Shadow Boxing

Whoever said no news is good news, well, they never received an e-mail from someone calling himself or herself Mr. Fantastic, claiming to be able to smuggle a camera into what is supposed to be one of the government’s most secure facilities.

Who is Mr. Fantastic and what am I talking about?

Last week, I wrote about visiting rural Waynesboro, Pa., one of the homes of the shadow government (the cover story, "Chasing Shadows") — set up to ensure the smooth functioning of our government should Washington, D.C., be wiped out in a devastating terrorist attack.

After photographer Christina Felice and I showed up at what is known as "Site R," we were detained by military police. They scribbled down our personal information from our IDs — Felice gave out her business card containing her e-mail address — and confiscated our film. We were also lectured by a local sheriff and a local police officer who arrived on the scene. After about 45 minutes, we were allowed to leave. The next morning, there was an e-mail awaiting Felice.

It was from mrfantastic_76.

"If you need or want info about directions to site r or inside site r, email back, if not disregard," Mr. Fantastic wrote. "Also if you need those pics of site r they can be obtained, just let me know."

Wondering who or what Mr. Fantastic was and what he or she was up to, I responded to the e-mail and the person e-mailed back, offering to smuggle a camera into Site R if we paid. Long story short, I called the paper’s lawyer, who said he would contact the U.S. attorney’s office because, well, this is espionage we are talking about. I also called a cop I trust, and the upshot was that the FBI — which asked me to play along with Mr. Fantastic, a request I denied — is now involved. A couple of FBI supervisors told me that the bureau is taking this "very, very seriously."

Which brings me to the issue of no news being good news.

No news is not good news in this case.

What’s happening with the FBI investigation into Mr. Fantastic?

To be honest, I have no idea.

The investigation, which is being conducted under the direction of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, is still "ongoing."

So says FBI spokesman Adrienne Menn. And so says U.S. Attorney Marty Carlson. Even though my story pretty much put it out there that the FBI was looking into Mr. Fantastic — something that did not please the government, which asked that I delay my story pending an arrest, a request that I declined.

So to all the people who read "Chasing Shadows" and are wondering what happened next, what became of all the moral dilemmas I faced — should I name the site? should I participate in an FBI investigation? should I hold off on the story? — well, now you know what I know.

So far, nothing.

I received lots of responses to "Chasing Shadows." Lots of people enjoyed the story. Many questioned why I named the site or why I didn’t cooperate more with the FBI. (I named the site because it was no longer a secret, really. I found out about it from what was essentially a press release and, while I was on the phone with the White House, a colleague held up a photocopy of an article published just hours before in the Village Voice naming the site. I didn’t cooperate further with the FBI because I am a reporter, not a spy, and even in wartime the twain should never meet.)

Some people hated the story.

"Altman," wrote one fan in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, "you are nothing but a traitor publishing where the US has its SECRET NUKE SHELTERS!…I hope some patriot tracks you down and shows you why it was WRONG TO PUBLISH the SECRET LOCATION where the US NUKE SHELTERS are!…it would not surprise me if some patriot finds out about you and decides to slit your throat from ear to ear! Didn't the people that slit the throat of [Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel] Pearl think he was a JEW SPY?"

And the FBI is looking into that too.

Not everyone thinks I am a "JEW SPY."
"The press isn’t the enemy," says Lloyd Hamburger, borough manager for Waynesboro. "Free press is what the guys are over there fighting for."

Hamburger says that while he is "shocked that someone is willing to sell information about Site R," its location is not exactly unknown.

"You can’t keep an installation like that quiet," he says.

Hamburger, who "just recently read ‘Chasing Shadows’ on the borough police department’s computer," says he doubts that anyone from Waynesboro — a bedrock Republican town that is home to many retired generals, colonels and admirals — is involved in espionage.

"This is apparently some nut who doesn’t appreciate the country," says Hamburger. "Some miscreant who is just trying to make a buck. In the security climate we are in right now, anyone who would do this is extremely stupid. As you found out, everyone is on 110 percent alert."

Well, not everyone.

Not Mr. Fantastic.

And while I still don’t know who he or she is, I hope one day soon I’ll find out.