[Vision2020] Documents Reveal Scope of U.S. Database on Antiwar Protests

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (October 13, 2006) New York Times -

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Documents Reveal Scope of U.S. Database on Antiwar Protests 
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - Internal military documents released Thursday provided
new details about the Defense Department's collection of information on
demonstrations nationwide last year by students, Quakers and others opposed
to the Iraq war.

The documents, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, show, for instance, that military
officials labeled as "potential terrorist activity" events like a "Stop the
War Now" rally in Akron, Ohio, in March 2005.

The Defense Department acknowledged last year that its analysts had
maintained records on war protests in an internal database past the 90 days
its guidelines allowed, and even after it was determined there was no
threat.

A department spokesman said Thursday that the "questionable data collection"
had led to a tightening of military procedures to ensure that only
information relevant to terrorism and other threats was collected. The
spokesman, Maj. Patrick Ryder, said in response to the release of the
documents that the department "views with great concern any potential
violation" of the policy.

"There is nothing more important or integral to the effectiveness of the
U.S. military than the trust and good will of the American people," Major
Ryder said.

A document first disclosed last December by NBC News showed that the
military had maintained a database, known as Talon, containing information
about more than 1,500 "suspicious incidents" around the country in 2004 and
2005. Dozens of alerts on antiwar meetings and peaceful protests appear to
have remained in the database even after analysts had decided that they
posed no threat to military bases or personnel.

Some documents obtained by the A.C.L.U. referred to the potential for
disruption to military recruiting and the threat posed to military personnel
as a result.

An internal report produced in May 2005, for instance, discussed antiwar
protests at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and was issued "to
clarify why the Students for Peace and Justice represent a potential threat
to D.O.D. personnel."

The memorandum noted that several hundred students had recently protested
the presence of military recruiters at a career fair and demanded that they
leave.

"The clear purpose of these civil disobedience actions was to disrupt the
recruiting mission of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command by blocking the
entrance to the recruiting station and causing the stations to shut down
early," it said.

But the document also noted that "to date, no reported incidents have
occurred at these protests."

The documents indicated that intelligence reports and tips about antiwar
protests, including mundane details like 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. 

"There is simply no reason why the United States military should be
monitoring the peaceful activities of American citizens who oppose U.S. war
policies," said Ben Wizner, a lawyer for the A.C.L.U.

Joyce Miller, an official with the American Friends Service Committee, a
Quaker group that learned that information on some of its antiwar protests
was in the military database, said she found the operation to be a
"chilling" and troubling trend.

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Footnote about our 49-Percenter Protest Rally conducted on January 20, 2005
-  Somewhere, hidden in the comments section of some after-action report, in
the back of some filing cabinet, scribbled on the back of a memo, may appear
the names of those who attended the rally.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Vandalville, Idaho


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"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"

- Thomas Jefferson

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