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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1998)
fjJon/N Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1998 Dont ask, don’t e-mail: Mr. Boenisch goes to Washington Navy out of line? A look at internship in the nation's capital BRAD ZIMMERMAN ROBERT SCHOENBERG Co-editor-in-chief Staff Writer US Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Timothy R. McVeigh recently was told by the US Navy that they were going to discharge him for homosexuality. Ironically, McVeigh’s recent perfor mance evaluation described him as an outstanding role model and the “em bodiment of Navy core values.” People need What’s important here isn’t the fact to remember that McVeigh is gay, but that the Navy may have violated the Electronic Com that in the munications Privacy Act of 1986 to find this out. information The Navy found out McVeigh was age there is homosexual in a roundabout way. Ap no true parently, in the first week of Septem ber, McVeigh sent an e-mail to the wife anonymity. of a fellow crewman about a Christ mas toy drive for the crew’s children. Brad Navy officials said the woman was Zimmerman disturbed by the return address on his Co-Editor-in- e-mail -“Boysrch”—which presum Chief ably meant “boy search.” She con sulted the biographical profile listed under the screen name “Boysrch” on America Online, offi cials said. The profile identified the user as Tim of Hono lulu, whose hobbies included “driving, boy watching, col lecting pictures of other young studs.” According to a transcript of McVeigh’s discharge hear ing -which is currently delayed so a federal judge can re view the case—a Navy investigator contacted AOL and, without acknowledging his connection to the Navy, asked for McVeigh’s full name. The investigator, Joseph Kaiser, said a technician at AOL identified the user as Timothy R. McVeigh of Honolulu. Therein lies the problem. The Electronic Communica tions Privacy Act of 1986 bars the release of customer in formation by computer-service companies without a sub poena, a court order or the consent of the customer, none of which the Navy had. In addition, McVeigh has filed suit in the U.S. District Court at Washington, claiming that the Navy is in violation of federal privacy laws and of the Defense Department’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which was supposed to put an end to aggressive campaigns to ferret out homosexuals in the military. “That information is not given out to anyone except you, and only to you if you can verify some account information first,” according to an AOL technical support representa tive who contacted the Print. Apparently, then, both the US Navy and America Online are at fault: the Navy didn’t have a subpoena, court order or McVeigh’s consent, and an AOL tech gave out the informa tion without verifying any account information first. This makes me wonder: what was the US Navy thinking? Was Kaiser simply unknowingly overstepping bounds or was the investigator blatantly ignoring federal law? And what was the AOL tech thinking? Or was he thinking at all? Since I work as a technical support representative for Sprint Internet Passport (Sprint’s Internet division) I can not imagine how this breach of security could have hap pened, unless the technician in question was brand new or simply didn’t care. In this new world of connectivity and anonymity there are still records. Someone, somewhere has all of your in formation. Federal laws protecting privacy are great but they don’t mean anything if they aren’t enforced. In addition, federal laws don’t mean anything after the damage has been done. However, some of the blame needs to be accepted by McVeigh. In a roundabout way he violated the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy.” By sending e-mail to the wife of a crewmember with the e-mail name of “Boysrch” he was, in a vague way, letting people know he was homosexual. In addition, his profile clearly labeled him as being homo sexual. In all, I think that people need to remember that in the information age there is no true anonymity. Whether you’ve been assigned a number or name, a password or a keyword, someone knows who you are and possibly quite a bit more. Be careful whom you tell. Associated Student Government President Jacob Boenisch served as an intern for the Committee for Education Funding, a lobby group, during the summer of 1997. Boenisch worked in the offices of the committee in Washington, D.C., not far from the White House. Competition for access can be fierce in Washington, probably reflecting the level of competition at the highest lev els of power. “I’ve seen the mentality, the aura of what goes on.” Boenisch said. “They're strutting their stuff... because they’re trying to get to number one. It’s a dog- eat-dog world. They are trying to beat everyone else out and get the grand prize.” Boenisch visited the White House and got to know other interns who worked for congressmen, senators and the president’s administration. “It’s like a rich person’s gig,” Boenisch said, “especially when you get into the White House. You can tell how those women can use their persua Wednesday, January 28, 1998 sive power, as far as using it to their advantage, on legislator aides, staff, senators or congressmen or even the President of the United States.” Interns working at the White House are asked to perform various office duties, most of them office drudgery. According to Boenisch, interns make phone calls, open the mail and gener ally make themselves available to whomever they work for. Most interns don’t have access to all parts of the White House or come in contact with high-level advisors to the President. But some interns do achieve the highest level of contact, and to reach that level it is considered a prize accomplishment, if only for inclusion on a resume. For access at that level an intern is scrutinized by the FBI and rewarded with the coveted Blue Pass. This docu ment allows the intern access to all ar eas of the White House except the sec ond »floor, the residence of the President’s family. A Blue Pass offers the intern the greatest opportunity to meet and work for high level adminis trators, including Hillary Clinton and the president. To receive a Blue Pass is to reach the highest reward as an intern. “Your goal as an intern is to beat ev ery other intern out, to be in on the top prize,’’Boenisch said. “To be in on the top prize as an intern is to be able to, like, just see President Clinton or shake his hand or just talk to him.” Boenisch visited the White House on several occasions while working for the Committee for Education Funding and had the opportunity to observe interns working there. “They worship at the hands and feet of their bosses. The interns at Hillary Clinton’s office were abuzz when she came in, the interns trying to get her attention, [trying to be] the first one to state a fact, to like say, “the trash man called,” anything, to get as close to the power as possible. “It is also the same with congress men and senators, the closer you get to that person, that personal power, the better... because you have a connec tion with that person. “This is what an intern’s responsi bilities are: they push paper, answer telephone calls, and they kiss the ass of the person they work for.” News Briefs Financial Aid is holding a one-hour class each week on Tuesdays in B 114 at 3 p.m. on how to file the Free Appli cation for Federal Student Aid. No registration is required, and help in answering questions will be available. Volunteers are needed to tutor adults in reading and writing approximately two hours a week. Contact Joe VanZutphen at ext.2724. the entry. All entries will be consid ered for the literary magazine Synes thesia. Submit entries to Allen Widerburg in M233 or call ext.2359. Qualified math tutors are wanted who have completed MTH 111, calculus, or pre-calculus. Starting rate is $8.02 per hour. Stop by the Math Lab for an ap plication. For information about the college’s scholarship application process, join Sharon Sample, Scholarship Coordina tor, during January on Thursdays from 3-4 p.m. in Bl 14. The deadline for the writers’ club con test is Feb. 18. Students may submit up to three poems, one essay, and one piece of fiction. Submit four copies of each entry. Include a cover page for each. Specifically, manuscripts should be prepared as follows: A cover page with the title, category, student’s name, social security number, address and phone number. The first page of the story should only include the student’s social security number and the title. Do not put your name on the first page of The following recruiters will be com ing to the campus: United Parcel Ser vice, Wednesday, Jan. 28 and the Old Spaghetti Factory, Thursday, Jan. 29. The college and High School Relations office are offering an opportunity for home school and underage students on campus to get acquainted. The college invites these students for pizza on Jan. 28. For more information, contact Cathy Stempski, Transition Advisor in High School Relations. COME TO THE CLUB FAIR!!! To day from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Com munity Center representatives from over 20 clubs will be available to speak to and ask questions. It is the perfect opportunity to join in campus activi ties. Free pizza and the music of Dan Ross will be featured for the event. Winter term Authors’ Night will be held in the McLoughlin Hall Theater Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. Three Oregon play wrights—Charles Deemer, DMay Rob erts and playwriting instructor Sue Mach—will be featured. For more in formation, contact Allen Widerburg at ext. 2359. New scholarships available for a variety of situations and needs Students in need of extra cash have new options. There will be open enrollment from Feb. 16 to April 3. Workshops for scholarship information will continue through the end of Janu ary. NEW SCHOLARSHIPS: Family Pioneer in Higher Educa tion (three full tuition awards avail able): The purpose of these scholar ships is to provide assistance and special recognition to students who are first in their immediate fami lies (grandparents, parents, sib lings) to attend college. Require ments are that the applicant be a new or returning Clackamas stu dent, enroll in 12 or more credit hours per term and maintain a mini mum 2.5 GPA. New Pioneer Scholarship For Spe cial Needs Individuals (three full tuition awards available): The purpose is to provide finan cial assistance and opportunities for success for individuals facing physical, emotional or social chal lenges. Requirements are that the appli cant must enroll in six or more credit hours per term, maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA and document physical, emotional or social chal lenge. Sharon Sample, scholarship co ordinator, suggests that students who will be transferring next year should check the scholarship table, contact the college they will be transferring to, look on the internet, Computer Information Systems, and reference books. “Don’t think you're not going to be eligible. They [the scholarships] are not all need or academic based.” Sample said. Sample also urged everyone to apply because each year many scholarships go unapplied for and unclaimed.
