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By Shahid Buttar, Executive Director, Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) & Amy Ferrer, Associate Director, BORDC
Government surveillance of First Amendment-protected speech and political activism
unfortunately boasts a long and sordid history in the United States. Well before its
resurgence under the Bush administration-and unfortunate continuation under the current
administration-a pattern of political surveillance and infiltration has periodically
recurred across multiple periods in American history, and by a variety of institutional
actors.
The politically motivated "Palmer Raids" of 1919-1921 by the Department of
Justice and Immigration and Naturalization Service targeted left-wing activist. The
disruption and character assassination activities of the FBI's infamous
Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) targeted civil rights and other progressive
groups from 1956-1971. And more recently, state & federal authorities have monitored
and infiltrated peace, environmental and civil rights groups around the country. These
investigative methods deeply threaten constitutional rights and should raise alarms,
especially if they reflect systemic bias rather than isolated abuses.
Soon after the 9/11 attacks, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft authorized the FBI to
dramatically expand its domestic surveillance activities. He expanded that authority again
in 2003, and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey followed suit with further expansions
in December, 2008. Ostensibly crafted to enhance counterterrorism efforts, the resulting
surveillance came to serve political purposes: in at least several cases, it was directed
against activist groups and individuals advancing goals opposed to those of the Bush
administration.
At a time when the specter of genuine terrorism loomed large in our nation's priorities,
federal and local law enforcement agencies squandered time and resources conducting
unconstitutional surveillance of peaceful activist groups. In all, as many as 150
organizations-including Greenpeace, a Catholic Workers Group, and various Muslim
charities-have been monitored in recent years without any evidence of criminal activity.
The "war on terror" has, in effect, criminalized dissent. The Bill
of Rights Defense Committee has compiled a brief collection of incidents
illustrating government infiltration of activist groups starting in 2002-but
unfortunately continuing into 2009. www.acslaw.org/node/14047 9.04.2009
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