COINTELPRO Operations in the 21st Century

2005, July 17: Report of a punishment for Speaking Truth To Power

By Manlin Chee. An immigration lawyer for thirty years, Ms. Chee spoke out against USAPA when she appeared on a panel discussing the PATRIOT Act in Mar 2003 at a public forum at the main library in Greensboro, North Carolina. The event was televised and attracted a large audience. Ms. Chee argued passionately that the PATRIOT Act violated the Bill of Rights and threatened the civil rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens. Within weeks the FBI began investigating Ms. Chee, even though the FBI had no record of complaints against her; the agency began combing through thousands of Chee's case files, even going back to her own citizenship application. After investigating for a year, the FBI launched two sting operations against Ms. Chee.

The informants posed as needy Muslims; one of them wanted to pretend he was gay so he could seek asylum, and the other wanted a sham marriage to get his green card. According to Leia Forgay, Ms. Chee's youngest daughter, the informants wouldn't stop asking for her help: "My mom told them that there's nothing I can do, but they kept coming back to her and she couldn't say no. She always tries to help -- she went ahead and submitted the papers to try. She would feel worse if she didn't try." When the papers were filed, the agency indicted Ms. Chee.

Ms. Chee describes one informant as being "intimidating"; constantly calling, going to her office, badgering her when she avoided filing the papers for months. Feeling "pushed" and suffering from an anxiety disorder, she finally relented under the pressure. The federal prosecutor also attempted to have Ms. Chee tried for some of the perfectly legal filings she had done for her legitimate clients, but was forced to drop those charges after immigration expert Ira Kurzban testified at Chee's sentencing hearing that her labor certification filings were like those of other attorneys.

[See the source article for more background. In the article, a fellow lawyer questions as to why Ms. Chee would be singled out when there were other immigration lawyers who had publicly stated their opposition to USAPA. The answer to that is: Ms. Chee was the highest profile target; if you can take down the biggest one on the block, the others are more likely to fear you. More importantly, take note of the fact that Ms. Chee had to be intimidated into filing fraudently. In a an open and free society, this could be construed as harrassment and entrapment. --MN]

Return to chronology 17 Jul 2005

2005, July 18: 21st Century COINTELPRO

By the FBI. An article published in the New York Times, and reprinted at TruthOut.org, reports that the FBI has collected 1,173 pages of internal documents on the American Civil Liberties Union, the leading critic of the Bush administration's antiterrorism policies, and 2,383 pages on Greenpeace, a group that commonly protests through acts of civil disobedience. The Justice Department disclosed this in a court filing in a federal court in Washington during this month. The filing came as part of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act brought by the A.C.L.U. and other groups that maintain that the F.B.I. has engaged in a pattern of political surveillance against critics of the Bush administration. F.B.I. and Justice Department officials declined to say what was in the files, citing the pending lawsuit, but they stressed that as a matter of both policy and practice, they have not sought to monitor the political activities of any activist groups and that any intelligence-gathering activities related to political protests are solely intended to prevent disruptive and criminal activities. They said there might be an innocuous explanation for the large volume of files on the A.C.L.U. and Greenpeace, like preserving requests from or complaints about the groups in agency files. Other facts provided in the article do not support this contention.

[Sure, and pigs fly. If there is such an innocuous explanation for the existence of these files then why didn't the FBI release them when asked? The FBI currently explains away their foot-dragging by saying there is so much material they don't have the manpower to process it quickly, because everybody is out chasing down terrorists. Like I'm going to believe that along with flying pigs. --MN]
(see 02 Dec 2004)

Return to chronology 18 Jul 2005

2005, August 02: 21st Century COINTELPRO

By Big Brother government. Tre Arrow, neé Michael Scarpitti, started going from candidate for Congress to the FBI's most wanted "eco-terrorist" on Easter Sunday in 2001; a firebomb equipped with a fuse destroyed $200,000 worth of gravel trucks belonging to Ross Island Sand & Gravel, operating near a national forest in Oregon. On 01 Jun, another arson attack destroyed a logging truck and damaged two others belonging to Schoppert Logging, involved in watershed logging operations near Eagle Creek, Oregon. The damage was estimated at $50,000. By Dec 2002, Arrow was on the FBI's ten most wanted list. He was arrested in Canada in 2003, and was still being held over for extradition as of this date.

The key point to this case is that the FBI is laying charges against him on the testimony of three "witnesses" the agency had locked up for their activities. Arrow commented about this aspect: "they received less than three and a half years in exchange for implicating me. The FBI wanted them to say I brainwashed them into doing it so they would have an excuse to bring the hammer down on me." Given how Arrow describes his philosophy in life, this appears very much to be a case of punishment for speaking truth to power. See the source article for more background.

Return to chronology 02 Aug 2005

2005, August 02: 21st Century COINTELPRO

By Big Brother government. On this day the ACLU released doucments showing that the FBI opened domestic terrorism investigations of peaceful demonstrators. Mark Silverstein, legal director for Colorado ACLU, said the documents showed agents opened their investigations after reading Web sites announcing anti-war protests in Colorado Springs in 2003 and a 2002 Columbus Day protest in Denver. Monique Kelso, spokeswoman for the FBI's Denver office, maintained that the agency only investigates groups or people when it receives information about ongoing or potential criminal activity.

Return to chronology 02 Aug 2005

2005, August 29: Report on 21st Century COINTELPRO

By Big Brother government. According to an FBI report released to the American Civil Liberties Union on this day, the FBI had labelled anti-war groups, affirmative action organizations, and animal rights activists as being "potential" terrorists. The report was prepared by a counterintelligence agent at the Detroit FBI office for a 2002 Domestic Terrorism Symposium which was hosted by the Michigan State Police, and summarizes information on possible "terrorist activities." Groups specifically cited include:

• BAMN -- The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action,
• Integration & Immigrant Rights
• Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary,
• the anti-war group Direct Action
• East Lansing Animal Rights Movement,
• the Michigan Militia,
• the Aryan World Church.

BAMN spokesman Luke Massey told The Detroit News that to link BAMN with white supremacists or to terrorism is "absolutely outrageous", and is quoted, "The American people are going to be outraged that their government is spying on groups standing up for affirmative action and education." The report was obtained by the ACLU in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit on behalf of nine organizations and individuals in Michigan.

[Addendum (02 Sep 2005:) On 31 Aug, The Michigan State Police issued a statement denying that it had labeled members of two Michigan activist groups as terrorists and accused the ACLU of Michigan of taking the material out of context. The state police said the information it shared with the FBI was to make the agency aware of planned protests within the state because of possible public safety concerns. The state police said the information obtained came from public sources such as the internet and news reports, not by surveillance or other covert means. Executive director of the ACLU of Michigan Kary L. Moss said she was pleased that the state police had affirmed their desire to protect free speech by peaceful individuals, but also said she was disappointed that police had denied an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request asking for information about state police surveillance of activist groups. She said the ACLU was considering filing a lawsuit to get that information.

Dated 29 Jan 2002, the document is a summary of a domestic terrorism symposium that was held on 23 Jan, and which was attended by the FBI, the Secret Service, the Michigan State Police, the Michigan State University police, and Michigan National Guard. The document states: "The purpose of the meeting was to keep the local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies apprised of the activities of the various groups and individuals within the state of Michigan who are thought to be involved in terrorist activities." --MN]

Return to chronology 29 Aug 2005

2005, December 13: Report of 21st Century COINTELPRO operations

By the Pentagon. In a report on this day, NBC News said it had obtained a four hundred page document -- generated by an obscure Pentagon agency that analyzes intelligence reports on suspicious domestic activity -- that includes at least 20 references to U.S. citizens, plus information on anti-war meetings and protests. NBC News said the database lists a meeting in 2004 of The Truth Project in Lake Worth, Fla., where activists planned a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. It lis ted the meeting as a "threat" and as one of more than 1500 "suspicious incidents" across the country over a recent 10-month period. The NBC report also said the database includes nearly four dozen anti-war meetings or protests, including some that were far from any military installation or recruitment center. The database was generated by an obscure Pentagon agency, the Counterintelligence Field Activity, a three-year-old outfit whose size and budget are classified secret, and of which some people have portrayed its activities as reminiscent of the 1960s when the Pentagon collected information on anti-Vietnam War groups and peace activists. Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, ordered:

• a full review of the system for handling such information to ensure that it complies with Pentagon policies and federal law;

• a review of whether Pentagon polices are being applied properly with respect to reporting and storing information about "U.S. persons"; people, not necessarily citizens, inside the United States;

• that the database be reviewed: "to identify any other information that is improperly in the database".

As of 15 Dec, The House and Senate intelligence committees were to receive letters spelling out these actions.

[Off hand I'd say that somebody screwed up, but there is no indication as of yet that it was not an honest mistake; albeit one probably born of overzealousness. --MN

Return to chronology 13 Dec 2005

2005, December 20: Report of 21st Century COINTELPRO operations

By the American Civil Liberties Union. On this day the ACLU released FBI documents that had been uncovered through Freedom of Information Act requests on behalf of over one hundred-fifty political and religious groups in twenty states. These documents confirm that the FBI used its counterterrorism resources to monitor and infiltrate peaceful activist groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Greenpeace, and United for Peace and Justice. An ACLU e-mail issued by Anthony D. Romero states: It is now clear that the FBI has expanded its definition of "domestic terrorism" to include citizens and groups that participate in lawful protests or civil disobedience.

Return to chronology 20 Dec 2005

2005, December 16: 21st Century COINTELPRO

By George Bush and the National Security Agency; with complicity by New York Times. On this day the New York Times published an article about how George Bush had personally authorized the NSA to spy on American citizens. The allegations were made by a senior intelligence officer who said the authorizations were granted more than three dozen times since Oct 2001 up to Nov 2004. For each instance, the White House counsel and the Attorney General certified the lawfulness of the program. The domestic spying program was justified by a "classified legal opinion" written by former Justice Department official John Yoo, who had previously written a memo arguing that interrogation techniques only constitute torture if they are: "equivalent in intensity to . . . organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death."

Moreover, the New York Times knew about the domestic spying before the 2004 elections but withheld the story for some thirteen months or so.

• Robert Parry of Consortium News had an interesting analysis of the journalistic socio-cultural context posted to AlterNet.org: Spying and the Public's Right to Know. In particular, he addresses the rationales for withholding the story against those for publishing it.

• Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation had an analysis/media criticism of this incident titled Spying and Lying posted to AlterNet.org on 21 Dec.

• Molly Ivins pointed out in a commentary published at Alternet.org on 22 Dec, titled The Constitution Does Not Apply, that this activity precipitates a constitutional crisis; and that it was patently stupid in light of the pro forma nature of getting a warrant from the FISA court.

[In my not so humble opinion these authorizations constitute clear and present violations of American laws regarding the use of intelligence agencies in spying within the U.S. They aren't allowed to. Domestic spying is the province of the FBI. The unwritten journalistic rule about not publishing material that can sway an election does not explain why the story was held for a year after the elections. Aside from which, I would think that the press has an ethical obligation to report criminal activity by the government immediately, at any time. --MN]

[Addendum (30 Dec 2005:) On 29 Dec, Norman Solomon had a media criticism titled Journalists Should Expose Secrets, Not Keep Them posted to CommonDreams.org. In it, he explores the ramifications of secrecy in journalism, and he examines the rather tepid response among journalists to the revelation that the NYT withheld this story for over a year. Mr. Solomon also alleges that Bill Keller's rationales for withholding the story are less than trustworthy:

Pretenses aside, the operative judgments from the New York Times executive editor go way beyond the purely journalistic. "So far, the passion to investigate the integrity of American intelligence-gathering belongs mostly to the doves, whose motives are subject to suspicion and who, in any case, do not set the agenda," Bill Keller wrote in an essay that appeared in the Times on June 14, 2003, shortly before he became executive editor. And Keller concluded: "The truth is that the information-gathering machine designed to guide our leaders in matters of war and peace shows signs of being corrupted. To my mind, this is a worrisome problem, but not because it invalidates the war we won. It is a problem because it weakens us for the wars we still face."

(By the way, Keller's phrase "the war we won" referred to the Iraq war.)

Subjecting the rhetoric in Keller's statement to critical analysis indicates that he is very much hawkish and a war supporter. It would not be a far stretch to conclude that he also blindly supports the republican government and would follow it straight down the road to fascism. This, however, would be a non sequitur at this juncture, as I have seen no evidence to support that second conclusion other than the contention, "It is a problem because it weakens us for the wars we still face" (which effectively means that "we" have to be ready to kill anybody who gets in our way), and he did, albeit belatedly, publish the story. --MN]

[Addendum (12 Jan 2005:) On 11 Jan, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting posted a media criticism of the New York Times titled The Scoop That Got Spiked at its web site. Indications are that the NYT published the story in part because it was going to break in a soon to be published book (State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration) that would also have revealed that the NYT not only knew about the illegal use of the NSA but was sitting on the story.

Further Addendum (17 Jan 2005:) FAIR issued an Activism Update on this issue in which the group reported that the NYT was stonewalling. The reasons they stated for doing so are as specious as those of the government for censoring the story. --MN]

Return to chronology 16 Dec 2005

2006, March 15: 21st Century COINTELPRO

By Big Brother government. FBI documents were released on this day to the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents show that the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI's Pittsburgh office conducted a secret investigation into the activities of the Thomas Merton Center beginning as early as 29 Nov 2002, and continuing as late as Mar 2005. William J. Crowley, a spokesman for that office, said the monitoring of the center was legal and related to an ongoing investigation. The ACLU contended that the documents are the first to "show conclusively" that an anti-war group was targeted for "its anti-war views." Marty Catherine Roper, an ACLU staff attorney, commented: "These documents show that Americans are not safe from secret government surveillance, even when they are handing out fliers in the town square, an activity clearly protected by the Constitution." According to an edited transcript of the Democracy Now! broadcast for 15 Mar, hosted by Ms. Amy Goodman:

• One memo describes the Merton Center as a "left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism", and notes that the center hands out leaflets opposing the war in Iraq on a daily basis.

• One of the files notes that one of the peace activists handing out fliers "appeared to be of Middle Easter (sic) descent."

• Another file on the peace center is titled International Terrorism Matters and includes information on a series of anti-war rallies taking place in Pittsburgh and around the country.

Tim Vining, in the interview being broadcasted, said of the situation:

Well, the activity that we were cited for was simply leafleting in Market Square. We went out -- it was Buy Nothing Day, the day after Thanksgiving on November of 2002 -- and we went out just simply to hand out leaflets about a variety of issues -- transit advocacy, antiwar, global justice -- and for that, we were targeted. Also, what's really distressing to me, Amy, is that the Thomas Merton Center has worked very hard to build relationships with members of the local Muslim community, especially after 9/11, as they were targeted and scapegoated. And because of that, because we tried to build relationships that cross the lines of religion that are used to divide people, because of that, we were spied on by our government. Now, at a time when religious misunderstandings and differences lead to so much terrorism and violence in the world today, you would think our government would applaud us for seeking peace and trying to understand one another. Instead, they spied on us.

In short: it appears very much that the Thomas Merton Center has been spied on and its members considered suspect solely on the basis of their speech and political leanings, and their supposed ethnicity. However, Mr. Crowley said in a statement that the International Terrorism Matters report was a draft document and was never made part of an official file. It was also reported that this was a valid investigation into possible terrorism ties, and was terminated when it became apparent there were none; and that when this happened the photos taken of the leafletting members were destroyed.

Return to chronology 15 Mar 2006

2006, April 29: Report on warrantless investigations

By the FBI. An article from Associated Press reported on this day, that on 26 Apr the U.S. Department of Justice announced that in 2005, the FBI had secretly sought information on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents, from bank, credit card, telephone, and Internet companies, without a court's approval. This disclosure was mandated as part of the renewal of USAPA, and revealed that the FBI had delivered a total of 9,254 National Security Letters, administrative subpoenas that allows the executive branch to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without going through the judicial branch. In effect, NSLs are a loophole allowing for a circumvention of the separation of powers. The same report said the DOJ had received FISA approval for 155 warrants to examine business records under Section 215 last year; which section allows for the seizing of library records, although Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said the provision has not been used to ask for library records.

Ann Beeson, associate legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the report, "confirms our fear all along that National Security Letters are being used to get the records of thousands of innocent Americans without court approval." The number disclosed in the report excludes requests for subscriber information, an exception written into the law, so it is unknown how many FBI letters were not counted for that reason.

2006, July 29: Report of COINTELPRO operations

By the Oakland Police Department. At the entrance to the Port of Oakland, in Apr 2004, police fired nonlethal bullets and bean bags at demonstrators who were blocking the entrance in a protest against two shipping companies they said were helping the illegal invasion of Iraq; dozens of activists and longshoremen, innocent bystanders on their way to work, suffered injuries ranging from welts to broken bones. As a result, two undercover officers were assigned to join the activists who were organizing a subsequent protest of the U.S. attack on Iraq and the tactics that police had used at the Apr demonstration. The two officers, Nobuko Biechler and Mark Turpin, were then elected to be the leaders for the 12 May demonstration. The extent of their involvement from that point on is unclear.

In a deposition related to a lawsuit filed by protesters, Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said activists had elected the undercover officers to "plan the route of the march and decide, I guess, where it would end up and some of the places that it would go." Asked who had ordered the infiltration, he said, "I don't know if there is one particular person, but I think together we probably all decided it would be a good idea to have some undercover officers there."

It was later revealed that the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center, established by the state attorney general's office to help local police agencies fight terrorism, had posted an alert about the protest, and that Oakland police had monitored online postings by the longshoremen's union regarding its opposition to the invasion of Iraq. The documents showing police interference and undue influence in a demonstration were released 24 Jul by the American Civil Liberties Union, as part of a report that criticizes government surveillance of political activists. See the source article for more background.

2006, August 17: In the NSA Case, a Judge Says No to King George

By David Corn. In this article, reprinted at CommonDreams.org, Mr. Corn reported that U.S. district Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled, on this day, that warrantless surveillance is unconstitutional and must be stopped. Perhaps the biggest blow is that this ruling appears to be applicalbe to almost every case in which the Bush adminstration has claimed "state secrets", in particular the recent financial tracking case. Judge Taylor wrote about that apsect as pertains to this case:

It is undisputed that Defendants have publicly admitted to the following: (1) the TSP [Terrorist Surveillance Program] exists; (2) it operates without warrants; (3) it targets communications where one party to the communication is outside the United States, and the government has a reasonable basis to conclude that one party to the communication is a member of al Qaeda, affiliated with al Qaeda, or a member of an organization affiliated with al Qaeda, or working in support of al Qaeda. As the Government has on many occasions confirmed the veracity of these allegations, the state secrets privilege does not apply to this information. [...]

Defendants assert that they cannot defend this case without the exposure of state secrets. This court disagrees. The Bush Administration has repeatedly told the general public that there is a valid basis in law for the TSP. Further, Defendants have contended that the President has the authority under the AUMF [legislation authorizing Bush to use military force against Iraq] and the Constitution to authorize the continued use of the TSP. Defendants [the Bush administration] have supported these arguments without revealing or relying on any classified information. Indeed, the court has reviewed the classified information and is of the opinion that this information is not necessary to any viable defense to the TSP....Consequently, the court finds Defendants' argument that they cannot defend this case without the use of classified information to be disingenuous and without merit.

[So; the credibility of the Bush regime has suffered a very serious erosion in the courts of the land. --MN]

[Addendum (13 Sep 2006:) On 27 Aug, Paul K. McMasters had a commentary titled Spying as a form of censorship published at the First Amendment Center web site. In it, he larger examines how this case dovetails with others throughout the U.S. --MN]

[Addendum (10 Oct 2006:) On 02 Oct, Jon Wiener had a piece titled CIA-FBI Cooperation: The Case of John Lennon, published at CommonDreams.org. In it, he exams how easily even law enforcement and intelligence operations can be perveted, and why such great care should be taken in the marrying of the two branches. --MN]

2006, October 12: 21st Century COINTELPRO

By the U.S. military. On this day the American Civil Liberties Union received documents under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, that provided new details about the Defense Department’s collection of information on anti-war demonstrations. department spokesman Maj. Patrick Ryder said that the “questionable data collection” had led to a tightening of military procedures. A document first disclosed by NBC News in Dec 2005 showed that the military had maintained a database,called Talon, that contained information on more than 1,500 “suspicious incidents” around the U.S. during 2004 and 2005. Dozens of alerts on antiwar meetings and peaceful protests appear to have remained in the database; even after analysts decided they posed no threat to the military. The documents indicate that intelligence reports and tips about protests, including details such as the schedule for weekly planning meetings, were widely shared among analysts from the military, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Return to chronology 12 Oct 2006

2006, November 30: A report of standing up with the courage of their convictions despite COINTELPRO

By peace activists. A coalition of U.S. peace groups are pressing ahead with plans for what they hope will be a massive march on Washington Jan. 27, in the face of incipient police state intimidation. Documents recently released by the ACLU show the antiwar community is under surveillance by the Pentagon. The Department of Defence has been monitoring the activities of a number of peace groups, including: Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, Code Pink, the American Friends Service Committee, the War Resisters League, and the umbrella group organising the upcoming protest, United for Peace and Justice. Some of the commentary by activists include:

• United for Peace and Justice said in a statement: "The peace and justice movement helped make ending the war in Iraq the primary issue in this last election.

  "The actions we take do make a difference, and now there is a new opportunity for us to move our work forward. On Election Day people took individual action by voting. On January 27 we will take collective action, as we march in Washington, DC, to make sure Congress understands the urgency of this moment."

• Michael McPhearson, Director of "Veterans for Peace: "We are not trying to hide anything. We are not going to fear our government because it is our government and we're citizens of this nation. All of us have served this nation and we have the right to do this."

• Leslie Cagan of United for Peace and Justice:

  • "This might have a chilling effect on some groups, particularly among high-risk communities like immigrants who don't have their papers yet and U.S. citizens or people with green cards who are of Muslim or South Asian or Middle Eastern descent. They've already been targeted by the government and they might feel like with this it's just too dangerous to come out and protest."

  • "This is not new in the history of this country, but it is outrageous.

    "If we just look at this issue in isolation then we're missing the heart of the matter. One of the main things we have to be concerned about is how this whole war on terror plays out here at home and how they use it to justify absolutely everything they do no matter how outrageous."

Since the release of a TALON report on groups targetted by this wholesale violation of free speech and free assembly rights, Daniel Baur, the acting director of the Defence Department's counterintelligence field activity unit, told the New York Times his agency is no longer monitoring peace groups.

[The TALON report analysis of a shoving match concludes: "This incident demonstrates a propensity for violence, and the Veterans for Peace should be viewed as a possible threat to Army and DoD personnel." Yeah; the idea that a small group of citizens who oppose war are going to take up arms against the almighty U.S. military has the command structure excrementing in its collective shorts. --MN]

2007, October 16: 21st Century COINTELPRO

By Big Brother government. An article posted at AlterNet.org on this day, titled Pentagon Is Using the FBI to Spy on Americans, reports on how the Pentagon used the FBI as its tool in a wholesale violation of civil liberties. The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union have accused the Department of Defense of conspiring with the FBI to "circumvent the law" in accessing the telephone, e-mail and financial records of hundreds of Americans citizens. The violations were accomplished through the use of 455 National Security Letters that were issed by the Pentagon in concert with the FBI, to obtain private information the military headquarters was not entitled to receive. Some comments about the situation are:

• Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director: "The documents make clear that the Department of Defense may have secretly and illegally conducted surveillance beyond the powers it was granted by Congress. It also appears as if the FBI is serving as a lackey for the DoD in misusing the Patriot Act powers. At the very least, it certainly looks like the FBI and DoD are conspiring to evade limits placed on the Department of Defense's surveillance powers."

• Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project: "The expanded role of the military in domestic intelligence gathering is troubling. These documents reveal that the military is gaining access to records here in the U.S. -- in secret and without any meaningful oversight. There are real concerns about the use of this intrusive surveillance power."

• Arthur Eisenberg, Legal Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union: "The Fourth Amendment protects against the government's effort to rummage broadly through the papers and documents of individuals without narrow and specific justifications. Yet the excessive secrecy surrounding the military's use of national security letters opens the door to abuse. Without oversight and accountability, there is nothing to stop the Defense Department from engaging in broad fishing expeditions."

The accusations stem from a lawsuit the ACLU had filed against the Pentagon, and which the NYCLU has joined.

2008, July 21: COINTELPRO Comes to My Town: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies

By David Zirin. Published by The Huffington Post on this day, it was reprinted at CommonDreams.org on 27 Jul. In this piece, Mr. Zirin details how he and other peaceful activists were subjected to illegal police surveillance. He wrote of the incident:

Finally, at long last, I have something in common with Muhammad Ali. No, I'm not the heavyweight champion of the world, and haven't been named spokesperson for Raid bug spray. Like "the Greatest" -- not to mention far too many others -- I have been a target of state police surveillance for activities -- in my case against the death penalty -- that were legal, non-violent, and, so we assumed, constitutionally protected. In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy." She sat in our meetings of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, smiling and engaged, taking copious notes about actions deemed threatening by the Governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich. Our seditious crimes, as Lucy reported, involved such acts as planning to set up a table at the local farmer's market and writing up a petition. Adding a dash of farce to this outrage, she was monitoring us in the liberal enclave of Takoma Park, Maryland, a place known more for vegans than violence, more for tie-dying than terrorism.

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row.

To add more than a dash of farce to this outrage, Mr. Zirin further reported that the surveillance continued even after it was determined that he and those he was associating with were engaged in peaceful dissent. The illegal surveillance, which included listing at least one of Mr. Zirin's fellow activists as a terrorist in a drug-trafficking database, was justified by then police superintendent Tim Hutchins who said: "You do what you think is best to protect the general populace of the state."

[A statement this editor interprets to mean "The ends justify the means". And kindly take note as to how a database dedicated to tracking drug smugglers was co-opted for use by anti-terrorism hysterics. Of such small incrementalism is the slippery slope formed. Also see Md. Police Infiltrated Groups Opposed to War and the Death Penalty, at Alternet.org. --MN]