Think Progress

And then there were four.

By Nico Pitney on Apr 7th, 2006 at 11:43 am

And then there were four.

“A high-ranking Defense Department IT official has been arrested and indicted on child pornography charges. … [C]ourt documents allege that Lynch had been operating a peer-to-peer file-sharing program on a computer in his office at DISA. Agents confiscated several computers and more than 1,000 CDs from Lynch’s office.”

UPDATE: The charges have been dropped but the criminal investigation is ongoing.




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58 Responses to “And then there were four.”

  1. SuperEdo Says:

    Is it ironic that this administration has opened more FBI operations to investigate pornography?

    By the way, they've cut funds for the FBI and CIA overall. Homeland Securty, my ass.


  2. Michdem Says:

    Yep , the party of god .


  3. Cyra Brown Says:

    Oh My!!! When it rains, it pours. Is this going to be a "trend" with the Bush Administration? I thought the "Child Pornography" angle was a ruse to get internet records. And maybe it was, and this is just a coincidence. Just another episode of "As The Stomach Turns". Sheesh.


  4. Mark Says:

    In all fairness I don't know if these guys are career employees or political appointees, whethter they are dems or republicans. Either way though it seems like the DHS people at least should have been screened better.


  5. ann Says:

    Give the people what they want - voters sighted "moral values" as the most important issue to them in 2004. It's about time we brought some "moral values" to the Republicans in DC.


  6. Solitaire Says:

    What, did they recruit Homeland Security officials from Porn sites?


  7. Zookeeper Says:

    DHS = Super Adventure Club.


  8. Gerald Gibson Says:

    Its not a trend its not a trend!!! Dear god it is not representative of the conservatives!!! No matter how many of us you catch!


  9. lib4 Says:

    Alright this is the fourth incident IN A WEEK and I still dont see the Falwells, Dobson's, or Robertson's coming out to condemn these acts....

    because you know damn well if this was a democrat there would be wall to wall coverage on the 700 Club, the AFA website, etc.

    For people who are obseessed with condemn gays because they are supposedly all pedophiles this strikes as blatant hypocrisy......


  10. trueblue Says:

    as long as it's not a BJ they seem to be OK with it.

    F**king Perv's.


  11. Ding Dongsby Says:

    Why do all of you anti-child-pornography types hate America?


  12. McGillicuddy Says:

    If it's DHS, they're almost certainly Republicans. DHS, as a new agency, has pretty much been used as a repository for GOP hacks.


  13. Geeno Says:

    Mark (#4) DHS is the republican model of the future of government. It was deliberately designed to go around the normal civil service protocols. EVERYONE in DHS is a political appointment, right down to the janitor who probably works for a cleaning service owned by a big R donor.


  14. Curlew Says:

    Whether or not these fine upstanding pro-family "christians" are career employees, Schedule C employees, or rent-a-cops at the front door, its illegal to use government computers for other than "official" purposes. Downloading porn isn't really one of those purposes, so their respective asses are grass (unless Bush pardons them for their loyal service in spying on the American public, that is). By the way, I know about the official purpose topic on government computers (or any government equipment, be it a cell phone or a government credit card) because I'm a federal employee myself (and on annual leave as I write this).


  15. hisstorymn Says:

    Sweet Crippled Christ on a Crutch! By this point I am numb to another arrest, but good lord, this guy work for the DOD and he was DUMB enough to run freaking E-mule, Limewire, whatever on a company machine.


  16. Michael Jackson Says:

    How can I get a job with the DOD or DHS? Are citizens living in Dubai eligible for these wonderful positions?


  17. Augmented4th Says:

    Maybe there's hope that we'll find out what services Gannon/Guckert was providing to the White House?


  18. Bayard Says:

    always wondered where all of this child porno was.
    being a liberal I had no idea it even existed, but Ican see now that conservatives knew all about it because it seems to be teh content of all of their friends DVD collections


  19. ann Says:

    #4 - It's already been reported that Chertoff hired Doyle.


  20. J.B. Says:

    I missed one - there was the press guy at DHS, the child sex predator program guy at DHS. There is this guy. Who is the fourth?


  21. fly Says:

    Does anyone else think that maybe the "enforcers" are seeking out these guys first?

    Maybe as a form of payback?


  22. Cheeto Breath Says:

    Actually, the continuing right-wing interest if not obsession with child pornography is neither new nor surprising.

    Especially when you think back to 1993 and how David Koresh became such a right-wing cultural icon for (a.)stockpiling guns and (b.)diddling little kids.


  23. Cheeto Breath Says:

    Actually, the continuing right-wing interest if not obsession with child pornography is neither new nor surprising.

    Especially when you think back to 1993 and how David Koresh became such a right-wing cultural icon for (a.)stockpiling guns and (b.)diddling little kids.


  24. Cheeto Breath Says:

    Sorry for the double post.


  25. Ken Says:

    But...but...but...CLINTON! MONICA! HILLARY!!!!!!!


  26. JIMBO Says:

    I have yet to see any morning shows cover this type of deception. We should e-mail them all and ask them why haven't they covered these stories.


  27. SteveLG Says:

    Is it ironic that this administration has opened more FBI operations to investigate pornography?

    They don't appear to lack for enthusiastic volunteers to staff these operations.


  28. Spudge_Boy Says:

    Okay, so we got:

    Brian J. Doyle: Soliciting a Minor
    Frank Figueroa: Flashing

    This new guy:

    Charles Lynch: Running Porn Site

    Who is the fourth guy?

    Or are we counting:

    Claude Allen; Shopliftig Scam


  29. Lesly Says:

    Seriously. What the hell’s going on? I mean first of all, someone working for the [explicative] DoD is using a government computer to share child pornography files?

    I have an answer for Bush apologists who dismiss libertarian concerns surrounding his illegal spying. One line they like to us is, If you’re not a terrorist you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Well, if you work in this upstanding government, nobody watching the Watchers means you get to diddle yourself on kiddie porn all day! (Why the hell don’t government computers have programs like Websense blocking porn sites to begin with?)

    Jesus Christ. Give me blowjobs between consenting adults any day.


  30. Phoenix Woman Says:

    Either way though it seems like the DHS people at least should have been screened better.

    Bush and his cronies have been trying to destroy the Civil Service System, which has built-in safeguards like background checks for all applicants, even clerical staff; you lie about something as minor as a DUI, you lose your job without appeal. Period. And that's just for the low-security staff. People in high-security jobs are gone over with fine-tooth combs.

    But Bush set up DHS with the express intent to dismantle the Civil Service System. Plus, since it was his pet agency, not many folks outside of the union reps dared fight him on this. And so he was allowed to set up DHS as a monumental turkey farm, the ultimate place to park otherwise-unemployable hacks and sons of donors.


  31. mr.ed Says:

    Blessed be the righteous. Damned shall be the self-righteous, like these dumb corksoakers.


  32. dlet Says:

    Repub spin.......Chertoff hired this guy to test the new child-porn surveilence system. It is working fine. Everyone can go back home. Nothing to see. OSAMA!!


  33. Elaine Supkis Says:

    Bush HID HIS OWN DUI ARRESTS as well as other arrests (drugs, theft!).

    He controls our security! And he let the 9/11 attacks succeed.

    ARREST HIM.


  34. RB Says:

    He's got a PhD and was dumb enough to do it out of his office?

    Lynch's bio:

    Dr. Lynch received a BS in Engineering Mechanics from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1984, an MS in Systems Management from the University of Southern California in 1987, and a Ph.D. in Information Technology Engineering from George Mason University in 2000. His academic research was in the integration of unprecedented complex systems.

    He served as a regular officer in the U.S. Air Force working space and missile programs at both the system program office and headquarters staff levels. After separating from the Air Force, he worked as a contractor on the Strategic Defense Initiative and the International Space Station programs. He joined the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in 1994 where he worked as a network engineer on global systems and as architect for next generation communications systems.

    Source: http://www.usipv6.com/6sense/2004/nov/november.htm


  35. Zimzone Says:

    4 down, 4 million to go.
    The Department of Hideous Security
    in action.
    Who's calling your 14 hr old daughter tonight? Will they
    be spied on? Oh, Wait! They're the ones doing the spying!


  36. Jesus Christ God of WAR Says:

    #33- Bush HID HIS OWN DUI ARRESTS as well as other arrests (drugs, theft!).

    He controls our security! And he let the 9/11 attacks succeed.

    ARREST HIM.

    Emperor Bush was also AWOL from the Air Force, knew Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, spied on US citizens (by-passing FISA), and failed to respond to Katrina.

    What more does it take for a nation to rise up?

    The French can turn out 3million protesters and get a new law torpedoed. What can the US do?


  37. Disputo Says:

    I'm glad that the cops are finally going after real child predators, instead of arresting 16 year old girls for posting pic of themselves on the web.


  38. Zookeeper Says:

    #34 - His evil sickness has nothing to do with common sense.


  39. Jw Says:

    The French can turn out 3million protesters and get a new law torpedoed. What can the US do?

    We (UnitedStatesians) can turn out a couple of million for the sake of continued unsupervised immigration! And in only a matter or days! So there is hope?

    Maybe if they unplug the Internet, that'll finally get us all out into the streets.


  40. Kris Says:

    Why doesn't the article state what sort of peer-to-peer software he used? There are various platforms which automatically distribute content across the network as a means to provide redundancy and protection of content. Did he put the content on the network, or did the network put the content on his computer?


  41. Sharoney Says:

    Just waiting for I-RIGHT-I to weigh in with his explanation of how this is okay because they're Republicans, and how it's really Al Gore's fault for inventing the internets.

    ( ( ( ( ( ( crickets chirping ) ) ) ) ) ) )

    I-RIGHT-I? Bueller? Anyone?


  42. Matt O. Says:

    Apparently the charges were dismissed, but the "investigation continues."


  43. For Truth Says:

    How freaking dumb are these guys? Or maybe its an addiction and he couldn't help it. Either way, my 8 year old son knows that what you do on a computer can be tracked and seen by almost anyone.


  44. For Truth Says:

    The folks that decry deviant behavior the loudest, are actually the ones who partake in it, really its a psychological fact all you livin' in denial Right Wingers who have been duped, and hijacked by a bunch of sickos. And yes DHS is a part of the Bush admin, I sure the odds are, they are all Repubs over there. And if the network put this material on his computer, how did this material get into the local intranet? (yes intranet). If an intelligent, competent, ethical person actually worked somewhere in this Admin, they wouldn't last long.


  45. Wisco Says:

    You see this sort of thing so often from people on the right. I think that some of these 'moral values' types are really just 'save me from myself' types. They mistakenly think that everyone's like they are and if everyone were to just cave in to their desires, the world would fall apart.

    What they need is therapy, what they wind up with is ideology, and we all wind up paying for it.

    Just call the GOP for what it is - Grinning Organization of Perverts.

    --
    http://griperblade.blogspot.com - grumblings from the heartland


  46. Pope Bandar bin Turtle Says:

    Come on, everyone, these guys are just trying to emulate the Jesus of that good old gospel song. Sing along, you know the words.

    Jesus loves the little children
    ...


  47. Dr. Wu Says:

    I missed one - there was the press guy at DHS, the child sex predator program guy at DHS. There is this guy. Who is the fourth?

    You missed this prick:

    3rd DHS Employee a Child Sex Criminal?

    For a Dateline NBC segment on sex predators, Southern California police set up a sting: A decoy pretended to be a 12- or 13-year old online at home, alone. Sex predators found the decoy on the Internet and arranged to meet. When they showed up, the police arrested them.

    Caught in the net was Michael Burks, 30, a former La Verne, Calif. police officer who was a DHS "agent," according to a Jan. 14 Los Angeles Times article (not online).


  48. Daniel Says:

    A guy on HUFFPO points out that since this was all done on the work computer, any department head should have been able to monitor it. So it's criminals supervised by incompetents. Unless the supervisors turn out to be criminals too.


  49. Mikey Says:

    #41, You won't hear from I-RIGHT-I, he's busy destroying his hard drive.


  50. Tundra Says:

    Two weeks after a Defense Information Systems Agency official was arrested on a charge of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s office handling the case dropped the charge.

    I'd say it's a slippery slope right now. A smuch as I despise the very thought of people doing that, the charges were dropped. Yes the investigation is continuing but being investigated doesn't mean guilt.


  51. George W Bush Says:

    > its illegal to use government computers for other
    > than “official” purposes. Downloading porn isn’t
    > really one of those purposes,

    It doesn't sound as if what I am going to state is the case, but do keep in mind that if the person has computer security responsibiliites there can in fact be a number of legitimate reasons why he might have pornography on his computer or even have a P2P network of such running. Again, that wouldn't be my first hypothesis, but it is a possibility.

    W



  52. james risser Says:

    WHOOOAAAA...

    I have the following DHS PEDOPHILES

    BURKS--MSNBC Sting | 13-yr-old girl
    DOYLE |FBI Sting | 14-yr-old-girl
    FIGUEROA |FLorida Mall Police | jerking off to a 16-yr-old-girl
    LYNCH | Porn site

    Does anyone have the definitive list???

    peace,

    oh and FUCK BUSH


  53. james risser Says:

    #52

    umm, the link you give for DHS CHILD SEX guy is democrat...well, if you were to actually read the article you link to, you would see that the ass-clown blogger

    printed the voting record for the WRONG PERSON!!!

    thought: neoconservatives, when lacking the facts, just make up new ones that fit their sick worldview.

    FUCK BUSH


  54. Sean-B Says:

    Maybe the 4th guy is this guy...


  55. Sean-B Says:

    My tag disappeared, so I'll post the first couple paragraphs:

    Federal agents seized computer equipment from the desk of a NASA official March 29, based on information developed during a U.S. Postal Inspection Service undercover investigation of Internet trafficking in child pornography.

    TheSmokingGun.com Web site has posted significant excerpts from an affidavit written to request a search warrant outlining much of the case against James R. Robinson, a GS-15 in NASA's In-Space Propulsion, Mission and Systems Management Division, based at NASA headquarters in Washington. The affidavit was written by a special agent in the NASA inspector general’s office.


  56. Dane Says:

    Um #54 nice try but you're wrong.

    It's not a voting record it's his voter registration datamand that's public record data. See the update for instructions on how to read the printout. It's not the wrong person - It's Brian Jame Doyle, now 56 yrs old from Silver Spring, MD. His birthday was last Friday the day the report was run.

    It's public record data, so you can call the Montgomery County Board of Elections and verify it.


  57. ddl44 Says:

    Dr. Lynch wasn't running a porn site, and doesn't work for DHS. He was a DISA employee. He didn't even know about the child porn files, which were embeded in other files that were downloaded. I know him personally. He is a good, moral man.



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