http://washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/18/maryland-troopers-spied-on-activist-groups/
Maryland troopers spied on activist groups
Protesters added to database of terrorist suspects
Shaun Waterman UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Friday, July 18, 2008
Undercover Maryland state troopers infiltrated three groups advocating
peace
and protesting the death penalty — attending meetings and sending re****ts
on
their activities to U.S. intelligence and military agencies, according to
do***ents released Thursday.
The do***ents show the activities occurred from at least March 2005 to May
2006 and that officers used false names, which the do***ents referred to
as
"covert identities" - to open e-mail accounts to receive messages from the
groups.
Also included in the 46 pages of do***ents, obtained by the Maryland
chapter
of the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information Act
lawsuit, is an account of an activist's name being entered into a
federally
funded database designed to share information among state, local and
federal
law-enforcement agencies on terrorist and drug trafficking suspects.
ACLU attorney David Rocah said state police violated federal laws
prohibiting
departments that receive federal funds from maintaining databases with
information about political activities and affiliations.
The activist was identified as Max Obuszewski. His "primary crime" was
entered
into the database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary
crime"
was listed as "terrorism - anti-war protestors." The database is known as
the
Wa****ngton-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA.
"This is not supposed to happen in America," said Mr. Rocah. "In a free
society, which relies on the engagement of citizens in debate and protest
and
political activity to maintain that freedom ... you should be able to
attend a
meeting about an issue you care about without having to worry that
government
spies are entering your name into a database used to track alleged
terrorists
and drug traffickers."
Mr. Rocah called the surveillance "Kafka-esque insanity."
State police Chief Col. Terrence B. Sheridan said the agency "does not
inappropriately curtail the expression or demonstration of the civil
liberties
of protesters or organizations acting lawfully."
The surveillance of Mr. Obuszewski, of Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, and
another person came to light during his trial for trespassing and
disorderly
conduct in a 2004 protest outside the National Security Agency's
headquarters
in Fort Meade, Md.
Do***ents released by the prosecution revealed that the protesters had
been
under surveillance by an entity called the Baltimore Intelligence Unit.
The Maryland ACLU sued last month, claiming the state police refused to
release public do***ents about the surveillance of peace activists.
THE BALTIMORE SUN VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS ACLU staff attorney David Rocah
(sitting left) was alongside organizer Max Obuszewski, whose name was
entered
into a counterterrorism database, at a press conference in Baltimore.
The do***ents, which include intelligence re****ts and printouts from the
database, show that several undercover officers from the state police's
Homeland Security and Intelligence Division attended meetings of three
groups:
Mr. Obuszewski's group; the Coalition to End the Death Penalty; and the
Committee to Save Vernon Evans, a convicted murderer who was slated for
execution.
The do***ents show at least 288 hours of surveillance over the 14-month
period. The undercover officers attended at least 20 organizing meetings
at
community halls and churches and a dozen rallies against the death
penalty,
including several at the state's SuperMax jail in Baltimore.
Included in the do***ents are references to a proposed sit-in at the
offices
of Baltimore County State's Attorney SandraA. O'Connor. However, they show
no
trooper re****ts of violence or threats of violence. Organizers repeatedly
stressed the im****tance of peaceful and orderly demonstrations, the
do***ents
show.
"There were about 75-80 protestors at the rally and none participated in
any
type of civil disobedience or illegal acts," said one re****t of a
demonstration against the death penalty at the SuperMax jail. "Protesters
were
even careful to move out of the way for Division of Correction employees
who
were going into the parking lot for work."
Still, information about the protesters and their activities was sent to
seven
agencies, including the National Security Agency and an unnamed military
intelligence official.
"Americans have the right to peaceably assemble with others of a like mind
and
speak out about what they believe in," Mr. Rocah said. "For state agencies
to
spend hundreds of hours entering information about lawful and peaceful
political activities into a criminal database is beyond unconscionable. It
is
a waste of taxpayer dollars, which does nothing to make us safer from
actual
terrorists or drug dealers."
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Comments 1 - 12 of 12
By: Scratch3386
Rob M. writes: "Governor O'Malley must take swift and decisive action
against
those responsible for issuing this surveillance order. And if it turns out
that he too was involved with, or had prior knowledge of this order, the
Maryland State Senate must take action against Gov. O'Malley as well."
Since the spying allegedly took place between March 2005-May 2006, during
Governor Ehrlich's term in office; I rather doubt that Governor O'Malley
can
be held responsible.
July 21, 2008 at 9:37 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: bendix20
I expect nothing less from the Peoples Republic of Maryland where we work
for
the government not the other way around as it should be.
July 20, 2008 at 1:22 p.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: johnhatch
The twin towers might have been saved had there been police spies at PNAC
and
in the Vice-President's office.
They did 9/11 and then used it to justify tearing up the Constitution. As
cynical as it is scary. America is toast.
July 19, 2008 at 8:39 p.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: William824
Garland,
Son, the government has been spying on peaceful, lawabiding Americans
since
the invention of the telephone, and before as well.
The staus quo is always going to try and maintain itself and will use any
method it deems useful in doing so.
Perhaps your to young to remember Con-Intel-Pro, but that was a huge
iilegal
operation that spied on civil rights, peace groups, and political enemies,
but
it gave rise to FISA, which is also a law that violates the fourth
amendment
and it's new form is even worse.
Apparently, you condone these types of government activities, so who is
the
real communist here? You, who would disregard the constitution, or the
ACLU,
which stands for AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION? They would stand up for
you
too, if the governemnt was violating your constitutional rights, since
that is
what they do. Even when it's distasteful and unpopular.
If you think government should have this much power and disregard the
constitution and bill of rights whenever it suits them, I suggest you move
to
China. No one questions that government's ability to do anything it wants.
July 19, 2008 at 10:40 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: corey
The US Government is the enemy of the people of America: “whenever any
Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to
alter or to abolish it” - Declaration of Independence
This country is run by Cor****ations who control our laws: "The money power
preys on the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times
of
adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than
autocracy,
more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who
question its methods or throw light upon its crimes." - Abraham Lincoln
I am a Liberal and am about my fellow Americans and the people of the
world. I
do not see the US Government doing anything that will benefit either me or
the
people of the world. The only time the US Government acts, whiter guised
as
"helping" others or "protecting" Americans....it is only when they
themselves
can gain from it: “America does not go abroad in search of monsters to
destroy. She is the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is
the
champion and vindicator only of her own.” - John Quincy Adams’
Americans need to know what the rest of the world has known for many, many
years. The U.S. Government does not care if the American people live or
die,
and hope that they will remain uneducated and have blind-faith, much like
with
their religions, along with; believe that questioning their government is
"un-patriotic", so the people they supposedly “elected” to “represent”
them,
knowing that they are being swindled of all their money to rape the world
of
her natural resources and killing innocent people.
Here is a quote from someone who got more rights than those in Guantanamo,
which perfectly expresses what the U.S. Government’s ideology:"All you
have to
do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for
lack
of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." ~ Nazi Reich
Marshal Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg Trials
Corey Mondello
Boston, Massachusetts
www.CoreyMondello.com
7-19-08
July 19, 2008 at 7:43 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: Dirk
This is so disgusting, I am a Marylander and this makes me sick, ashamed.
All
groups have a right to assemble, like it or not. I cannot believe my taxes
paid for this. What is this country coming too? Looks like it might be
time to
take it back boys and girls. "They" cant control the power given them,
like a
kid with it's Halloween candy that cant control how much they'll eat, you
gotta take it from them. Power back to "We The People"
July 19, 2008 at 6:48 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: deb
I have to wonder if we will ever be the country we were before Bush came
to
power.
July 19, 2008 at 5:53 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: kchotrod
Garland. You got to be kidding. You really think that the police spying on
peaceful protestors is good police work? It wasnt peace loving Muslims
that
brought the towers down. How is a group of peaceful protestors any threat
to
you or this country? I am against the war in Iraq. How does that make me a
terrorist? How does that make me a security threat? Have you ever read the
Constitution? Do you even know what the Constitution is?
July 19, 2008 at 12:44 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: Garland
Good job Maryland State Police. Ignore the communist ACLU. Keeping an eye
on
potential terrorist suspects is a part of good police work. Had we done
more
earlier we might still have the twin towers.
July 18, 2008 at 10:17 a.m.
By: dansan22
As the Democrats would say: "SO WHAT."
July 18, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: please2887
It is also unconscionable to waste thousands of hours and millions of
dollars
to defend convicted murderers/terrorists/child **** dealers, etc., etc.
The
ACLU should spend an equal amount of funds/time to protect the victims of
crime. The "peace' groups of the far left are the first to cry foul when
law
enforcement or an opposing view group turn the tables and practice their
type
of surveillence on their activities. All is fair in love and war. Have a
little cheese with that whine and get a life.
July 18, 2008 at 8:53 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
By: Rob M
I rarely find myself on the side of any ACLU cause, but this is absolutely
outrageous! I thought I was reading the Pyongyang Times for a minute
there. Is
this the kind of country I'll be coming home to after more than four years
of
serving here in Iraq? Governor O'Malley must take swift and decisive
action
against those responsible for issuing this surveillance order. And if it
turns
out that he too was involved with, or had prior knowledge of this order,
the
Maryland State Senate must take action against Gov. O'Malley as well. If
this
is allowed to quietly fade out of the headlines tomorrow, then we are all
at
risk of loosing our basic Constitutional rights in the following days,
months
and years.
July 18, 2008 at 3:09 a.m. | Mark as Offensive
2008 The Wa****ngton Times, LLC.
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