Wojtek
On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 1:04 PM, c b <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Watchdog Faults FBI for `Factually Weak' Basis for
> Investigating Activists
> by Marian Wang
> ProPublica
> September 20, 2010
> http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/watchdog-faults-fbi-for-factually-weak-basis-for-investigating-activists
>
>
> The FBI in recent years opened investigations into some
> U.S. activists with little basis, unjustifiably extended
> the duration of the probes, improperly retained
> information about activist groups in its files, and
> classified its investigations of "nonviolent civil
> disobedience" as investigations into "acts of
> terrorism," according to a report released today [1]
> (PDF) by the Justice Department's Inspector General.
>
>
>
>
> The FBI activities reviewed by the Justice Department
> took place from 2001 to 2006, and involved groups
> including the Thomas Merton Center (a Pittsburgh social
> justice center), People for the Ethical Treatment of
> Animals (PETA), Greenpeace, The Catholic Worker
> (communities of religious pacifists) and a Quaker peace
> activist.
>
> The report by the Justice Department watchdog didn't
> find that the FBI targeted these groups on the basis of
> their free speech activities - which would be a serious
> violation [2] of FBI guidelines - but did fault the
> agency for other reasons, most notably a "factually
> weak" basis for opening investigations.
>
> "FBI agents and supervisors sometimes provided the
> [Office of the Inspector General] with speculative,
> after-the-fact rationalizations for their prior
> decisions to open investigations that we did not find
> persuasive," the report said.
>
> The report also found that that the FBI unnecessarily
> classified its probes as domestic terrorism
> investigations, even though some of the potential crimes
> were trespassing or vandalism - acts not normally
> considered to be terrorism. This classification resulted
> in several individuals improperly being placed on
> terrorism watchlists.
>
> The Inspector General also found that the FBI gave
> "inaccurate and misleading" explanations to justify its
> attendance at a 2002 rally against the Iraq war
> organized by the Merton Center.
>
> The FBI's director, Robert Mueller, told a Senate
> committee in 2006 that his agents at the antiwar rally
> "were not concerned about the political dissent," but
> were attempting to identify "persons of interest"
> expected to attend the rally.
>
> That testimony wasn't supported by an "extremely
> troubling" FBI document about the incident, the report
> noted. The document "described no legitimate purpose for
> the FBI to attend the event" and "supplied no evidence
> or even suspicion that any criminal or terrorist element
> was associated with the Merton Center or likely to be
> present at the event," the report said.
>
> The FBI, responding in an appendix to the report,
> acknowledged the inaccuracies. It said that incorrect
> information was provided to the FBI director, who then
> testified inaccurately before Congress.
>
> "The FBI regrets that incorrect information was provided
> regarding this matter," Deputy Director Timothy P.
> Murphy wrote in a letter to Inspector General Glenn
> Fine.
>
> The surveillance of activists - both on the state level
> as well as the federal level - has been a recent topic
> of concern. As we've noted, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed
> Rendell, a Democrat, apologized last week for a state
> contract [3] with an anti-terrorism consulting firm,
> which produced a document calling opponents to gas
> drilling "environmental extremists" and flagged these
> and other activists as potential threats to the state's
> security.
>
> The document's section about environmental extremism, as
> we've noted [4], cited an FBI bulletin as the source of
> the information. In the document, the FBI assessed with
> "medium confidence" the threat that environmental
> extremists posed to the energy sector. (FBI
> "assessments," under 2008 guidelines from the attorney
> general, are the agency's "lowest level of investigative
> activity," the Inspector General report said.)
>
> The FBI has not responded to our request for comment.
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>