GARBAGE MAN TO THE GOVERNMENT SECRETS UNDER WRAPS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100380002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 27, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-0
27 Leceraber 1c`_,
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man to the gavrernme...
Secrets
under.
Taps
By Rebecca Nappi
USA TODAY
WASHLN'GTON - Lewis Se-
1_~c is a garbage man. On his
desk sits a dirty yellow cup
filled with what looks like wet
stuffing from the inside of an
old sofa.
"CIA documents," the gar-
bage man says and smiles.
Sells, president of Eastern
Trans-Waste Corp:, outside
Washington, collects garbage
at the CIA, the Pentagon and
Andrews Air Force Base -
landing spot for Air Force One.
"1 don't dissect and see what
they throw away. We pick up
40 to 80 tons a day - that
would be an awful lot of read-
ing.... It's fun to go through a
toy store's trash and see all
Vlose to
By the time Selis' employes
empty the containers in the
parking lots at these top-secret
places, all the secrets have dis-
integrated. They are either
mashed into mushy material
or ground into a fine powder in
shredding machines inside
government buildings.
Sells' 40 employes do not
need security clearances,
though the government asks
for Social Security numbers.
Tim Dillon
TOP-SECRET TRASH: Lewis Selis, president of Eastern Trans-Waste Corp., disposes yo
f trash
accumulated by the CIA, the Pentagon and Andrews Air Force Base.
Almost daily, several of Se-
lls' 22 trucks rumble to the
three locations. The Pentagon
has 11. containers of garbage;
one contains top-secret mush.
At the CIA, shredded secrets
are emptied into two of eight
containers and there are 300
garbage receptacles at An-
drews Air Force Base, none
classified.
. On the filing cabinet in Sells'
office, a sticker asks: "Have
you hugged your garbage man
today?" SeIis, 34, has owned his
company since 1971. Before
he allowed a picture of his
trucks, he washed and polished
them.
Because he was the lowest
bidder, Sells won the contracts
for the top-secret trash. But he
also collects garbage from
shopping centers and apart-
ment complexes.
The White House, however,
belongs to another collector.
"It's very restrictive at the
White House. You have to go
through a tunnel to pick it up,"
Sells said. "But I have seen the
White House trash - most of it
is food."
The CIA and Pentagon peo-
ple do not like to share details
about trash disposal inside
their complexes.
"The only thing I can say is
that we have our own internal
system that grinds up the clas-
sified papers until they are so
fine that no one could put them
back together," said Kathryn
Riedel, CIA spokesman.
And at the Pentagon, no one
seemed to know who was in
charge of garbage.
"I don't think it would come
under research and develop-
ment, where 1 am," said a man
who answered the phone at the
Pentagon press office. "We
handle a lot of garbage, but not
that kind."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100380002-7