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KEVIN V. RYAN (CSBN 118321) United States Attorney EUMI L. CHOI (WVBN 0722) Chief, Criminal Division JEFFREY R. FINIGAN (CSBN 168285) Assistant United States Attorney 450 Golden Gate Avenue San Francisco, California 94102 Telephone: (415) 436-7232 Facsimile: (415) 436-7234 Email: jeffrey.finigan@usdoj.gov Attorneys for Plaintiff UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

11 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 13 14 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 15 Plaintiff, 16 17 v. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3. 2. I, Jonathan L. Lasher, state and declare as follows: 1. I am the Deputy Chief Counsel to the Inspector General for External Affairs at the Social Security Administration (SSA-OIG). Prior to serving in this capacity, I was Acting Deputy Counsel to the Inspector General. Among my duties in both positions was and is the review and approval, for purposes of ensuring compliance with privacy and disclosure laws, regulations,
LASHER DECLARATION CR 05-00549 VRW

STANMORE CAWTHON COOPER, Defendant.

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Criminal No. CR 05-00549 VRW DECLARATION OF JONATHAN L. LASHER IN SUPPORT OF UNITED STATES OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE Hearing: December 13, 2005 Time: 10:30 a.m. Court: Hon. Vaughn R. Walker

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and policies, of joint investigative projects, particularly in the context of homeland security. In the months and years following September 11, 2001, I reviewed a great many proposed investigative projects concerning Social Security number (SSN) misuse by employees, contractors, and other individuals with access to critical infrastructure sites, or with government-issued licenses or authorities placing such individuals in positions to do catastrophic harm. In 2003, I reviewed such a proposed project involving a review of data provided by the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG) concerning pilots licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The name of the proposed project was Operation Safe Pilot. The purpose of the review, as approved by the SSA-OIG, was to identify any active FAA-licensed pilot who had obtained a license through misrepresentation, generally of an SSN, on an FAA application. The review as approved was not intended to verify benefit eligibility, effectuate savings to the SSA or to terminate benefits; it was intended to ensure that pilots with FAA licenses were who they claimed to be. As the investigation progressed, it became clear that a number of license-holders under review for issues of potential SSN misuse were in fact drawing benefits from the SSA based on total disability, while certifying their fitness to the FAA. However, these discoveries were ancillary to the SSA-OIGs original intent in conducting the data review. Once the cases referred to in paragraph 8 were discovered, the SSA undertook individual fraud investigations as part of the SSA-OIGs ordinary course of business. Information was disclosed to DOT-OIG/FAA in accordance with published routine uses. The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) routine uses notice is set out at 55 Fed. Reg. 46,248 (November 2, 1990). The SSA adopted the HHS definition of routine uses

LASHER DECLARATION CR 05-00549 VRW

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for criminal investigative files of the Inspector General after becoming an independent agency in 1995. 60 Fed. Reg. 19,619 (April 19, 1995).

I declare under penalty of perjury the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Executed on October 31, 2005, in Baltimore, Maryland.

________________________________ JONATHAN L. LASHER

LASHER DECLARATION CR 05-00549 VRW