SACRAMENTO - Army investigators began looking into concerns Wednesday that the California National Guard was engaging in domestic spying as a state senator looking into the matter charged the federal probe was being used to block his own inquiry.

One day after being denied access to a Guard computer that had its hard drive wiped clean, Sen. Joe Dunn said he would seek legislative subpoenas today to gain access to the information central to his investigation and lashed out at military officials standing in his way.

Dunn launched his investigation last week after the Mercury News reported on the creation of a new National Guard intelligence unit that has been given ``broad authority'' to set up new anti-terrorism projects in California.

``If they continue in what I refer to as bunker mentality here, it simply confirms to us that our worst suspicions may in fact be true,'' the Garden Grove Democrat said.

But Guard officials said they plan to voluntarily comply with the senator's request.

``We are going to basically try to honor all of his requests and get the information to him by his deadline of Friday,'' said Lt. Col. Doug Hart, a Guard spokesman.

The senator said he welcomed the news but that he would still seek subpoenas today in case the Guard does not meet his deadline or provide all the information he is seeking.

``Given the fact that we have been hitting a brick wall in our requests, I am concerned that while they're certainly promising full compliance, their actual compliance is still in question,'' Dunn said.

Concerns that the National Guard was laying the groundwork for domestic spying were heightened by internal e-mails obtained by the Mercury News showing high-level interest in a small Mother's Day anti-war rally at the state Capitol.

One e-mail from a top officer said he was passing along information on the protest to ``our Intell. folks who continue to monitor.''

While anti-war activists have raised alarms about the e-mails, Guard officials said the monitoring amounted to nothing more than scanning local newscasts for any stories on the demonstration. They said no soldiers attended the rally and that the National Guard does not engage in domestic surveillance.

Those assurances failed to assuage civil libertarians, lawmakers, the governor's office and Army investigators -- who are all trying to determine whether the Guard has crossed a legal line and engaged in domestic spying.

Last week, Dunn asked the Guard to preserve any documents related to monitoring of the anti-war rally and the new intelligence unit.

At the same time, computer technicians at the Guard erased the hard drive of a retiring colonel who oversaw the intelligence unit and wrote the e-mail mentioning the ``Intell. folks.''

A top Guard official said the hard drive was erased before they received Dunn's letter asking them to preserve all information relating to the intelligence unit.

After learning that the hard drive had been erased, Dunn demanded immediate access for a computer specialist to recover any data, but was rebuffed by the Guard's top general who said any access would have to be coordinated with Army investigators who launched their own probe Wednesday.

Dunn immediately called on Schwarzenegger to step in and said he will ask the state Senate to issue subpoenas today if the Guard does not comply.

In response, the governor's deputy chief of staff, Richard Costigan, said the administration was doing its best.

``There is no intention to deny you critical information, and the governor has directed that all pertinent information (including the computer hard drive mentioned in your letter) is retained and secured for your eventual review,'' Costigan wrote to Dunn.

On a separate track, Dunn unveiled new legislation meant to erect stronger anti-spying barriers in California. The senator said he would look to expand federal laws banning the military from engaging in domestic spying to cover the National Guard, which is generally exempt from that regulation.

© 2005 Mercury News

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