By Carlos Miller
Government officials who harassed a photographer in order to keep one of its buildings top secret have done the complete opposite.
Now the world will soon know that the nondescript building at 3701 N. Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia houses the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - described by The Washington Post as “a low-profile wing of the Defense Department that conducts all manner of high-tech research that evolves into weapons systems and high-order strategery.”
And yes, the Post did say “stategery.”
When Keith McCammon took a photo of the building a while back, he had no idea about all this. It just looked like any other building in the area.
However, when uniformed security guards accosted him, demanding he delete the image and ordering him to give up his personal information, he realized it was no ordinary building.
Nevertheless, he was perturbed that he was treated as a criminal for doing something that is completely legal, so he started firing off letters to government officials, including the Arlington Police Department, who apparently were called to the scene.
This was their response:
“I hope that you would agree that the security of any such building is of great importance and every law enforcement officer is duty bound to investigate all suspicious activity,” wrote Arlington Acting Police Chief Daniel Murray. “I am certainly not implying that a person taking photographs is inherently ‘suspicious,’ but when the appearance is that the subject of a photograph is a government installation, officers have a duty to ensure the safety of the occupants of this structure.”
While the Arlington Police Department did not make a report on the incident, his information was passed along to “the internal security agency for this installation.”
Which means that somewhere in the vast security apparatus that we have constructed since 9/11–utterly ignoring the fact that the Soviet empire collapsed under the weight of its own paranoid security apparatus–there is now a report on Keith McCammon, photographer.
And the above photo? I pulled it off Google Maps in seconds.
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7 responses so far ↓
1 Ari // Jun 19, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Wouldn’t want anyone to know where DARPA was located or else terrorist photographers might attack or something,
“Q: Where is DARPA located?
A: DARPA has a single headquarters location at 3701 N. Fairfax Drive in Arlington, VA. For directions, please click here.”
http://www.darpa.mil/faq.html
2 Zack // Jun 19, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Hah, like DARPA is even a secret. Part of the reason we have the internet.
Over zealous and uninformed. Maybe the people who work there should get a clue.
“I am certainly not implying that a person taking photographs is inherently ’suspicious,’ but when the appearance is that the subject of a photograph is a government installation, officers have a duty to ensure the safety of the occupants of this structure.”
Right, because a picture of a building from a sidewalk endangers the occupants of the structure.
Yikes!
Oh noes!
3 Simon Jester // Jun 19, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Man, they’d really freak out is they learned the guy was a hacker tourist.
4 Ariel // Jun 19, 2009 at 10:41 PM
Although Gogol didn’t mean it to apply here it seems appropriate: “Let me warn you, if you start chasing after views, you’ll be left without bread and without views. ”
This “you can’t take pictures” is just becoming way too silly, except for the damage it does to innocent citizens. Oh, wait a minute, you aren’t innocent after all if you resist…. Thanks, jones.
5 Nemo // Jun 19, 2009 at 11:53 PM
The sad thing is it breaks with sensible security doctrine. The best way to hide a needle isn’t to stash it in a haystack, it is to hide it in a stack of other needles. If you want to hide a secret, you either bury it in a pile of other secrets (real or feigned), or take “The Purloined Letter” approach and hide it in plain sight, treating it as utterly unimportant. Both methods have been used, and properly executed, have been effective.
As with the common recruit in BMT, the danger lies in sticking out, either way, but even then there are options. The tallest man in my training unit was black, in a mostly white & latino group, yet he had the technique down pat – the Drill Critters couldn’t even remember his name. He’d mastered the art of fading into the woodwork, and other guys who should have blended drew attention (and likewise trouble – BMT isn’t the place to shine, it’s the place to blend & get through. No extra points for excelling, mostly – but I’m not familiar with all services, but have heard similar things from other branches.)
Treating n apparently-ordinary location as sa secure facility defeats the purpose of the no-photographs rule. Sad
6 Supernintendo Chalmers // Jun 22, 2009 at 1:58 PM
hilarious, my dentist is in the bldg right behind that one. i think i can see secret activity while getting my flouride treatment.
7 John // Jun 24, 2009 at 7:51 PM
If you listen to late night talk radio like I do, you hear about DARPA all the time.
Everything from telepathy to weather control…
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/search/?query=darpa
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