line to transport munitions to naval fleets at its 2.2-mile long pier in the Leonardo section of Middletown.
"Our first responders include base security, fire and rescue personnel who arrive first at the scene to assess the situation and set a safety perimeter around the area," Fisher said.
Those first responders, two Earle firemen dressed in glaring orange HazMat suits equipped with oxygen masks, found five unconscious "victims": a train crew of four men, two of whom were thrown from the train, and the truck driver.
Immediately, the assessment of the victims revealed two "deaths" — the truck driver and train conductor — one suffering from burns, another from a respiratory ailment and the last from a fractured hip, said drill coordinator Lt. Jeffrey Dennison. So-called hot zones were outlined, and a simulated barricade was set up at the intersection.
Next on site were naval medical officers who began setting up a makeshift triage area away from onlookers who, in turn, were soon evacuated 4,000 feet away from the site.
"This was a challenge to everyone, and we thought everyone received great training," Fisher said once the drill was completed. "We've identified areas that needed improving and will include them in future training."
Fisher said follow-up lessons based on what was learned through exercise will be conducted.
"Overall, it was very successful," Fisher said.

Navy: "No, that's MY sandbox and bus yard!"

One could argue that this is what Colts Neck gets for suing the Navy over its unimpeded access plan for Laurelwood housing, but in perhaps one of the cattier actions imaginable, NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic (i.e., the Department of the Navy) recently wrote to Colts Neck, denying the Township's request to continue to use the 3.4-acre tract alongside Rt. 18 that NWS Earle had conveyed a decade ago to the Township for "use as a school bus parking area, public recycling collection center, and dirt/sand storage area" (quoted from a 1999 letter to former administrator George Handzo and obtained by NOPE).

In essence, someone working for the Navy in Washington - presumably R. David Gale, the attorney cited as the contact person in the letter (attached to the right) - decided to punish the township by taking away what is otherwise a useless (to NWS Earle) strip of land where school buses are parked and where residents drop off their recyclable materials. So much for being a good neighbor. (Mr. Gale's contact info is on the letter, if you seek an explanation or clarification for yourself).

Our personal views of this sideshow notwithstanding, this letter is yet another snapshot of the uphill battle that the civilian neighbors of NWS Earle face in challenging - even through respectful and proper channels - a branch of their country's own Armed Forces, particulary when (in this case, the Navy) does not get its way without a valid challenge. The notion of putting civilians on an active weapons depot is absurd, but because the citizens of the neighboring towns have organized, spoken out by the thousands against the plan thru NOPE and gathered bipartisan political support as high as the U.S. Senate - and called the Navy's bluff, so to speak - someone in Washington is going to take away Colts Neck's bus storage yard and recycling dropoff point as a symbolic gesture. Boo hoo.

The more entrenchend you become in this issue, the more you will realize that your Navy leadership in Washington will try to do whatever it pleases at Earle (re: Laurelwood), regardless of the security, financial and environmental detriment to the surrounding communities and to the NWS Earle's mission itself. In this case, going thru with an 80s-era privatized housing contract that the Navy can contractually void, but would rather not to avoid embarassment, being candid about its true motives or to go full bore with the undetermined selfish pursuits of certain military leaders in Washington.

This letter is about more than a bus storage yard. Basically, it is another perspective of "heck with what's right for the Monmouth County communities" (namely Colts Neck and Tinton Falls) that for nearly 70 years have done nothing short of embracing the U.S. Military's presence here, being a respectful friend and neighbor and educating thousands of children of families stationed at Earle over the years. Shame on you, NAVFAC!

Anyone heard from Frank Pallone?

NOPE for the better part of its nearly 2-year existence has tried, to no avail, to engage (directly and indirectly) District 6 Congressman Frank Pallone in the Navy's civilian housing issue at NWS Earle. The Congressman, contrary to his objections to construction of the Laurelwood homes in the 1980s (see the 1987 Laurelwood EIS - if you're looking for some REALLY mundane summer beach reading), to this story from the November 29, 2000 Independent, has been relatively mum on the U.S. Navy's plan to fill 300 unoccupied homes with civilian tenants, even though parts of Earle are squarely in his district. Silence, in this case, is detrimental to NOPE's cause, and whether it is for lack of interest or a sense of futility in dealing with obstinate Navy decision makers over more than two decades in Washington, NOPE needs Congressman Pallone to be more engaged with Congressment Holt and Smith.

We would encourage Mr. Pallone's constituents who reside anywhere near Earle and all of our supporters to contact the Congressman (202-225-4671 or 732-571-1140) to encourage him to speak against the Navy plan and protect those living along Normandy Road (on which the Navy transports tons of high-powered ordnance each year) and near Earle's base in Leonardo.

In the throes of summer vacation, it is interesting to look back on the history of the Navy's actions at Earle over the past 20+ years and remind our supporters of Mr. Pallone's vehement stance against construction of the homes, as well as his objection to reports of the Navy moving ships from its fully capable Earle homeport to Norfolk, Virginia. The Navy seemed to do so without real justification, and just a few years after the Navy stressed the need to construct 300-500 new homes to house sailors on the ships homeported at Earle (yes, you guessed it...the Laurelwood homes that put us in the current mess we're facing some 22 years and $100 million+ later).

The piece from the Independent is not presented here to slam or embarrass Congressman Pallone in any way, but rather to put in perspective the clear frustrations of our elected officials and residents of the surrounding Earle communities in dealing with Navy decision-makers over the last two-plus decades.

Collectively, we cannot go silent in objecting to yet another poor decision from military leaders in Washington, and one that threatens to compromise the mission at NWS Earle and our local and national security. That includes you, Congressman Pallone.

Senate passes Defense Authorization Act; await news on amendment for U.S. Comptroller General security and financial audit of Laurelwood housing plan

The U.S. Senate last week passed the Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2010, which includes a proposed amendment (SA. 1539) sponsored by Messrs. Menendez and Lautenberg, essentially repeating the version passed by the House and introduced by Congressman Chris Smith.

Following up on a question that arose during each of our two information sessions the past two weeks about what this means for NOPE, and reviewing some notes taken from discussions with our federal legislative contacts, it appears that the Senate's passage of S. 1390 (the Defense Authorization Act itself) means that both chambers will now begin negotations on a version to send to President Obama this fall. Early September is the earliest this will become law, we're told, though at times the process lasts through December. We are hopeful of the earliest resolution. We will keep our eye on whether Senate Amendment SA 1549 is passed and continue to press for Senate passage.

To reiterate, President Obama's approval would mean that within 180 days of passage, the Comptroller General must submit to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees a report containing "a cost analysis and audit of the sufficiency of the Navy's security measures in advance of the proposed occupancy by the general public of units of the Laurelwood Housing complex on Naval Weapons Station Earle." Whether passage of such an amendment stalls the Navy's ability to execute its road-clearing plans and meet the April 30, 2010 deadline for the unimpeded civilian access route remains to be seen.

In the meantime, please stay tuned here and to you NOPE email, as we will give you the heads up on whom to call within the U.S. Senate (and when) to support the Menendez-Lautenberg Amendment (SA 1549).

Australia foils Fort Dix-style plot

Rantings aside for today, this AP news story reports that Australian officials arrested four men suspected of links to a Somali Islamic extremist group who were allegedly planning commando-style attacks on at least one army base. According to the police commissioner cited, "the men's intention was to actually go into the army barracks and to kill as many soldiers as they could before they themselves were killed." Sounds familiar, doesn't it...

NOPE supporters, WAKE UP!

If I'm U.S. Representative Rush Holt, State Senator Jennifer Beck, or Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera or Councilmen Gary Baldwin and Andy Mayer, who sacrificed a beautiful summer evening to hear about the latest in NOPE's grassroots battle to prevent proposed civilian housing at Earle, I'm perturbed this morning by the meager turnout for last night's update hosted by NOPE at Tinton Falls Borough Hall.

Thanks to those 15-20 who did attend, but candidly, outside of the core leadership of NOPE who have sacrificed countless hours of personal and professional time since January 2008 challenging what everyone can see is a ridiculous Navy civilian housing plan that threatens our community, the people of our core Colts Neck and Tinton Falls contingent need to stop making excuses for not attending these kinds of events, in addition to our town government meetings.

NOPE's leadership team comprises working parents with as many as 5 kids, adults strapped with child- and elder-care responsibilities, grandparents who watch their grandchildren for their own working children, individuals struggling to keep their businesses afloat in a recession, and civic leaders with responsibilities to other organization (i.e. a retired Marine who dedicates time to preparing returnees from active duty for placement in the civilian workforce), to name a few of the obligations comprising our daily lives.

It is time for those who benefit from NOPE's emails and this blog to step up to the plate and take responsibility, and an outright embarrassment when we deliver top elected officials to these venues and few people show.

If you want to really protect your community, move away from the TV, stop procrastinating, and get out to support NOPE's events or those endorsed by your elected officials, or in our case call your elected federal officials (Reps. Smith and Holt, Senators Lautenberg and Menendez and Governor Corzine) to reinforce your objections to proposed civilian housing at Earle. Their phone numbers are available on the main NOPE website, or on the politicians' websites.

Otherwise, stay tuned here for daily updates and for details of an upcoming rally planned for Columbus Day. Keep the date clear on your calendars...no excuses...

Regards,
Bill Holobowski, Chairman
billholobowski@verizon.net

EPA Requests Info on Navy "Purpose and Need" for Civilian Housing

This is something we will discuss tonight at our meeting at Tinton Falls Borough Hall, starting at 730 p.m., but we wanted to share this in advance.

Fulton Wilcox, NOPE's business case analyst, a few weeks ago drafted a letter to the EPA's Region 2 director, encouraging the agency to withdraw or amend its comments on the Navy's supposed need to go thru with civilian housing at NWS Earle, and much to our satisfaction it appears the EPA is taking this suggestion very seriously (EPA response letter attached).

NOPE argues that the Navy's "Laurelwood EIS" proves misleading on the "No Action Alternative," which was erroneously written off by investigators as part of the process of determining whether the Navy should pick one of four unimpeded civilian access routes thru the Earle base to the Laurelwood homes, or option five - the No Action Alternative - which basically means the base would run as is and the Navy would not go through with the outlease of the 52-year housing contract with Laurelwood Inc. (i.e. void or buy out the contract).

NOPE has long argued that the No Action (or "No Build") alternative is by far the most logical, particularly in terms of the environment, since no road construction and no civilian tenants means no detrimental impact on the environment. The option to build a road and house civilian tenants on the base from 2010-2040 has wide-reaching impacts, not only on the core "environment," but also on Earle's mission capabilities and on the surrounding communities. We will keep you posted on further correspondence with the EPA.