Message posted by Jack Torres (Member since 08/11/2020) on December 16, 2022 at 6:57:28 PST:
Hi Joerg. I think you are a great journalist and you have done a great job with the website for aviation enthusiast like me. I listened to the podcast last night. I think their are a few major points missing from most of the discussions I have seen so far in public. In my opinion the reason for the raid is becasue you hold photos that are potentially un-lawful and may contain classified information. Yes, there are many websites that also have these photos, but you are closest to the source of these photos Gabe Zeifman. I personally think after doing some research that Gabe is suspect number 1 in this case. There are 3 laws that will pertain to this case. 18 U.S. Code § 795-797 and the law experts will have to hash this out with the FBI. The 2 main questions will be as follows. Are there classified items in the photographs. If so, then this will be a violation of the law whether the pictures were taken on public land or not becasue the photos were deciminated. I beleive the photos at the heart of the case are the photos taken by Gabe on Christmas of 2020. Here is where the law gets tricky. Gabe was technically in military airspace when photographing the base. He was given permission to transit the airspace, but not permission to photograph the installation. In this case he would be in violation of U.S. Code § 795 becasue I don't beleive he will be considered to be on public land or air space per se. He will be treated like anyone else with permission to be on military installations or air space. It is illegal to photograph any installation while transiting through military airspace or land. That will be a tricky one that the law experts will also have to hash out. As far as you are concerned. I don't think you will have any charges against you, becasue you did not yourself take these photographs. You were given these photographs by Gabe to post on the site, and from there Gabe deciminated these photos to Tyler Rogoway and etc..... You did though take some flights with Gabe, and therefore the AFSOI will want to investigate you also to make sure you did not take any photos while up in the air with him. I think they came in hot to your houses becasue they also want to send a message to others that may be taking photos of the base, which they have done for years to other "Area 51 Journalist's" and there is nothing new there. I am speculating here, but I think Gabe is being investigated and might have a rougher time getting off on certain charges. Gabe took down all of his Area 51 photos from his Google Drive account, and he has hardly been posting on social media or his youtube account for the past year. Anyway, just my 2 cents coming from a former Government Employee. I think you are going to go through some heart ache with this raid, but in the end you will come out stronger and I hope you get some of your equipment back. But these raids do not happen for no reason. Trust me on that. Jack Torres
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