A former Washington Army National Guard intelligence officer arrested
earlier this week on espionage charges had a top-secret clearance and had
drifted toward the radical right in recent years, according to sources
familiar with the investigation.
Rafael Davila, 51, and his ex-wife, Deborah Davila, 46, are suspected of
providing white supremacists and other radical organizations with sensitive
materials involving the strategic response of the Guard to a variety of
emergency situations, both foreign and domestic, according to a Department
of Justice source.
Military officials confirmed Rafael Davila's clearance level but would not
comment on what information he allegedly provided.
The two were arrested Tuesday after a grand jury in Spokane indicted them
on unlawful possession of "documents related to the national defense of the
United States" in 1999 — the year Rafael Davila retired from the Guard with
the rank of major.
Rafael Davila is named in a single felony count while Deborah Davila is
named in three counts, including providing false statements to the FBI in
April 2000. According to the indictment, she lied when she told agents she
did not know Kirk Lyons — a firebrand North Carolina lawyer who has
defended the Ku Klux Klan and White Patriot Party and who has advocated for
"Southern ethnic cleansing."
Lyons was involved as a defense lawyer in a 1987 trial in Fort Smith, Ark.,
in which Butler and 10 others were charged with a seditious conspiracy to
overthrow the government by acts of violence. All the defendants were
acquitted.
A federal law-enforcement source said some of the national security
documents were passed on to Lyons.
Lyons has not been charged with a crime. He told The Associated Press he
barely knew Deborah Davila but that she had attended his wedding, which was
performed by Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler at the group's former
compound near Hayden Lake, Idaho.
He denied having anything to do with spying. "That's the most hilarious,
funny, ridiculous thing I've heard in my life," Lyons said. "It sounds like
flaky people."
He also dismissed Deborah Davila as a candidate for espionage. "Deborah is
a nice girl, but she doesn't have the brains to be a spy," Lyons said.
Davila was attached to the 341st Military Intelligence Batallion based in
Tacoma, which specializes in linguists whose wartime duties would include
foreign intelligence and bilingual interrogations. His home station was in
Spokane with the 341st's B-company.
The Guard had only partial records on him yesterday. But from those, it
appeared he served in the active Army as an enlisted soldier from 1969 to
1972, then went into the Army Reserves. He attended ROTC training at
Gonzaga University and received his commission in 1982, Guard spokesman Lt.
Col. Rick Patterson said.
He apparently remained in the Reserves as an infantry officer until 1990,
when he joined the Washington National Guard. He changed his specialty in
the mid-1990s to military intelligence, attending training in Arizona.
He was promoted to major in 1996 and became a military intelligence officer
in 1997, Patterson said. Clearances are provided in three basic levels:
confidential, secret and top secret.
Patterson said he didn't know what information would have been available to
Davila but that his clearance didn't necessarily mean unfettered access.
That's because intelligence is provided on a "need-to-know" basis.
"A clearance doesn't mean you can just waltz in and take anything you
want," Patterson said.
Davila left the Guard in 1999 with an honorable discharge. His records did
not show any disciplinary actions against him, Patterson said.
The Davilas are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Spokane today.
Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ray Rivera:
206-464-2926 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Information from The Associated
Press is included in this story.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134629364_espionage06m.html
