COINTELPRO Comes to My Town: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies
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.
My dear friend Mike Stark, a board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty is at times referred to in "Lucy's" report as a "socialist" and an "anarchist." One can only assume this is the pathetic time honored tradition of reducing people to simple caricatures, all the better to garner Homeland Security grant money.
Veteran peace activist in Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, who initiated the suit, was as well consistently shadowed as he walked down the streets. His "primary crime" (their lingo) was entered into the homeland security database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary crime" was listed as "terrorism -- anti-war protesters." The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or
HIDTA. Yes, a respected peace organizer of many decades standing is checked as a terrorist, his actions listed as criminal, for doing nothing more than exercising his rights. It boggles the mind.
Former police superintendent Tim Hutchins defended these totalitarian practices by saying, "You do what you think is best to protect the general populace of the state." (The article mentioned that Hutchins is now a federal defense contractor. I guess The Global War on Terror is just the gift that keeps on giving for the Hutchins family.)
But "protect the general populace" from what? The surveillance continued even after it was determined that we were planning nothing more dangerous that carrying clipboards in a public place. Hutchins and the Ehrlich administration have undertaken an ugly violation of our civil rights, manipulating fears of terrorism to stamp out dissent.
This is COINTELPRO pure and simple. Like the infamous counter-intelligence program whose heyday many assume was a relic the 1950s and 1960s, it's an effort to harass the innocent and breed paranoia, all for daring to question power.
Governor Ehrlich and Tim Hutchins stand in the legacy of those who hounded Martin Luther King, and facilitated the death of Malcolm X. They stand in the tradition of those who drove the great actor, college football superstar, and activist Paul Robeson toward The mental breakdown that claimed his life. When Robeson's files were opened under the Freedom of Information Act, the results were terrifying.
As his son, Paul Robeson Jr. has written, "From the files I received, it was obvious that there were agents who did nothing but follow every public event of my father, or even of me.... It took on a life of its own.... Over time, even for someone as powerful and with as many resources as my
dad had...the attrition got to him."
Now Robeson is on a postage stamp. The moral midgets who destroyed him went unpunished. That's what has to change. The ACLU, to their credit, is going on the offensive.
As ACLU lawyer David Rocah said at a news conference in Baltimore on Thursday, "To invest this many hours investigating the most all-American of activities without any scintilla of evidence there is anything criminal going on is shocking. It's Kafkaesque."
Unfortunately for people like Gov. Ehrlich, it is also "the most All
American of activities" to take the constitution and use it as their personal hand wipe.
As the great political philosopher Ice T wrote, "Freedom of Speech.... just watch what you say." Well, now is exactly the time not to watch what we say. I'm angry. I'm angry for my friends, who trusted "Lucy" and others. I'm angry that my tax dollars went to paying the salaries of people who spy and intimidate those exercising their rights. I'm angry that Barack Obama just voted to increase the power of the Federal government to disrupt people's lives. And I'm angry enough that I'm joining a lawsuit initiated by the ACLU. "Homeland Security" picked on the wrong sports writer. They also picked on the wrong group of activists. We will not be silenced.
[People who want to express their outrage can contact the office of the current Governor Martin O'Malley. We should demand a full investigation of the MSP, public release of all documents obtained through this illegal activity, and a specific commitment that the
anti-death penalty and anti-war movement will not be targeted. Call the office of the governor at 1-800-811-8336, or submit a comment online at http://www.governor.maryland.gov/mail/]
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Look, what we all need to remember is that this is a War on Terror. But since we'll obviously never read a headline that says "Terror Surrenders" or "Terror Found Dead in Bunker," we'll just have to settle for a War on Terrorism. But, since there's no internationally agreed upon definition of "terrorism" (vs. freedom fighting, struggling against oppression, attacking the bad guys, establishing the righteous Will of the Divine One Who Just Happens To Think Exactly Like I Do, etc.), and since terrorism is at least as old as civilization, and since new terrorist groups always arise as others are eliminated, the only way we can ever achieve a real victory is to contain the source of all potential terrorism. And the source of all potential terrorism is human beings who get worked up about things and form strong opinions. Which, when you come right down to it, is pretty much all human beings. So, we have to make sure that our government contains all of us. You, me, our families & friends & neighbors, as well as all the foreigners. When everybody everywhere is watched, investigated, imprisoned and/or taken out, then our democratic way of life will finally have prevailed!
Holy Sh%t! I had no idea.
Actually, "Lucy" is an intern in her daddy's office this summer at the NSA.
He promised her he would get her a pony if she got some "verifiable intel" on 2 "anarchists" and 3 "socialists".
Unfortunately, calling one guy both an "anarchist" and a "socialist" for circulating a petition at a local farmers' market was the best she could do.
So...no pony for you this year, Lucy.
Boo hoo.
I think you'd find less opposition and scrutiny if you focused the exercise of your rights on the Second Amendment. That's really what "good" Americans do.
If you'll post your phone number, I'll try and get Associate Justice Scalia to phone you to explain the original intent of the Founders on the Bill of Rights regarding your First Amendment "rights" when there is a Republican President.
Oh, Rog49Thomas, don't kid yourself! Don't believe this administration's talking points, propaganda and their courting of the NRA.
This administration is, behind the scenes, VERY threatened by those pushing their Second Amendment rights. And, the NRA, chief cheerleaders of 2nd Amendment, is quietly very concerned about the right wing's increasing tendency toward disarming Americans.
If you don't believe me, just google "Great New Orleans Gun Grab".
Hastily written, yes, but a fairly accurate and clear-eyed view of a very serious breach of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the American Way. Homes were illegally entered, and weapons taken, in some cases from the hands of law-abiding citizens simply protecting themselves and their property from clear and present danger. And for the most part, far as I know, these weapons have never been returned. We're not talking Saturday Night Specials (cheap handguns) and A-K 47 machine guns, either. We're talking hunting rifles and shotguns, many of them heirlooms.
This is YOUR future, fellow HuffPosters, unless our national trajectory is significantly altered. Soon.
It's hard to tell, but I think that Rog49Thomas may be being snarky.
I suspect that there are some rational gun owners out there.
Unfortunately, the only ones I've ever met scared the bejesus out of me preaching about their constitutional rights to own AK-47's and similar automatic and semi-automatic weapons for "hunting" and "sportsmen" activities. And as well to protect against the imminent threat of this or that imagined enemy lurking in the shadows - both foreign and domestic.
I met one guy who has a 50 gun arsenal in his home - I guess he'd qualify as a true sportsman.
We are all citizens, and thus apparently, all suspects.
Some citizens are above suspicion.
Just you try to out a CIA agent and you'll quickly see the difference.
Rog49T
"Out" ?!!! You're not kidding. Family and friends of intelligence workers (even low security clearanced analysts and clerks) are asked to refrain from so much as mentioning where their loved ones work.
Talk about a double standard. Anyone who can't see that chooses to be blind.
I've said all along that this "war on terrorism" is more about us than it is about the actual terrorists.
Who ARE we? Are we really torturers? Do we look the other way when civil rights, like the author's, are violated?
There is such disparity between our "leadership" and actual Americans - and that goes for the Dems in the Senate & House who have gone along with all this subversive BS.
I really, really hope we can get our country back. I have my doubts.
"I really, really hope we can get our country back. "
Me too. If not, I want my money back.
Hey where IS that freedom I paid for.
I had understood it was a package deal, the constitution as currently amended, and the first 10 amendments in particular.
Or has that deal been taken off the market?
Not taken off the market---bought up.
Bought up by the competition, and destroyed.
Everyone who has ever been involved in peace activism should file a FOIA request form to see what info they have on you. You might have to pay a fee unless you can argue that it is for the public good.
Here's the link.
http://www.fcc.gov/foia/#reqform
You probably WIND UP on a Watch list if you request to FIND OUR if you're on a watch list, as why would you want to know, unless you THINK you did something bad? So be sure to file two in succession!
"And just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you!"
Everyone wave to Big Brother.
In the 1960's after JFK/RFK/MLK assassinations , civil unrest, and continuing Cold War, my politically active (and law-abiding) parents routinely said "hello" , not only to telephone callers, but to government listeners. In jest. Then we found out later our phone line had in fact been tapped, and mail re-routed, screened and opened. Quite chilling.
Sooo......Hello, from the Gumbo Gallery, NeoConArtist Spooks! Happy reading and democracy-dismantling!
That's scary. The one good thing about it: they picked on the wrong guy, it sounds like. Give 'em hell and bring 'em to the light of day.
I only have one question:
So, exactly how can you be a socialist and an anarchist at the same time?
Unfortunately it is usually the poor and minorities who end up paying the ultimate price of this kind of surveilance and spying. When laws are passed that target young people at gang members and drug dealers they end up with a record that in the future can and will be used against them to incarcerate them sometimes for life. For all intents and purposes it is illegal to be a young black man in the U.S.A. This is a crime in and of itself that we as a nation incarcerate more of our own citizens than any other country in the world. Take the time to connect the dots to see how young men are being labeled "terrorists" under these laws. If they would invest a percentage of the money being used to these counter-intelligence programs for youth programs and job programs for youth we would see a dramatic change in our society. We are creating a country of terrorists in our efforts to erradicate it. Same thing we are doing in Iraq. In our efforts to reform that country in our image we have planted the seed for its' own destruction once again.
I caught a repeat of this program this morning:
http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=170
One line that caught my attention was that prisons are being planned for construction 15 years or so out in the future. This means that they are planning for kids that are 5 today to be in prison instead of college when they grow up.
I'm afraid it isn't just the poor and minorities who are targeted this way because usually they have no voice anyway. You can pass laws to take care of them . It's the mainstream middle class, organizers and intellectuals who they fear most because they have a proportionately greater voice. In every takeover by a fascist or communist government the first to be targeted were these groups. Dissent is looked upon as a threat to authority, not a part of the process known as democracy. They're only being put on lists right now but who knows what is to follow.
Do you think this blog is being monitored?
Let us also not forget the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h1955_rfs.xml
This goes hand in hand with FISA to give the spies something to do since the end of the Cold War. I called and emailed every member of both the House and Senate when this one came up a while back and this went thru without even a mention in the MSM. Not that I'm surprised or shocked- just getting more disappointed as we go.
I don't think the Senate has voted on it yet. I think it has been stalled in committee. Let's hope it never passes.
You're kidding right? This bill is CERTAIN to pass in the near future. How can you even begin to doubt that since this very same Senate fell all over itself to pass an unconstitutional FISA amendment just recently?
There is no way this bill doesn't pass. They may hold off until after the election in November to stave off any electoral repercussions (like there really would be any since everyone is still drooling over the thought of getting to vote FOR Democrats that voted for the unconstitutional FISA amendment).
After Obama is sworn in (and starts his personal illegal spying with his new illegal FISA spying powers that HE voted for) the Senate will get right on that abortion of a bill. FISA and the "homegrown terror" bill are of a piece.
The senate has not voted on this yet . It has been suggested that the bill HR1955 , might be combined with similiar bills that the senate is still debating on . My guess is that it will pass , and be buried in some obscure bill that no one is paying attention to .
For government and its corporate sponsors to exploit the American people fully, they need to keep us passive and cowed. Any hint of dissent must be monitored and stifled, by force if necessary (see the RNC, 2004). It shows you how paranoid and afraid of the people the government is, especially under Bushco. The FBI, CIA, NSA, the Dept. of Homeland Security, the Defense Dept., and hundreds of other federal, state, and local police forces spy on Americans without warrant. It's the most unAmerican thing I can think of, and it's another reason that the American people need to take back their government from the thugs that run it.
Sounds just like the group having cookies that was in Fahrenheit 911. Apparently nothing has changed. I guess this is an example of how the terrorism watch list got up over 1 million names. Thanks for posting your personal story. This is just completely out of hand--I hope your lawsuit brings some media attention in additon to reforms and compensation.
Welcome to 1939 Germany.
What I want to know is how do you know they are spying on you? How do you get this information? I have been involved in several activities, (all legal), over these past 7 1/2 years where I thought that I, and the people that I was with, were being monitored.
Also like East Germany.
When East Germany fell, the people had basically stormed the HQ of the evil Stasi, and went through the files. What they found was not only all the surveillance files of every citizen, but how so many people they knew or were related to were snitches on them. Now we have the same thing, only it is done less openly. Yes, in a way, we are being tricked. At least the citizens of East Germany knew what was going on, there weren't any doubts; they just were shocked to find out who the snitches actually were. There are still many Americans who think this actually doesn't go on.
We are getting more like the enemies we allegedly fought for "freedom". Everything we supposedly fought against we have become, and had become over the last several decades. Parts of John Lennon's FBI file are still classified. They'd sure hate to let out how much that guy was spied on. All because he was for peace. Let's not forget J. Edgar Hoover's transgressions.
Too bad honest presidential candidates like Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel were destroyed by the MSM. They would have likely put a stop to such nonsense.
Wake up, people - this is what the FISA legislation was about. It's not about Al-Quaeda - that's a temporary problem. It's about keeping a lid on activists like you and me.
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