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.

NOPE Informational Session: Monday, Aug. 3 @ 730 p.m. in Tinton Falls

NOPE will conduct the second of two "informational sessions" for the community this coming Monday night, August 3, at the Tinton Falls Borough Hall, beginning at 73o p.m. Much like our successful first session in Colts Neck two weeks ago, we plan to address our organization's recent and upcoming efforts to prevent civilian housing at Earle. Please spread the word to your friends within and outside our core Tinton Falls-Colts Neck communities. All are welcome to attend.

On that note, we head into the weekend with key thoughts from Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano, who along with leading counterterrorism officials in this piece from HS Today, a leading publication on homeland security, stresses the importance for regular U.S. citizens such as ourselves to be more vigilant in guarding against domestic terror threats.

Surely, NOPE's recognition of the threat of unimpeded civilian access to a critical military weapons facility is a good start, and above the call of pointing out suspicious packages and the like that, some may argue, are more-obvious and perhaps less "far fetched" than the potential for a terror attack on a guarded Naval facility such as Earle. To the contrary, Ms. Napolitano commended the efforts of a mere store clerk in preventing plans of an attack on New Jersey's own Fort Dix.

People such as ourselves need to speak up and be part of a constructive process. Be a part of our process this Monday night!

Former Homeland Security Chief Chertoff Weighs in on Domestic Terrorism

Michael Chertoff, former head of U.S. Homeland Security, weighs in on "how to reinvigorate the war on terrorism here at home" in this N.Y. Daily News opinion piece.

Chertoff warns how complacency (i.e. U.S. citizens and politicians in denial of the potential for another 9/11-style terror attack) will breed "weakness and danger," and at the same time cautions that we should not lose our focus on the war on terror, particularly in the New York area, where a Long Island resident (Bryant Neal Vinas) was recruited by Al Qaeda and confessed to aiding a plot of a commuter train attack.

A good start in the case of NOPE's opposition to proposed civilian housing at Weapons Station Earle would be for the Navy to retract its decision to go through with an ultimately poor decision to move forward with, rather than void or buy out, an 80s-era privatized housing contract that, in our view, only has the potential to expose the base as a ripe target for terrorism. Allowing anyone unfettered access to a key military weapons depot is a recipe for disaster.

AP: Authorities Arrest 7 in North Carolina for "Violent Jihad" Terror Plot; an 8th Suspect at Large

Here's yet another example of why the U.S. Navy's plan to let civilians traipse unimpededly along a proposed 2-mile stretch of road thru the NWS Earle and to Laurelwood housing (come September 2010) is utterly moronic. The thought that our Navy's leaders are seemingly eager to go thru with a plan to open the houses to anyone, solely for the sake of its flawed argument of fulfilling an outdated privatized housing contract, is a headscratcher in light of today's news.

The prime suspect named in this particular case of homegrown terror plots, 39-year-old Daniel Patrick Boyd, is cited by the AP as a drywall contractor "who lived in an unassuming lakeside home in a rural area south of Raleigh, where he and his family walked their dog." Nice.

Please follow along with this latest case and let your legislators know that NOPE will never stand for civilian housing at NWS Earle and that the U.S. Navy should immediately exercise its contractual right to void the Laurelwood housing pact or buy it out before exposing itself and the surrounding communities to an obvious threat.

Reiterative support of NOPE

Catching up on events of the past week, lost in the shuffle a bit was correpondence from District 12 Representative Rush Holt, who reiterated his support of our communities' efforts in the battle vs. civilian housing at Earle. Depending on how a busy week in Washington shakes out, we hope to have Mr. Holt at next Monday's informational session in Tinton Falls. We invite all to attend this second (of two) sessions we are hosting to keep the community abreast of new developments in our case and what you can do to help. (We had unexpected last-minute visits and updates from representatives of Senator Menendez and Congressman Smith, so who knows who will appear at our informational session next week.)

Again, be sure to visit next Monday night, August 3, at Tinton Falls Borough Hall, in the main room, with NOPE's presentation beginning at 730 p.m. Using our Colts Neck gathering as our guide, we expect the evening to last 90 minutes, between a short update and presentation, followed by community Q&A and follow-up discussion.

Computer Weekly: Hacking dossier exposes US military embarrassment

This latest piece on the Gary McKinnon case, written about extensively here a few days ago, from Computer Weekly (particularly the 40-plus page attachment to the story) portrays glaring vulnerabilities about federal computer networks here in the U.S. This case differs in scope (i.e. cyber) vs. physical terrorism, but nonetheless targeted our military bases and should not be overlooked as part of NOPE's argument against proposed civilian housing at Earle. The aggressive U.S. pursuit of McKinnon's extradition only legitimizes our argument.

Interestingly, Christopher Christie's name is all over the earlier legal documents in that case as a prosecutor; NOPE wonders where Mr. Christie would stand as governor on the Earle issue, and will press his office for an answer. We encourage NOPE's supporters to also reach out to his campaign officials, asking where he stands in relation to Jon Corzine, who sent an advisor to meet with our group in late 2008 but has shown little interest in engaging in the issue.

NOPE challenges U.S. EPA. Supporters, now it is YOUR turn...

Last week, NOPE sent a certified letter to U.S. EPA Region 2 "Strategic Planning" chief John Filippelli (and cc:d to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson) requesting that the EPA withdraw or amend its response to the Laurelwood Housing EIS (Environmental Impact Statement), and encourages its supporters to contact Mr. Filippelli or Ms. Jackson regarding this matter.

This request stems from our view that the Navy mislead commenters by its unfounded insistence that, to quote the Draft EIS, “The Navy would be in breach of the lease agreement if unimpeded access is not provided at the termination of the in-lease period.” (For those new to the case, the "in-lease" is expected to end next September, at which point the 30-year "out-lease" kicks in, allowing the developer to rent the homes to civilians thru 2040.)

The Navy’s mistaken assertion that it would be in “breach” was inimical to the D-EIS review, since commenters relied on that assertion to dismiss as infeasible all “No Action” options (i.e. to not provide unimpeded access to the homes). After obtaining full-text copies of the Laurelwood lease, and in particular Supplemental Agreement 43, however, we were surprised to learn that there is no “breach” if the Navy does not provide “unfettered access.” Supplemental Lease Agreement 43 states:

"Should the Government fail to provide unimpeded access at the termination
of the Inlease, the Government shall terminate the Lease and compensate the
Lessee in an amount equal to the Lessee's right to use or occupy [through to
scheduled teardown in 2040]."

Note that the word “fail” does not reflect an obligation on the Navy’s part to provide “unfettered access.” Under Supplemental Agreement 43, the Navy is at complete liberty either to provide “unimpeded access” or to let the contract proceed to its default outcome of buyout. Buyout makes the need for “unimpeded access” moot, because the Navy as owner of the Laurelwood leasehold improvements would have many options as to how to use or to remove those leasehold improvements, without building a new road.

Given that it had no such contractual “obligation,” but merely an elective option, the Navy misconstrued its purpose as well as failing to consider its range of feasible actions. Accordingly, we ask the EPA to withdraw its statement and go back to the drawing board for a proper assessment of the situation. The "No Action Alternative" is the only one of the five Navy plans for Laurelwood access that would have zero impact on the environment, its mission and the surrounding Earle communities.

Here is the contact information for Mr. Filippelli (212.637.3754 or filippelli.john@epa.gov) and Ms. Jackson (202.564.4700 or jackson.lisa@epa.gov), as provided by the U.S. EPA's employee directory search. Please express your concerns about the validity of the Laurelwood EIS and how the EPA responded.

More good news from Menendez and Lautenberg

For those unable to attend the first of NOPE's two summer information sessions (our next one is at Tinton Falls Borough Hall on Monday, August 3 @ 73op), we were pleased to have Jeff Sagnip from Congressman Smith's office and Kellie Drakeford from Senator Menendez's office stop by to address the latest initiatives on Capitol Hill in their fight against the U.S. Navy's Laurelwood housing plan. We otherwise received written correspondence from Representative Holt's office, expressing his continued efforts in support of our battle against civilian housing plans for Weapons Station Earle.

Senator Menendez filed an amendment, co-sponsored by Senator Lautenberg, to the Senate Defense Authorization bill requesting a GAO study for Earle, using similar language crafted by Congressman Smith and included in the House passage of the F2010 (starting October 2009)Defense Authorization Bill. This development, in our opinion, would suggest that the measure has a decent chance of passage, particularly considering the unified, bipartisan support vis-a-vis the requests of the respected Messrs. Smith, Menendez and Lautenberg, and suggests the GAO study will a) fill the obvious void left by the Laurelwood EIS and its lack of fundamental financial analysis, b) erect another barrier for the Navy's intended conversion of the Laurelwood homes for civilian access and c) validate the common sense argument of a contract buyout or outright revocation by the U.S. Navy, within the Navy's contractual rights.

NOPE continues to thank our elected officials for coming thru in defense of our local communities, and in the interests of local security and national defense, and encourages our local constituents to keep making phone calls to their elected officials, expressing their opposition to the Laurelwood housing plan. Also plan to attend our Community Briefing on Sept. 24 and anticipated NOPE rally on October 12 (Columbus Day, site and time TBA).

Otherwise, we will keep you posted of any media developments pertaining to our story. A reporter from the Newark Star-Ledger was kind enough to visit our meeting and spent a lot of time with us afterward discussing our case.

Monday night's NOPE meeting, 730p @ CN library

NOPE again welcomes all comers to Monday night's gathering, where we will give an informal update of what is going on with the Earle issue from the perspectives of Washington D.C., New Jersey and locally. We plan to conduct our regular business and open the floor for discussion thereafter. Please join us for this informative meeting.

Structure Fire on Naval Weapons Station Earle

The Navy claims that the emergency services of the surrounding towns will not be impacted by their plan to allow civilian renters unimpeded access to the 300 Laurelwood housing units, however the facts indicate otherwise as evidenced by the following:

A structure fire erupted during the demolition of a building located on the west side of NWS Earle. It is believed that sparks generated while cutting reinforcement bar (rebar) ignited the surrounding insulation causing the blaze. The Colts Neck Fire Company was called and asked to bring in a Tanker (84297) and Ladder truck (84190).

Adding an additional 300 families with the inherent possibility of generating a proportionally higher need for emergency services will most definitely put additional strain on the volunteer emergency responders of Colts Neck and Tinton Falls.

dep

Earmarks (and a theory on why the argument that the Navy can't afford to buy out Laurelwood is bunk)

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) ran an interesting piece that - surprise(!) - reveals that earmarks are alive and well in America, particularly in the House Appropriations Committee on Defense, where all 18 members (New Jersey's own Steve Rothman and Rodney Frelinghuysen among them) submitted earmark (read: no-bid contracts) requests totaling $2 billion for Fiscal 2010. Fortunately, all requests and figures are available publicly.

Surely, based on data in NOPE's own business case study of the issue, and cursory glances at public filings of earmark requests, there must be $17-$20 million available somewhere for the Navy to be able to make a reasonable buyout offer (if it will not simply void the contract as it can) to make the whole Laurelwood housing debacle go away.

For example, take some of Mr. Rothman's pressing requests: $1.04 million to station 16 cops at the eyesore Meadowlands Xanadu, a privately built entertainment and retail complex (debacle might be more appropriate); $2 million for Bergen County Quiet Zones, to fund a study on how to cut down on noise pollution and train horn blares along the tracks of Bergen County; $625k toward renovations of a mansion at Georgian Court University; $5 million to rehab the Hackensack Park-and-Ride facility, and $650k to study blueberry disease.

There's about $9.5 million alone, in 5 minutes of research.

Interestingly, also on the list is Norm Dicks, an implied NOPE ally by virtue of co-signing the April 17, 2009 letter with District 12 Representative Rush Holt requesting that the Navy delay any action on Laurelwood until it can conduct an accurate financial assessment. We surely hope Mr. Dicks could suggest redirecting some earmarks toward a Laurelwood buyout...and for the sake of avoiding a potential national security catastrophe with civilian residents and unimpeded access introduced to one of the largest U.S. weapons depots by September 2010.

Regardless of where these earmarks are directed, the notion that the federal government (i.e. the U.S. Navy) cannot drum up relative pocket change to protect NWS Earle's mission and make a really bad contract disappear is about as real as the Tooth Fairy.

News Transcript story on Colts Neck lawsuit vs. Navy

Although this media story does an ample job highlighting much of what we've addressed here on the Colts Neck lawsuit, NOPE takes issue with the assertion that the U.S. Navy is entirely off the hook for any rental payments after September 2010.

Our reading of the original 52-year housing contract between the Navy and Laurelwood's predecessor Dick Fischer Developments #3 and dozens of subsequent supplements uncovered evidence to the contrary (all were obtained by NOPE under the Freedom of Information Act.)

In particular, Supplemental Lease No. 43 (follow this link), which suggests that the Navy may be obligated to rental payments thru 2017, depending on the civilian occupancy rate of the Laurelwood townhomes. (To clarify, these units are not "apartments" as the Colts Neck suit suggests, but single-family homes of 2- to 4-bedrooms; and Laurelwood's owner, Mrs. Fischer, according to testimony in the Environmental Impact Statement, expects to rent them for $1,600-$2,200 per month.)

Anyway, we invite you to read and comment on this particular supplemental lease. Laurelwood's attorney, in this piece printed in the May 13, 2009 Asbury Park Press, refutes NOPE's interpretation, saying the supplement was mandated by Laurelwood's lenders upon Mrs. Fischer's refinancing of the Laurelwood mortgage in 2002, but in our view the Navy entirely dropped the ball in agreeing to SA 43, which seems to obligate them to additional rental payments upwards of $20 million and might have compromised their ability to exercise their contractual right to revoke the contract (though hopefully not) without a buyout.

Let us know what you think.

950 TONS!!!

This piece is a bit in hindsight, but articulates the magnitude of the mission of Naval Weapons Station Earle, and the types of armaments not only stored and handled at NWS Earle, but also that presumably make their way from Mainside storage, then along Normandy Road by train or tractor trailors (thru Colts Neck, Northern Tinton Falls and Middletown) en route to Earle's pier.

The March 10, 2009 Navy Newstand reported that the USS Wasp, billed "the lead ship of an all-new class of multipurpose amphibious assault ships" whose primary mission is "the support of a Marine Landing Force," onloaded 950 TONS of ordnance over an anticipated time of five days. This equated to 1,035 pallets moved over the course of 50 hours, and was conducted "in preparation for an upcoming surge to support operations in the Central Command area of responsibility." (In other words, in the Persian Gulf.)

Although it is clearly difficult for civilians such as ourselves to ascertain thru the media the strategic significance of what goes on at Weapons Station Earle, this news story sheds a bit of light on the powderkeg near which we reside, and why introducing unimpeded civilian access to the base is not the brightest idea, the Navy's financial constraints notwithstanding. NOPE certainly hopes Navy leaders in Washington reverse course on its Record of Decision on Laurelwood housing and will continue to press for such a reversal.

Sen. Beck discusses Laurelwood housing issue on Comcast

Nothing earth-shattering here, but in the second of two five-minute interviews linked from the Senator's website, Senator Beck discusses the legislation she announced on July 1, along with Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlan and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, that would essentially prohibit New Jersey DEP and DOT from approving any road construction permits for NWS Earle until the State Treasurer assesses the financial implications to NJ of the Laurelwood housing plan. Scroll about halfway thru the video to get to the Earle discussion.

And continue to spread the word to your neighbors about the first of NOPE's upcoming informational sessions, Monday, July 20 at 730pm at the Colts Neck library.

Short "Letter to the Editor" in Sunday's APP

From Barbara Matthews of Tinton Falls, headlined "No Concern for Tinton Falls"

Kudos to all those who have spoken out against the Navy's plan for Laurelwood housing, and NOPE would encourage all supporters to continue to turn up the pressure. Continue to press your legislators and the Navy itself, write letters to the editor of our state's newspapers, and help us protect our communities.

Basically, take out a few minutes of your busy lives to become involved in this cause. For more information on what has happened of late and what NOPE is doing to advance our fight, be sure to attend the upcoming NOPE Community Information Session on July 20, 7:30 p.m. at Colts Neck Library on Heritage Drive.

News Transcript: Court date set on school issue

Candidly, what drew me to my first NOPE meeting in April 2008 was my admittedly selfish concern about the impact of the school issue as a Tinton Falls taxpayer and why my mayor and town council were surprisingly mum on an issue that could be devastating to our kids, but clearly the objections of the group that I now chair are much broader-reaching and do not take sides (i.e. town vs. town). To be sure, a few naysayers from my town suggested I was naive for joining what was taken by some in my town as strictly a pro-Colts Neck initiative, but history will reflect that NOPE's efforts have broken down steep barriers and facilitated a rational and respectful effort that has now drawn the attention of our U.S. and state Senators, Congressmen and local politicians and citizens alike. This would not have happened with the towns at loggerheads.

The progress that NOPE has made notwithstanding, the issue of where kids will attend school in the event that Laurelwood is occupied by civilians remains an overhang, but one that will play out in the courts and not distract NOPE's neutrality. NOPE comprises multitudinous supporters from both Colts Neck and Tinton Falls - the primary parties to the lawsuit over the school issue by Tinton Falls - and beyond our two towns, and as such will remain steadfastly opposed to any Monmouth County or New Jersey school having to take on prospective civilian children who may reside at Laurelwood. If the U.S. Navy so egregiously elects to compromise base security and not exercise its contractual right to void or buy out an outdated privatized housing contract, then it should construct its own educational facilities and remove that financial burden from its neighbors.

Anyway, to keep our supporters abreast of the school issue (which is separate from the Colts Neck lawsuit against the U.S. Navy or any other such litigation), this piece from the News Transcript reports that July 25 is the date where an administrative law judge will decide whether the 1988 law that enabled Tinton Falls to become the receiving district for Earle's military dependants (domiciled in Colts Neck) states that Tinton Falls needed to request the civilian children and, since they did not, then become Colt's Neck's responsibility. We will keep our supporters posted on this issue.

Text of Colts Neck Suit vs. the Navy and Laurelwood

For those interested in reading the full text (24 pages) of the Colts Neck Township suit vs. the Navy and Laurelwood Homes, LLC, we have posted it to our primary website as well.

In short, and as noted in area newspapers, the suit seeks to a) prevent the U.S. Navy from implementing the Record of Decision (ROD) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the Laurelwood housing, b) prevent the construction of the proposed unimpeded access road, c) send what is considered a non-compliant (i.e., with NEPA guidelines) EIS back to the drawing board, d) prohibit the conversion of the Laurelwood homes to civilian housing, owing to violations of the townships ordinances, and e) declare the Navy's actions as "unlawful."

The lawsuit, while understandably more technical and nuanced than our lay grassroots position (and more authoritative on true "environmental" issues such as violation of the Clean Water Act), not only echoes NOPE's rallying cry since its formation in early 2008 (and our services are provided for free...), but fortifies NOPE's view that the Navy will have no other choice but to reverse course on its ROD once the "No Action Alternative" is given its proper due.

As our own Fulton Wilcox has shared with NOPE as well as elected officials for some time, this alternative (i.e. the option to not build the road) is the only one that avoids adverse impacts for the Navy itself and the surrounding base communities. The CN lawsuit verifies that the EIS clearly made short shrift of this "fifth option" (to not turn the homes "private" and instead pursue a void or buyout of the out-lease of the 52-year Laurelwood contract).

NOPE, considering some kind of action of its own and hopeful that Tinton Falls Borough and perhaps Monmouth County at large will pursue their own legal actions against the Navy plan, would encourage any of its supporters, particularly with legal backgrounds, to attend one of our upcoming meetings (July 20 at Colts Neck Library and August 3 in Tinton Falls, site TBD) and offer to volunteer their time to a potential legal challenge or other efforts. We need your help, particularly considering the cash constraints of grassroots organization.

Cheers,
Bill Holobowski, NOPE Chairman

Better To Be Safe Than Sorry

South Korean intelligence officials believe pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyber attacks that paralyzed major U.S. government Web sites.• Cyber Attack Knocks Out Major U.S. Government Sites• U.S. Government's Cyberdefense System Doesn't Work•

Is allowing civilian renters unimpeded access to housing units in the middle of Naval Weapons Station Earle an improvement or a detriment to our national security? You be the judge.

The Curious Case of Gary McKinnon

For those new to NOPE or who have never heard this story before, around the time of 9/11 a computer hacker in the U.K. named Gary McKinnon broke into Naval Weapons Station Earle's computer networks, allegedly in search of hidden files on UFOs. The amount of damage to these networks varies depending on the media source, but this piece (mostly favorable to McKinnon's plight) from The Daily Mail puts the pricetag at $700,000 and damage to 2,000 "Army computers." Interestingly, this 2002 press release from the U.S. Justice Department, and then-U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie (you know, the one running against Jon Corzine for New Jersey governor this November), whether trumped up or factual (we'll assume the latter) is much more harsh:

"The entire network of 300 computers at NWS Earle, located in Colts Neck, N.J., was effectively shut down for an entire week, according to military officials at NWS Earle. For another three weeks afterward, military personnel and government civilian employees at NWSE were only able to send and receive internal e-mail. It was only approximately a month after McKinnon’s last intrusion into the network that NWS Earle was able to automatically route Naval message traffic and access the Internet, according to military officials at NWS Earle. This was a grave intrusion into a vital military computer system at a time when we, as a nation, had to summon all of our defenses against further attack, Christie said."

The release then goes on to say...

"The Indictment charges that on April 7, 2001, McKinnon hacked into the NWS Earle computer network through the Port Services computer, the primary computer used by NWS Earle for monitoring the identity, location, physical condition, staffing, battle readiness and resupply of Navy ships in and near the NWS Earle Pier Complex."

Yes, that is correct...a possibly autistic and unemployed "computer geek" (as many media stories portray Mr. McKinnon - U.K. media is less "politically correct") crashed a mission-critical network at Earle. Although far different from the Laurelwood EIS perspective that the Navy can handle and/or enhance the physical security of the base with civilians traversing the new proposed unimpeded access road and living at Earle through 2040, the McKinnon case sheds light on different perspectives of "security" and enhances NOPE's leverage to fairly refute this contention.

Some 8 years later we can only guess that Earle's computer network is a lot more secure, but the McKinnon case is worth watching (simply do a Search Google News on "Gary McKinnon" and/or "extradition" for more, like this take from GQ Online). Politically speaking, we wonder whether Mr. Christie's involvement in the McKinnon case and current run for the governor's position will shed additional light on the Laurelwood housing case.

Unlike the "your security is cr*p!" message that Mr. McKinnon so brazenly left on Earle's network back in 2001, NOPE certainly hopes the opposite is true in terms of physical security, in the event that 300 families indeed end up living unimpededly on the base by September 2010.

Community Information Sessions

Neighbors Opposed to Privatization at Earle
Is sponsoring
Community Information Sessions
Regarding
NWS Earle—Laurelwood Housing—Civilian Renters
Ø Hear about the legislative efforts of your Congressional & Senatorial Representatives
Ø Learn about local government initiatives

Answer the call to action by:
Neighbors Opposed to Privatization at Earle

SESSION ONE
When: Monday, July 20, 2009
Where: Colts Neck Library (lower level)
Town Hall Complex—Heritage Drive
Colts Neck, New Jersey
Time: 7:30pm

SESSION TWO
When: Monday, August 3, 2009
Where: Tinton Falls Borough Hall
556 Tinton Avenue
Tinton Falls, New Jersey
Time: 7:30pm

For information or directions please call: 732-946-3474 or 908-770-3673
Join us for one or both of the sessions WE NEED YOU.

ANOTHER APP Editorial..."Navy plan surrounded"

The APP editorial board's classification this morning of a "three-front war" overlooked an extremely important adversary to the Navy's plan to let civilians live at Earle - U.S. Senators Lautenberg and Menendez. Presumably they are lumped in with the first referenced contingent (i.e., Washington, D.C.), but it is especially important for NOPE to now have documented support from our U.S. Senators that validates at least a portion of our thesis - the financial impact - and the need for bipartisan political support.

The security impact, however, remains the root of NOPE's thesis that (post 9/11) building an unimpeded access road to Laurelwood housing is a ridiculously bad idea, and one that we would encourage our U.S. Senators and all other D.C. politicians not named Christopher Smith to address much more aggressively. As we have stressed for some time, at the same time that NWS Earle received more than $8 million to upgrade and fortify main gate security (i.e. spending money to keep intruders off the base, see middle column under "Earmark Declaration"), Navy policy makers suggest via its "Environmental Impact Statement - EIS" that building an unimpeded access route (i.e. welcoming ANYONE ONTO the base - no guards, no background checks) to the Laurelwood homes (and right behind the main gate) is brilliant. (P.S. The Navy will argue that, because of this new road, come Sept. 2010 the Laurelwood homes will no longer be "on" the base; this is comparable to you putting a fence from your curb, through your yard and to your shed in the back yard and saying the shed is not in your yard anymore.)

The drawback to the APP editorial board's otherwise fine argument today is that of turning the housing over to veterans. Some have tried to turn this Laurelwood issue into a veterans issue, which is it not. Clearly, it is urgent that our nation take care of veterans. However, doing so under the Navy's proposal of "unimpeded access" is just as flawed as putting John Q. Public into those homes. If the Navy from the start had said it was going to conduct background checks and require residents (whether civilians or veterans - retired or otherwise) to pass through the secure main gate, the Laurelwood out-lease probably would never have been a security issue for anyone (surely, the school issue would have been an overhang). However, the EIS never addresses such a scenario (i.e. limit housing to card-carrying veterans, age-restricted vets, etc.), and only pushes for the most expensive and probably most dangerous of the five options studied.

Instead, we reiterate our view that the Navy would have prevented a major headache and will incur far less expense (for us and itself) by revisiting the "No Build Option" and would encourage all NOPE supporters and other watchers to focus on this argument, rather than being distracted by suggestions for what to do with homes that, by law, must be demolished when the lease expires. This fight is about a horrendous contract and how the Navy is willing to compromise NWS Earle's mission and the security of its own base, surrounding communities and nation...and not about what the Navy should do with vacant housing that shouldn't have been constructed (atop wetlands, mind you) in the first place.

Independence Day!

Best wishes and safe passage to everyone on this July 4 holiday weekend!