06/04/99 -- National Security Breach Cited at Capitol, Arlington National Cemetery


WASHINGTON, D.C., June 4 -- A registered foreign agent for the Peoples Party of Cambodia with a $550,000 contract to influence Congress has been financing Confederate commemorations at the U.S. Capitol and at Arlington National Cemetery, according to the president of a heritage group headquartered in Washington.

"Not only has our national security been compromised, but taxpayers are financing U.S. intelligence operatives who secretly litigate against our own people," John Edward Hurley, president of the Confederate Memorial Association, said.

Hurley said his inability to get a jury trial in over a decade was the result of the illegal involvement of U.S. intelligence. He claims that this is all the more egregious because he was jailed and fined over $500,000.

Hurley said that papers filed with the Justice Department prove that Richard Hines, who has been financing the lawsuit against Hurley and the association in D.C. Superior Court, is the registered foreign agent for Cambodia. In addition, he said that Hines has paid the legal expenses of Vicki Heilig, the chief litigant against Hurley. Heilig has admitted in a sworn deposition that legal expenses have exceeded $400,000.

Heilig works for the super-secret Operations Systems Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Hurley said that he discovered the involvement of Captain William Ashforth, who commands the center, when Asforth notarized a document submitted in the case which was intended to convert over $250,000 in the association's assets.

Hurley said computer tracks show that government computers at the intelligence facility visited the association's Web site over 500 times. He said that the falsely notarized affidavit was submitted by an employee of the Operations Systems Center, which also employs Ms. Heilig. "All of these individuals must have security clearances and all have compromised our national security by using these facilities and personnel for this litigation," Hurley said.

Hurley charged that the annual Confederate ceremonies at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and at the Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery are being used to raise money for the litigation against him and the association's board members, one of whom is senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon.

This year's Capitol ceremony is scheduled for this Saturday morning, with the Arlington National Cemetery commemoration slated for the following Sunday afternoon.

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