Documents Obtained by ACLU Expose FBI and Police Targeting of Political Groups

ACLU Files Federal Lawsuit and FOIA Requests to Uncover More Files

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2005

CONTACT: Christopher Ahmuty, ACLU of Wisconsin, 414-272-4032, ext. 13
Emily Whitfield, ACLU, 212-549-2566 or 2666; media@aclu.org
Tracy Zimmerman, 202-518-8047; tracy@PublicInterestPR.com

The American Civil Liberties Union charged today that the FBI and local police are engaging in intimidation based on political association and are improperly investigating law-abiding human rights and advocacy groups, according to documents obtained through a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. ACLU affiliates, including the ACLU of Wisconsin, today filed FOIA requests seeking similar documents in ten states.

In response to widespread complaints from students and political activists who said they were questioned by FBI agents in the months leading up to last summer’s political conventions, the ACLU filed FOIA requests in six states and the District of Columbia in December 2004 on behalf of more than 100 groups and individuals. To date, the ACLU has received fewer than 20 pages in response to the FOIAs.

The ACLU charged that the FBI is wrongfully withholding thousands of pages of documents, and today filed a lawsuit in federal court to compel the FBI to comply with the FOIA requests. The complaint seeks files kept by the FBI on the ACLU, as well as Greenpeace, United for Peace and Justice, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The ACLU said that the few documents received to date through the December FOIA requests shed light on the FBI’s misuse of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to engage in political surveillance. In Colorado, one memo indicates an ongoing federal interest in Food Not Bombs, a group that provides free vegetarian food to hungry people and protests war and poverty.

The same memo suggests that an FBI interview of Sarah Bardwell and call to Scott Silber prior to last fall’s political conventions were intended as a means of intimidation. The FBI notes that although they did not obtain information about criminal activity from either student, it was unnecessary to contact others in the area as the “purpose of the interviews was served.”

“The FBI is taking tax dollars and resources established to fight terrorism and instead spying on innocent Americans who have done nothing more than speak out or practice their faith,” Ann Beeson, ACLU Associate Legal Director, said. “By recruiting the local police into these activities, they are also sowing dissent and suspicion in communities around the country.”

In Wisconsin, the ACLU made requests on behalf of Peace Action-Wisconsin, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba and the Milwaukee Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Local concerns about government surveillance of activists were heightened after the ACLU of Wisconsin obtained “Daily Protest Reports” generated by the Milwaukee Police Department’s “Intelligence Division.” These reports document routine police surveillance, including videotaping, of peaceful protests and include the names of local political leaders participating in them. The ACLU of Wisconsin sought information on local police involvement in FBI-sponsored Joint Terrorism Task Forces under state open records law and obtained redacted copies of contracts between the FBI and numerous local police forces.

ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Christopher Ahmuty noted that at least two communities participating in JTTF activities have also passed resolutions to defend the bill of rights and prevent local police from participating in unlawful spying at the behest of the FBI. “Unfortunately, the FBI and local police have been less than forthcoming with information about their activities,” Ahmuty said. “It is crucial that there be local oversight to prevent a return to the days of J. Edgar Hoover and the ‘red squads’ that sought to intimidate and embarrass civil rights leaders and others who questioned government policy.”

The controversial FBI-led task forces came under scrutiny last month after Portland, Oregon became the first city in the nation to withdraw local law enforcement participation from the JTTFs rather than allow them to participate without proper oversight. The JTTF partnerships between the FBI and local police, in which local officers are “deputized” as federal agents, are intended to identify and monitor individuals and groups implicated in terrorism. The ACLU charges, however, that these task forces are allowing local police officers to target peaceful political and religious groups with no connection to terrorism.

The documents obtained by the ACLU are not the only evidence that the FBI is building files on activists, according to Beeson. A classified FBI intelligence memorandum disclosed publicly in November 2003 revealed that the FBI has actually directed police to target and monitor lawful political demonstrations under the rubric of fighting terrorism. This memo is available at: http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=14450&c=206.

For details and legal papers regarding the FOIA requests filed today by ACLU affiliates around the country, including a list of clients, go to www.aclu.org/spyfiles.