A wrong turn at the NSA can bring trouble

Andy Leimer, dazzled by the sun as he made his way south on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway one day this year, made a wrong turn into the restricted campus of the National Security Agency.

The Hanover man explained his mistake to an NSA Police officer at the entrance checkpoint and expected he'd be told to go on his way. Instead, he says, he was directed to a side lot, where he was surrounded by armed police and interrogated.

Leimer was charged with driving without a license and his car was impounded. Between paying the impound lot to get his car back and an attorney to get the charges dropped, the ordeal cost him $800.

It could have been worse. Authorities believe the two people who were shot by NSA police last week outside the agency's headquarters on Fort Meade got there by mistake.

The driver, identified by the FBI as 27-year-old Ricky Shawatza Hall of Baltimore, was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger was shot in the chest and taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center; the passenger's identity and condition have not been available.

Authorities have released few details of the incident, but the FBI was quick to rule out terrorism. Police say Hall and the passenger were traveling in an SUV that was reported stolen from a man at a motel in nearby Elkridge shortly before they arrived at the NSA gate off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway Monday morning.

The electronic eavesdropping agency is among the most secretive in the government, and signs at the parkway exit warn unauthorized motorists away.

The NSA says Hall drove past the signs, and did not heed an officer's instructions to turn around. Instead, the agency says, the SUV accelerated toward an NSA Police vehicle, and officers opened fire.

Fort Meade officials say about 1,500 motorists are turned away from other gates on the Army installation in Anne Arundel County each month. The NSA did not respond to questions about how many are denied access at its entrances, but the the agency does seem to be aware of the problem of people taking wrong turns and ending up on its doorstep.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Park Service, which manages that stretch of the parkway, said the spy agency is working with parks officials on getting new signs installed.

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A wrong turn at the NSA can bring trouble