SACRAMENTO - Despite a request from a state senator that it preserve all documents related to a controversial intelligence unit, the California National Guard erased the computer hard drive of a retiring colonel who oversaw the fledgling project.
Computer technicians at the Guard erased the officer's hard drive on June 27, said Col. Cherie Takami, the Guard's acting chief of staff. That same day, state Sen. Joe Dunn asked top military officials not to destroy any evidence concerning the special intelligence unit.
On Tuesday, the National Guard rebuffed Dunn's requests for answers and immediate access to the computer, saying they could not respond because of a federal investigation into the matter expected to begin today.
``Evidence of document destruction could turn our quiet investigation into a full-blown scandal,'' said Dunn, who is threatening to subpoena the colonel who oversaw the unit and wants immediate access so a computer specialist can recover any data from the erased computer.
While the Guard's top general refused to address Dunn's concerns, the acting chief of staff told the Mercury News that the computer hard drive had been erased before anyone had seen the senator's letter.
The Garden Grove Democrat began looking into the matter after the Mercury News reported last week on the creation of the Guard's new intelligence unit that has been given ``broad authority'' to monitor potential terrorist threats.
Known as the Information Synchronization, Knowledge Management and Intelligence Fusion program, the project has raised concerns that the National Guard is laying the groundwork for a new domestic spying operation.
Those concerns were heightened by Guard e-mails obtained by the Mercury News showing high-level interest in a small Mother's Day anti-war rally organized by Peninsula Raging Grannies, CodePink and a group of families who have lost relatives in Iraq.
Guard officials said that information was given to soldiers whose job it is to monitor Web sites and television for issues that might affect the state military and that no one was sent to the State Capitol to observe the anti-war rally.
One day after the story appeared, Dunn contacted the National Guard and asked them not to destroy any information about the matter so he could hold hearings.
That same day, according Takami, computer specialists wiped Davis' computer clean because he is retiring.
Takami said technicians are doing what they could to recover the information.
But Dunn expressed skepticism about the explanation.
``This certainly creates a deeper hole for them,'' said Dunn.
In direct response to Dunn's letter, acting Adjutant General John Alexander said he could not reply until he coordinated with federal officials launching their own investigation this week.
