FBI multi-million dollar undercover Operation Lightning Strike has failed in its purpose of cleaning-up fraud and abuse at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Several "little fish" were entrapped while "big fish" either slipped away or were released. Martin Marietta / General Electric and possibly several other Fortune 500 companies have paid off the U.S. Government (over $1 Million) in return for not being prosecuted. Twelve individuals were indicted and all but one have since been psychologically and financially forced into guilty pleas.
Mr. Brown has lost everything at the hands of the U.S. Government, including his wife, his company, his job, his business associates, his cars, his house, and he was forced into bankruptcy. He has had death threats because of what he knows and the distress contributed to his needing open heart surgery and intestinal surgery (Brown was only 39). Dale Brown has vowed to reveal the illegalities and abuses of the FBI investigation in his, and other, cases to ensure the civil rights of others are not violated in the future. Mr. Brown is facing an enormous task.
The FBI had no probable cause to investigate Mr. Brown in the first place, and he had no predisposition to commit any crime. His Miranda rights were violated, and he has consistently been lied to by the FBI and the Federal prosecutors. They intimidated Brown into signing away ownership of his company in a multi-million dollar settlement agreement. The Federal Attorney then asked Mr. Brown to gather evidence against the FBI in a reverse sting, however when he refused, they intentionally blew Mr. Brown's cover, gravely endangering his life. Federal investigators lost critical evidence and have twice tried to have Mr. Brown's performance bond revoked in order to throw him in jail. Both times, the judge hearing the case ruled in favor of Brown.
The basic facts are as follows. The FBI front company, SPACE, Inc., hired the unsuspecting Dale Brown as their Vice President of Marketing to introduce them to leaders in the community under the auspices of selling electronics to NASA. After Brown generated several legitimate multi-million dollar contracts, the FBI came in behind him and canceled them without Brown's knowledge, placing Brown in dire financial straits.
The details in this bizarre case are extraordinarily complex and will be revealed in due course, but the bottom line is that Mr. Brown's case was an open and shut case of entrapment. The United States Supreme Court recently clarified the law on the defense of entrapment (Jacobson v. United States, 118 L.Ed.2d 174, 184 (1992)), stating:
"In their zeal to enforce the law, . . . Government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person's mind the disposition to commit a criminal act, and then induce commission of the crime so that the Government may prosecute. . . . Where the Government has induced an individual to break the law and the defense of entrapment is at issue. . . . the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was disposed to commit the criminal act prior to first being approached by Government agents."
Additionally, the government "may not punish an individual for an alleged offense which is the product of the creative activity of it own officials." In Mr. Brown's case, the FBI was the originator of the elaborate "marketing" scheme involving a fictitious electronics firm and a mysterious "friend from the Pentagon".
Unknowingly, and strictly on his boss' orders, Mr. Brown was coerced into committing the heinous crime of being a delivery boy! Not only was this "Pentagon Man" not even supposed to be a procurement official, the FBI has never tried to convince anyone, including Brown, that he was! The only crime involved in Mr. Brown's case was the ruthless intrusion of Federal investigators into the life, business, and family affairs of an innocent man. U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan), Chairman of the House Government Operations Committee, has called the tactics used by Federal investigators in the sting, "Un-American and smacking of illegal activity." James Beggs, a former NASA Administrator, scolded, "I don't see any difference in [the tactics used by the Federal investigators] from what the Nazis did."
Nearly 100 lives, careers, and families have been upset by the FBI operation that has been labeled as "Fascist", "oppressive", "subversive", and "a military-state activity" by various parties involved in the operation. The Office of Professional Responsibility for the Department of Justice has launched a formal investigation and various Congressional committees are currently reviewing the case. Also, a Class Action Suit is being filed by the 80 Houston citizens who had their civil rights violated by the criminally negligent FBI and Department of Justice.
Peter Jennings of the NBC Nightly News first nationally broke the story of the covert operation on December 1, 1993. Cable News Network (CNN) aired unfolding evidence later that day, which was followed by headline stories on ABC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal. Dateline NBC aired a special twenty-minute segment, "The Right Stuff," revealing some of the FBI's questionable tactics used in trying to snare astronaut David Wolf during the sting. Numerous other newspapers have printed articles and it is time that the Net be put into action.
Mr. Brown has followed the legal procedures and set up a Fund for donations to pay for massive legal and medical expenses. Please notify your congressman and as many people as possible about this travesty to ensure that justice is served.
The entire story of Operation Lightning Strike is being documented in a book and more details are on the way. Several nationally-prominent news organizations have aired prime-time segments on the travesties of the investigation.