I thought I saw Lee Strickland out of the corner of my eye last week, a couple of times at the American Library Association conference in D.C. last week.
I know he was there, smiling, saying “I told you so,” when Foreign Intelligence Court Judge Royce Lamberth blasted the administration’s use of warrantless wiretaps. Lee was the only library school professor I know who had been a long time Senior Intelligence Officer for the CIA.
I called him years ago to ask about national security letters (NSLs), and he told me that if a library came to him with one, he’d likely recommend the library challenge it. So he would have been proud to hear Peter Chase and Barbara Bailey speak at the ALA conference June 24th, as they described their journey to do just that. They were served an NSL by the FBI, and told that they couldn’t tell anyone besides their lawyer about it. Not their colleagues, their staffs, not their families. They were not willing to turn over records without a court order, and they weren’t willing to stay gagged for eternity about their experience, particularly since Patriot Act Reauthorization hearings were happening, and people were saying that the FBI did not ask for library records.
Lee taught librarians about the inner workings of intelligence orders, and hopefully his teachings and writings helped the librarians and their lawyers in this ultimately successful quest.
I learned a lot from Lee, and he graciously (thankfully!) took on the lion’s share of the work in an article I coauthored with him and Tomas Lipinski, Patriot in the Library: Management Approaches When Demands for Information are Received from Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies, 30 J. of College and Univ. Law 2004 42pp. Karen, his wife, did much of the extensive research.
Lee wrote many many other articles on intelligence information, all a great contribution to the library community. I’m sad as can be that his voice is gone, especially now when we need his inside experience and generous spirit more than ever.
I have had the pleasure over the past week to meet Karen (by email) and it’s an honor to correspond with her.
Let me offer this small tribute to a great man, who had an unusual combination of CIA experience, love of libraries, love of freedom and civil liberties, and a dedication to teach us all about all arenas.
To Lee, thank you.
p.s. I happened to visit the U.S. Copyright Office while I was in D.C., and my eyes fell on the catalog drawers holding copyright registrations from the years 1971 to 1977. Oddly, the alphabet broke right between K. Strickland and L. Strickland. I took a photo of a card inside that had Lee’s name, but now I can’t make out the title of the registration. Can any of you readers make it out? Or if someone works at the Library of Congress or Copyright Office, maybe you could take a look and leave a comment here.
A Lee Strickland wrote to me in Australia in 1999 from the CIA in Washington in response to my FOIA request. He gave me the CIA reference number F-1999-01000 and encouraged continued communication. This was under the second Clinton Administration. Subsequently I imagined his presence in intelligence work in the Pacific in 2002. Of course this cannot be confirmed or denied, but a great man if the two Lee Stricklands are one and the same - which seems probable. He was my hero.
Posted by: Prunella L. Matthews | August 09, 2007 at 08:06 PM
Lee Strickland was my professor when I studied for my MLS at UMD. His class was one of my favorites. I agree with Karen's comment that he could make information that could have been dry and boring into something fascinating. He was a wonderful teacher in that he encouraged discussion and participation in the learning process. Our trip to the CIA was one of the best experiences in my graduate school program. Lee made a difference to me and many others.
Posted by: Cathy Hollerbach | July 14, 2007 at 01:09 PM
Thank you for the lovely comments on behalf of my spouse, Lee Strickland. He was truly one in a million. A very bright human being who spent the greater part of his career imparting his knowledge to others. For Lee, knowledge was power. He reveled in sharing his knowledge with interested parties--some folks were a taken back thinking he was a "know it all" but nothing could be further from the truth. He enjoyed teaching at the University of Maryland and his students are now having their moments of clarity I'm sure. Whatever Lee endeavored he put his whole self into and had courage in his convictions. He was truly one-of-a-kind. Wile library science was not his field of study--he was able to tweak his legal background and make it fit. He provided librarians with concise quidelines of what to do if served with subpeonas and "authority" harrassment and to remain calm and composed and let the people within the library system who get paid to handle such servings (i.e. legal counsel) take charge and remove the librarian from the stress and harassment that might ensue if the "authorities" thougt they had a "pansy" the could frazzle and unnerve easily. He suggested each library have a procedure book so no librarian was left in the dark and made a unreversable mistake. He made it his personal goal to visit ALL regional libraries in the VA, MA and DC area to keep the libraries in the loop and not to fear the Patriot Act. He did this on his own time and own motivation. That's that kind of guy he was. He predicted from the get-go that the NSLs and SECRET FISA court would be abused and he ended up correct. It saddened me that he passed away without seeing the fruits of his labor but I'm sure all the librarians out there have fond memories of the time Lee spent with their library staffs and his responses to their e-mails as their questions were raised.
He was truly invaluable with regard to depth of knowledge, his ability to impart knowledge (that could be boring and stagnant) having you at the edge of your seat listening to interesting, valuable, timely, need-to-know info. I miss him for many different reasons of course but I think he was a very special man and if you were lucky enougn to have had some sought of interaction with LEE in your lifetime you are somehow better for it.
My dream for Lee now is that he is in a better place looking down at us all, guiding us through our daily travails and having himself a good bellylaugh over this NSL/FISA secret court bugg-a-boo. I miss him so. Thnak you for the lovely tribute Mary and Peter. I will stay posted in the hopes other people post their remembrances of Lee - good or bad. Thank you.
Regards,
Karen Strickland
Posted by: Karen Strickland | July 10, 2007 at 05:59 PM
What a sad shock. I never had the pleasure of personally meeting Lee Strickland, but I have long admired his work. His deep knowledge about intellectual property, national security, freedom of information, and government records laws was unparalled - I can't think of anyone who worked so well in all four areas.
Posted by: Peter Hirtle | July 10, 2007 at 01:41 PM