The U.S. government has threatened to seize and classify unclassified documents in possession of an attorney handling a lawsuit alleging environmental crimes at the operating location near Groom Lake, the attorney said Friday.

Jonathan Turley said the Department of Justice initially notified him on Wednesday that it intended to take control of and classify portions of his files, along with a recent open court motion he filed with U.S. District Judge Philip Pro. By Friday, Turley described a virtual standoff over the issue as

he sent faxes to government attorneys and the military demanding to know what they wanted. He said he and students assisting him with legal research camped out the previous night in his office to prevent the Department of Justice from coming in and searching his records.

"The military has thus far refused to give us specific confirmation of the ultimate scope of the seizure," Turley said Friday about 30 minutes after a 3:300 p.m. deadline to turn over the material had passed. "We are still awaiting a response."

Turley a professor at George Washington University is fighting what he characterizes as the government's overclassification of documents relating to the military's operation 35 miles west of Alamo in Lincoln County.

He represents five former workers and two widows of workers in two lawsuits that allege environmental crimes such as failure to monitor open pit burning of hazardous chemicals.

The latest confrontation concerns an Air Force manual Turley tried to submit under seal to U.S. District Judge Philip Pro. Turley contends he notified the defense two weeks ago of his intent to make the manual part of the court record. He contends the manual has previous been unclassified and in the public domain.

He charged that for purposes of the lawsuit, the defense now seeks to keep the document under wraps. He said that the government is also trying to seal the once-open court motion he filed that asked permission to insert the manual into the case.

Department of Justice attorney Richard Sarver declined any substantial comment. "We can't confirm anything Jonathan says. We have denied many thing Jonathan says," Sarver said.

"The government's position is the contents are and always have been classified," said Air Force Col. Tom Boyd regarding Turley's claim. "We recently found out Mr. Turley had this document and contacted him and informed him it was classified and expressed an interest in getting (it) returned... this might also include other documents taken from this document."

Boyd did not specify which document or documents were at issue, only saying: "It deals with various government facilities."

"Despite what he said, the government did not threaten or make any attempts to seize the documents. We expressed an interest in getting the document back because we take our interest toward national security very seriously," Boyd said.

Turley said he was astounded at what he called last-minute notification because he had warned the government he had these materials nearly two weeks ago.

"This is an example of rolling classification when documents become relevant to the lawsuit, not because of national security," he said.

"According to the government, the existence of jet fuel at an Air Force base visible from public land is a national secret," Turley said. "So is the presence of a single can of pesticide of a car battery."

Government officials have said as much in previous arguments. U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall said even the acknowledgment of some chemicals on base could assist a foreign power with intelligence information.

Pro was out of town Friday and an attempt to look at the case file was unsuccessful. His secretary said that the judge ordered that no access to the file was being granted until he returned next week and could consider the matter.

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