www.bordergate.net

Darlene Fitzgerald has more than 20 years of successful experience in criminal justice: Military, federal law enforcement, and private industry. She is an honorably discharged, decorated veteran who served her country not only as a Captain in the U.S. Army Military Police Corps, but as a U.S. Customs Special Agent fighting on the front lines of the War on Drugs. Her knowledge and experience includes most facets of criminal law, complicated conspiracy investigations, federal and civil court procedures, and the rules of evidence.   Darlene has testified as an expert witness in both federal and state courts. She has worked closely with federal and state prosecutors for many years to obtain arrests and convictions on numerous high-level criminals. This involved the investigation of complex conspiracies of members of Colombian and Mexican organized crime cartels. These subjects were engaged in large-scale narcotics smuggling and distribution, as well as money laundering. As a result of Darlene's work, huge quantities of narcotics have been seized, millions of dollars in U.S. Currency have been seized, and hundreds of illegal firearms have been removed from the hands of violent criminals. As a Customs Special Agent Darlene was also a cross-designated Secret Service Agent for the Department of Treasury. She has protected heads of state, Senators Bob Dole and Hillary Clinton, foreign dignitaries, and other political officials. Darlene has worked extensively in the field of Counter-Terrorism as it relates to U.S. Borders and Ports of Entry. She has appeared numerous times in the national and local media including "The O'Reilly Factor" and "C-Span" as well as other television and national radio shows. Numerous news articles have been published about her story. Darlene has written for the national and international press as well. She has had the opportunity to liaise with ambassadors, diplomatic officials, attaches, high-level military officers, business leaders, the media, and the public at large, drawing on her vast knowledge and expertise of law enforcement, Counter-Terrorism, and Whistleblower issues. She is currently attending William Howard Taft School of Law, working to complete her Juris Doctorate Degree. She plans to put her law degree to good use in protecting the rights of National Security Whistleblowers in the future.  Darlene is also the Vice President of Sig-International (Security Investigative Group International).

TESTIMONY TO THE U.S. SENATE

Statement written by Darlene Fitzgerald given at the National Security Whistleblower Press Conference sponsored by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), and the Patrick Henry Center for Whistleblowers. This testimony was also presented by Senator Grassley, ® Iowa to a Senate Committee.


In 1998 I was running a railroad smuggling investigation. This investigation was being managed under a large-scale, multi-agency operation with the Union Pacific Railroad Police, the Burlington Northern Railroad Police, The San Bernardino Police Department and Customs. This operation had received OCDTF status from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Los Angeles, CA. OCDTF - is a fancy government acronym for Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. In this operation, we had very high-level information that tons of narcotics were entering the U.S. via pressurized rail tanker cars. We learned that there was a large rail yard in Guadalajara that was controlled by the Arellano-Felix Cartel, and this yard was on of the Cartel’s largest narcotics distribution points. In this yard, hundreds of these cars are loaded with narcotics each week destined for the U.S.

Our information turned out to be very accurate. In April 1998, we seized a pressurized tanker car concealing 8 thousand lbs of marijuana and 34 Kilos of cocaine. Subsequent to making this seizure, this large, successful rail operation and the two criminal investigations under its umbrella were immediately torpedoed by Customs management. An attempted controlled delivery of the seized narcotics was thwarted, my help was pulled, and my partner Ruben Sandoval and I came under immediate pressure, retaliation, and intimidation tactics on an enormous scale when we refused to shut down this operation and cease to do our job.

Several weeks after our first seizure, we identified 5 more suspected tanker cars. These cars were manifested as empty, and they were 5 to 9 tons overweight. I set it up with the Union Pacific rail police to have these cars pressure tested at no cost to the government. Pressure testing is a necessary tool to further profile whether these cars should be bled out and checked. This profiling is necessary do to the fact that it cost approximately $8,000 to $14,000 a pop to inspect these cars. To further clarify, these are the long, metal, cylindrical shaped rail cars that many often think as carrying oil. These cars routinely carry a myriad of hazardous materials, and can only be inspected at the very few hazardous material inspection locations that exist on the southern border that also has scales that are necessary to weigh these cars. This is what makes these cars very difficult and dangerous to inspect, a fact that Narco-Traffickers know all too well.

I had these 5 suspected cars, again manifested as empty and 5 to 9 tons overweight, ready to be pressure tested, and I was told not to do my job. Several days later, these cars were released into the commerce of the U.S., uninspected in any way. These cars should have never left that yard without at least being pressure tested. Subsequent to this incident, I was again pressured to shut down my operation, and Customs managers torpedoed my criminal investigations. The U.S. Attorneys office had assigned a very good, very aggressive prosecutor that was appalled as to what was going on. I found myself caught between the U.S. Attorneys Office and my agency.

What does this have to do with National Security?

Consider this, the number one consumer of narcotics worldwide is the U.S.

The number one way that terrorists fund their illegal activities is through the distribution of narcotics.

Ask yourself this, what happens to the price of any commodity when there’s a chokehold on the supply for any reason, and the demand isn’t being met? Right. The price goes up and quality usually suffers. Ask any street agent working dope today and they will tell you the current price of cocaine, marijuana, and heroin is lower than ever, and the purity is better than ever. This clearly indicates that the supply is easily meeting the demand. This stuff is coming across our imaginary borders by the ton, virtually unaffected by the efforts of U.S. Customs.

What do you have when you fill one of these tanker cars up with 10,000 lbs. of ammonia nitrate, 100 lbs. of C-4, a shape charge, and place this container under pressure? The world’s largest pipe bomb. One can place 10 times the amount of explosives used by Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City Bombing into just one of the rail tanker cars.

These tanker cars are the perfect instruments for a terrorist attack against the U.S. As our narcotics smuggling investigation has revealed, anyone with cash and phony identification can lease or sublease these cars using a front company as the importer/exporter of record. We were shocked as to just how easy it was for the Narco-traffickers to do this. Knowing the relationship that the terrorists have with the Narco-smuggling cartels, it is not a quantum leap to think that terrorist could easily copy the same modus operandi used by the Narco-traffickers. The terrorist would simply lease/sublease a tanker car and pay cash to set up an account with one of the major railroads. The Railroads and Customs brokers aren’t trained - AT ALL - to look for any type of terrorist profile. This is a customer service industry, pure and simple. The railroad employees taking these orders for accounts make minimum wage, and they are simply “customer service reps.” The Customs brokers aren’t much different. They are required to check almost nothing, have no training in this arena, and have no requirements to fully identify any of their customers.

These rail customer accounts may be set up via the Internet, or over the phone. At no point does anyone in the railroad industry or Customs brokers ever require visual documentation to fully identify who the account holder actually is.

When my brave associates and I tried desperately to bring attention to this, our careers were destroyed. We were virtually shoved out on a limb, and Customs managers laughed in our faces as the limb was cut off. These tanker cars are a clear and present danger to our national security, as well as what happened to the Whistleblowers who tried to stop it. The American public must demand accountability, and demand that honest cops trying to do their jobs should not be treated in this fashion.

The fact that the railroads are used for narcotics and are a viable vehicle for terrorist infiltration is of primary concern and very real. I have not discussed or disclosed with this body how human traffickers also use the rail system to invade our borders with thousands of illegal aliens. It has gone on for years, and government agencies and highly placed officials are looking the other way. Other methods of human trafficking are also in use, with the full knowledge of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs officials. Immigration reform will not work until we plug these holes. I ask you two questions: Why is this continuing, and why is nothing being done about it.

My primary concern today is for the safety, protection and well-being of this country’s citizens. Second, is the safety and protection for whistleblowers like myself, who have first-hand knowledge and evidence that national security is at risk, and whose own personal safety and job security is at risk or threatened when they come forward. I am hopeful that this body recognizes the granger of these issues and will take appropriate steps to protect us all.

Thank you.

< END >.