JBLM DES Protection Division - A Threat to Our Community

Dangerously unchecked surveillance and rights violations have been a throughline of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) Directorate of Emergency Services (DES) since the mid-2000s. In particular, the JBLM DES Protection Division (Anti-Terrorism Office) has been responsible for countless civil liberties and digital rights violations since that time. Since 2018, under the corrupt and incompetent "leadership" of DES Deputy Director Ted Solonar, the JBLM DES has descended into utter lawlessness, repeatedly refusing to exercise or submit to the democratic accountability required by the Constitution and our system of laws, engaging in a pattern of abuse, retaliation, and harassment of anyone who dares to speak out or question DES misconduct and the criminal activities of DES senior personnel.

We have spoken out about JBLM Police leadership abuse, corruption, and retaliation in the past (see: "Whistleblowers call JBLM's police system broken | FOX 13 Seattle" on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejw0no3imuY) and feel that we must again exercise our 1st Amendment Rights and reach out to our communities, to our elected officials, and to the news media to again warn of ongoing illegal activities, harassment, and retaliation by JBLM DES (police) senior leaders.

In her book, Spying on Democracy, (City Lights Open Media, 2013) Heidi Boghosian, the former director of the National Lawyers’ Guild, wrote about the Directorate of Emergency Services (DES) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA saying:

>>>>> “A civilian employee of the Fort Lewis Force Protection Division [Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) Directorate of Emergency Services (DES)] in Washington State struck up friendships with many peace activists. For at least two years, he posed as an activist with Port Militarization Resistance (PMR), a group in Washington opposing the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. He gave information about planned protests to his supervisor, who wrote threat assessments that local law enforcement officials used in harassment campaigns that included “preemptive arrests and physical attacks on peaceful demonstrations, as well as other harassment”. One individual was arrested so many times that his landlord evicted him… In the words of the government agencies involved, they aimed to neutralize PMR through a pattern of false arrests and detentions, attacks on homes and friendships, and attempting to impede members from peacefully assembling and demonstrating anywhere, at any time. Harassment was systematic and pervasive. PMR participants were arrested not just locally, but in other venues, including the Denver Democratic National Convention in 2008 and a San Francisco protest at which they were the only ones arrested… The case revealed that today’s military has continued to engage in COINTELPRO-type operations and shows the extent to which the lines between the military and civilian law enforcement have blurred. Forces now used against ordinary people engaged in free speech and protest include, increasingly, weapons and tactics used by the U.S. military for combat missions. The drift from passive intelligence gathering to offensive counterintelligence is one manifestation of the difference between civilian law enforcement principles and the military’s exclusive focus on defeating perceived enemies through combat, propaganda, and covert operations… The role of civilian law enforcement, in theory, is to protect the public and the Constitution whereas the role of the military is to identify the enemy and neutralize them… When the military starts identifying peaceful dissenters here as the enemy, God help us all.” <<<<<

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) commented on the military’s abuse of power and illegal spying on American citizens, saying: “There is simply no reason why the United States military should be monitoring the peaceful activities of American citizens who oppose U.S. war policies... When information about non-violent protest activity is included in a military anti-terrorism database, all Americans should be concerned about the unchecked authority this administration has seized in the name of fighting terrorism… Spying on citizens for merely executing their constitutional rights of free speech and peaceful assembly is chilling and marks a troubling trend... It is an abuse of power and an abuse of trust for the military to play any role in monitoring critics of administration policies.”

The JBLM DES Protection Division has been the subject of multiple allegations that it violated civil rights, particularly through surveillance and intelligence-gathering activities targeting non-military-affiliated civilians involved in political protests, and other 1st Amendment protected activities.

In a 2017 lawsuit, Panagacos v. Towery, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) alleged that the JBLM DES Protection Division conducted an illegal intelligence-gathering operation against participants in the Port Militarization Resistance (OlyPMR), a political movement in Olympia and Tacoma. The lawsuit claimed that the JBLM DES:
* Collected and disseminated information about political activities protected by the First Amendment.
* Monitored social media and email listservs without consent.
* Mischaracterized peaceful protests as threats to national security.
* Shared data with the U.S. Intelligence Community via the INTELINK database.

The JBLM DES has descended into utter lawlessness. DES supervisors are using their positions to retaliate against anyone who dares to speak out about official misconduct and criminal activity. The DES has entered false information into law enforcement reports, lied in sworn statements, submitted perjured testimony to the courts, submitted fraudulent eGuardian reports to the FBI, and lied to the Garrison Commander to have whistleblowers barred from post and to prevent evidence of on-going criminal activity within the DES from being provided to CID or other on-post investigative agencies such as the IG & Counterintelligence.

In 2019, reports indicated that Daniel L. Vessels (daniel.l.vessels.civ [at] army.mil), then deputy chief of the JBLM DES Protection Division, was allegedly re-doubling efforts to collect and disseminate information about political activists, and that he [Vessels] had a documented history of hostile responses to complaints about his misconduct, including threats and intimidation directed against anyone who complained.

In 2019, after community members expressed concern over illegal cell-phone monitoring by JBLM, notices were posted in the civilian community [by the JBLM DES Protection Division?] stating that individuals who questioned DOD activities were Homegrown Violent Extremists and that the JBLM Anti-Terrorism Office was monitoring the civilian community and entering their observations into the INTELINK database.

In 2023, whistleblowers within JBLM’s civilian police force criticized the system, citing instances where officers were deemed unqualified due to poor understanding of police practices, raising broader concerns about accountability and civil rights protections. Former JBLM DACP (civilian police officers) Paul R., Gregg E., and Marcus T., along with several current members of the JBLM Police Department have all spoken out against corruption and incompetence in the JBLM DES leadership.

JBLM has been linked to systemic issues where service members and military retirees faced retaliation after reporting serious misconduct by JBLM DES personnel, including denial of on base medical care for military retirees who acted as “whistleblowers” exposing the JBLM DES’ violation of the civil rights of American citizens.

A 2025 report highlighted that soldiers in mental health crisis were repeatedly denied access to medical care and crisis counseling at JBLM. The report links this failure to a "corrupt and abusive police force (JBLM DES)" and an "uncaring and incompetent Commander" who allegedly retaliated against those who spoke out about abuse and corruption in the JBLM DES.

Although Federal law, 10 USC Section 1074 & 1076 states that dependent family members and military retirees must be granted access to military installations to receive any medical care to which they are entitled, access to that medical care was still being denied at JBLM in 2026, in order to retaliate against whistleblowers.

In 2026, the JBLM DES Protection Division is conducting on-going targeting, surveillance, and collection against ‘No Kings’ protests in Washington State. While these peaceful protests are 1st Amendment protected activities, JBLM warned that anyone participating in this protest or opposing the policies of the Trump Administration was a potential Homegrown Violent Extremist or Domestic Terrorist.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has established a policy that prohibits the collection and maintenance of information concerning United States persons based on first amendment-protected activities. This policy is outlined in 50 U.S.C. § 3040a, which states that no element of the DoD may collect or maintain information concerning a United States person solely for the purpose of monitoring an activity protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

While activities of the JBLM DES Protection Division clearly violate this and other Federal laws, the JBLM Commander has allowed this illegal activity to continue, and has even barred those with evidence of this illegal activity by JBLM DES personnel from having access to US Army CID Offices on-post. The JBLM DES Director, Ted Solonar (theodore.w.solonar.civ [at] army.mil) is aware of these illegal activities and the threat they pose to our community, but, like the JBLM Commander, has done nothing to address the issue or stop this misconduct by the JBLM DES Protection Division.

A military commander cannot legally deny access to a base to prevent a crime from being reported to the Criminal Investigation Division (CID). CID investigations are independent of the chain of command and are designed to operate free from command influence to ensure impartiality. Commanders do not have the authority to block or obstruct reports of crimes to CID.

Denying base access to deter reporting is a serious breach of policy, law, and regulation, but that denial is exactly what is happening a Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). To cover up an on-going pattern of misconduct and criminal activity in the JBLM Directorate of Emergency Services (DES), the Joint Base Commander, has issued debarment orders to prevent those with evidence of serious crimes committed by JBLM DES personnel from being reported to CID.

Government surveillance is not just about gathering evidence of criminal activity. Surveillance is also a form of harassment and intimidation used against individuals in a malicious attempt to reduce the quality of their life so they will: be intimidated into silence, have a nervous break-down, become institutionalized, experience constant mental, emotional, or physical pain, become homeless, or even commit suicide. These abuses at JBLM are part of a larger national concern about the militarization of domestic surveillance and the targeting of political dissent. The ACLU and other civil rights organizations emphasize that such actions undermine constitutional protections, especially the right to peaceful assembly and free speech.