ATTORNEY IN GROOM LAKE LAWSUIT SAYS HE WON'T HAVE TO SURRENDER HIS 
FILES

By Keith Rogers, with Warren Bates

Las Vegas Review-Journal, June 21, 1995

Jonathan Turley, the attorney representing former workers at the 
Air Force's Groom Lake installation in Lincoln County in a 
lawsuit, said Tuesday he will not have to surrender his files to 
government lawyers who sought them to protect military secrets.

He referred to a decision by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro that 
followed a closed teleconference hearing in which Turley tried 
unsuccessfully to have the hearing unsealed along with a June 15 
Justice Department letter and other documents in the case.  Crimes 
Project at George Washington University.

According to Pro's secretary, the judge will issue an order in 
connection with the hearing.  The order will remain under seal.

The case centers on former workers at the Air Force's operating 
location, 35 miles west of Alamo, who claim they were exposed to 
toxic fumes from open-pit burning of hazardous waste while they 
built hangars and buildings at the installation.

The court's case file has been kept from public inspection since 
Friday while Pro reviewed requests by the Justice Department to 
require Turley to turn over movements relating to a government 
manual that Turley has said was retroactively classified.

Turley argued that if the government were to succeed, he would end 
up turning over sensitive information usually protected by 
attorney-client privilege.

"We are confident that with the court order today, the danger of 
seizure of my officer files is no longer present.  We are grateful 
for the court's intervention," Turley said in a telephone 
interview Tuesday.

Turley said he expects more motions by the Justice Department will 
be sealed by the court and withheld from the public.

He said he could neither confirm or deny if the Justice Department 
had asked for materials other than the government Manual, which 
has been widely circulated on computer networks.

Attempts to reach Justice Department officials after the closed 
hearing were unsuccessful.

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REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION.