Reinbold v. Evers

• Decision Date: 11 June 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1896,No. 98-2780,NON-COMMISSIONED,CA-97-101-2,CA-96-1099-MJG,N-COMMISSIONED,98-1896,98-2780
• Citation: 187 F.3d 348
• Parties: (4th Cir. 1999) THOMAS G. REINBOLD, individually, and as next friends of their minor children; JOAN B. REINBOLD, individually, and as next friends of their minor children; ALEXANDRA REINBOLD; BRANDELIN REINBOLD, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. WAYNE K. EVERS, Commander, USN; RONALD D. HOLT, Lieutenant, (USN. ret.), Defendants-Appellees. THOMAS B. REINBOLD; JOAN B. REINBOLD, individually and as next friends of their minor children, Alexandra Reinbold and Brandelin Reinbold, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; WILLIAM J. PERRY, Secretary of Defense; DIANA L. HEALY; JOHN M. SCHMIDT, individually and as employee of the National Security Agency; KENNETH MINIHAN, Lieutenant General, United States Air Force, Director, National Security Agency, in their official capacities; JOHN H. DALTON, Secretary of the Navy, in his official capacity; TWO UNKNOWN NAMEDLAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY; UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, Defendants-Appellees, and WAYNE K. EVERS, Commander; RONALD D. HOLT, Lieutenant, Defendants. ()(). . Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 348

187 F.3d 348 (4th Cir. 1999)

THOMAS G. REINBOLD, individually, and as next friends of their minor children; JOAN B. REINBOLD, individually, and as next friends of their minor children; ALEXANDRA REINBOLD; BRANDELIN REINBOLD, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. WAYNE K. EVERS, Commander, USN; RONALD D. HOLT, Lieutenant, (USN. ret.), Defendants-Appellees.

THOMAS B. REINBOLD; JOAN B. REINBOLD, individually and as next friends of their minor children, Alexandra Reinbold and Brandelin Reinbold, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; WILLIAM J. PERRY, Secretary of Defense; DIANA L. HEALY; JOHN M. SCHMIDT, individually and as employee of the National Security Agency; KENNETH MINIHAN, Lieutenant General, United States Air Force, Director, National Security Agency, in their official capacities; JOHN H. DALTON, Secretary of the Navy, in his official capacity; TWO UNKNOWN NAMED NON-COMMISSIONED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY; UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, Defendants-Appellees, and WAYNE K. EVERS, Commander; RONALD D. HOLT, Lieutenant, Defendants.

No. 98-1896 (CA-97-101-2) No. 98-2780 (CA-96-1099-MJG).

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT.

Argued: June 11, 1999.

Decided: August 5, 1999.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Elkins.

Robert Earl Maxwell, Senior District Judge.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.

Marvin J. Garbis, District Judge.

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] COUNSEL ARGUED: Rex L. Fuller, III, LAW OFFICES OF REX L. FULLER, III, Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, for Appellants. Katherine Stelle Gruenheck, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Frank W. Hunger Assistant Attorney General, David W. Ogden, Acting Assistant Attorney General, William D. Wilmoth, United States Attorney, Lynne A. Battaglia, United States Attorney, Freddi Lipstein, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

Before WILKINS and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges, and JACKSON, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Hamilton wrote the opinion, in which Judge Wilkins and Judge Jackson joined.

OPINION

HAMILTON, Circuit Judge:

Thomas G. Reinbold (Reinbold)¹ filed this action against the United States, the United States Department of Defense (DOD), the National Security Agency (NSA), the United States Navy (Navy),² and four individual officials of the Navy and NSA (Commander Wayne K. Evers (Evers) (Navy ret.), Lieutenant Ronald D. Holt (Holt) (Navy ret.), Diana L. Healy (Healy) (NSA), and Dr. John M. Schmidt (Dr. Schmidt) (NSA)) alleging, inter alia, that the defendants conspired to unlawfully search and seize, and that Holt and Evers did unlawfully search and seize, him in violation of his rights guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.³ See Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) (holding that an independent cause of action for monetary damages exists against federal officials, acting under color of federal law, who violate an individual's constitutional rights). Reinbold also alleged that the defendants covered up their conspiracy by placing false psychological evaluations and incident reports in his records, possessed and maintained by the NSA. All of Reinbold's claims against all defendants were disposed of through pre-trial motions, and Reinbold now appeals those dispositions. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

I.

Reinbold is an employee of the NSA. In January 1992, Reinbold was assigned to the Naval Security Group (NAVSECGRU) at Sugar Grove, West Virginia (Sugar Grove), where he worked as a Contracting Officer Representative Technical (COR-T). As a COR-T, Reinbold was responsible for: (1) tasking the on-site maintenance and engineering contractors; (2) evaluating the performance of contractors; and (3) assigning scores to the contractors' evaluation results.

Pursuant to the Internal Security Act of 1950 (ISA), see 50 U.S.C. § 781 et seq., Reinbold, as well as each NSA employee, was required to satisfy mandatory security standards and be cleared for access to sensitive compartmented information (an SCI security clearance). See 50 U.S.C §§ 831-34. An SCI security clearance allows NSA employees access to information about sophisticated systems for collecting intelligence data as well as information actually collected. An SCI security clearance is only granted when "clearly consistent with national security." 50 U.S.C. § 831. The criteria for access to SCI materials are established by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). See 50 U.S.C. § 403 et seq. A document issued by the Director of the CIA on January 22, 1992, states that any individual considered for an SCI security clearance will be rigorously investigated and must be "stable, trustworthy, reliable, of excellent character, judgment and discretion, and of unquestionable loyalty to the United States." (S.J.A. 294a).⁴. Any doubts regarding an applicant's qualifications for an SCI security clearance must be resolved in favor of national security. See 50 U.S.C. #8E8E # 831-34. Further, an NSA employee's failure to maintain his or her SCI security clearance is grounds for removal from his or her position with the NSA. See id.

Individuals who are granted SCI security clearance are subject to briefings and debriefings to inform them of the security requirements, restrictions, and obligations that accompany their SCI security clearance. Briefings and debriefings occur: (1) when an individual is initially indoctrinated; (2) as periodic awareness enhancement is deemed necessary, timely, or appropriate; and (3) upon termination of an individual's SCI security clearance. In addition, debriefings can occur when any situation arises "for which a special briefing/debriefing is required by the department/agency." (J.A. 303). In addition, individuals who possess an SCI security clearance are subject to procedures, such as NSA/Central Security Service Regulation (NSA/CSS Reg.) No. 121-18, that govern access to sensitive compartmented information. NSA/CSS Reg. No. 121-18 provides, in relevant part, that:

6. Government furnished desks, safes, file cabinets, lockers, and other containers provided for the use of personnel assigned in controlled areas are for official use only. As such, they are subject to search under the following conditions: a. During the course of an official investigation where a search of a specific container could assist the investigation;

b. During after-hours security inspections whenever a lockable container is found improperly secured; or

c. By a supervisor or designee for official purposes in the absence of the employee to which it is assigned.

* * *

16. The [Chief of the Office of Security] is responsible for:

* * *

c. The conduct of limited physical searches of persons, property, or vehicles upon entry to, while within, or upon exit from a controlled area.

(1) Searches may be performed to locate prohibited items and to preclude the inadvertent and unauthorized removal of controlled items or other unclassified government property.

(2) Searches of property will be limited to that in a person's possession or control, and may include all paper items, boxes, briefcases, handbags, and similar containers.

(J.A. 320-324). In addition to these directives, a sign at the entrance to the Operations Site at Sugar Grove, at which Reinbold worked, stated: "WARNING RESTRICTED AREA KEEP OUT. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. AUTHORIZED ENTRY INTO THIS RESTRICTED AREA CONSTITUTES CONSENT TO SEARCH OF PERSONNEL AND THE PROPERTY UNDER

THEIR CONTROL. INTERNAL SECURITY ACT OF 1950 SECTION 21 50 U.S.C. 797." (J.A. 326).

Reinbold alleges that since he began work at Sugar Grove in January 1992, Navy managerial personnel interfered with the performance of his COR-T duties and the process of evaluating contractor performance. Reinbold further alleges that in July 1992, when Evers joined Sugar Grove as the officer in charge of the NAVSECGRU Detachment, he immediately attempted to interfere with Reinbold's duties. In October 1992, Evers was promoted to the position of base commander at Sugar Grove and, as Reinbold contends, began to extend his influence over Reinbold's COR-T duties by pressuring Reinbold to alter contractor performance evaluations. Reinbold also alleges that Evers himself altered contractor performance evaluations "by removing text in direct conflict with contracting regulations." (J.A. 21). Reinbold alleges that, while he did not cooperate with Evers' efforts to alter evaluations, he did permit his reports to be edited as long as the content or meaning was not changed.

In June 1993, Reinbold's supervisor, an NSA Work Center Chief, Healy, with the assistance of Evers, compelled Reinbold to undergo a psychological evaluation. Dr. Schmidt, the NSA psychologist who performed Reinbold's evaluation, concluded that Reinbold did not present a mental health or security risk.

Reinbold alleges that Evers' attempts to alter Reinbold's evaluations of government contractors persisted. In response to Reinbold's concerns about Evers' continuing conduct, Reinbold met with Captain Michael Kennedy (Kennedy) of the NAVSECGRU chaplain's office, first in January 1994, and again on February 18, 1994. Kennedy had previously represented to Reinbold that he had experience with government contracts and Reinbold believed Kennedy could be of assistance to him. During their meeting on February 18, 1994, Reinbold presented Kennedy with a written statement, dated February 17, 1994, detailing Evers' attempts to alter Reinbold's contractor evaluations and Evers'...