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TechnoratiSurveillance's Reach Revealed
The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.
![[Maryland State Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan said the department is sending letters to activists, inviting them to review their files.
(Photo Credit: By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/mdpolicedept1008.jpg "mdpolicedept1008.jpg")
Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan revealed at a legislative hearing that the surveillance operation, which targeted opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war, was far more extensive than was known when its existence was disclosed in July.
The department started sending letters of notification Saturday to the activists, inviting them to review their files before they are purged from the databases, Sheridan said.
"The names don't belong in there," he told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. "It's as simple as that."
The surveillance took place over 14 months in 2005 and 2006, under the administration of former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). The former state police superintendent who authorized the operation, Thomas E. Hutchins, defended the program in testimony yesterday. Hutchins said the program was a bulwark against potential violence and called the activists "fringe people."
Sheridan said protest groups were also entered as terrorist organizations in the databases, but his staff has not identified which ones.
Stunned senators pressed Sheridan to apologize to the activists for the spying, assailed in an independent review last week as "overreaching" by law enforcement officials who were oblivious to their violation of the activists' rights of free expression and association. The letter, obtained by The Washington Post, does not apologize but admits that the state police have "no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime" by those classified as terrorists.
Hutchins told the committee it was not accurate to describe the program as spying. "I doubt anyone who has used that term has ever met a spy," he told the committee.
"What John Walker did is spying," Hutchins said, referring to John Walker Jr., a communications specialist for the U.S. Navy convicted of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Hutchins said the intelligence agents, whose logs were obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland as part of a lawsuit, were monitoring "open public meetings." His officers sought a "situational awareness" of the potential for disruption as death penalty opponents prepared to protest the executions of two men on death row, Hutchins said.
"I don't believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government," he said. Hutchins said he did not notify Ehrlich about the surveillance. Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said the governor had no comment.
Hutchins did not name the commander in the Division of Homeland Security and Intelligence who informed him in March 2005 that the surveillance had begun. More than a year later, after "they said, 'We're not getting much here,' " Hutchins said he cut off what he called a "low-level operation."
But Sen. James Brochin (D-Baltimore County) noted that undercover troopers used aliases to infiltrate organizational meetings, rallies and group e-mail lists. He called the spying a "deliberate infiltration to find out every piece of information necessary" on groups such as the Maryland Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance. When Hutchins called their members "fringe people," the audience of activists who filled the seats in the hearing room in Annapolis sighed.
Some activists said yesterday that they have received letters; others said they were waiting with anticipation to see whether they were on the state police watch list.
Laura Lising of Catonsville, a member of the Baltimore Coalition Against the Death Penalty, received her notification yesterday. She said she wants a hard copy of her file, because she does not trust the police to purge it. "We need as much protection as possible," she said.
Both Hutchins and Sheridan said the activists' names were entered into the state police database as terrorists partly because the software offered limited options for classifying entries.
The police also entered the activists' names into the federal Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database, which tracks suspected terrorists. One well-known antiwar activist from Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, was singled out in the intelligence logs released by the ACLU, which described a "primary crime" of "terrorism-anti-government" and a "secondary crime" of "terrorism-anti-war protesters."
Sheridan said that he did not think the names were circulated to other agencies in the federal system and that they are not on the federal government's terrorist watch list. Hutchins said some names might have been shared with the National Security Agency.
Although the independent report on the surveillance released last week said that it was part of a broad effort by the state police to gather information on protest groups across the state, Sheridan said the department is not aware of any surveillance as "intrusive" as the spying on death penalty and war opponents.
The police notified the protesters at the recommendation of former U.S. attorney and state attorney general Stephen H. Sachs, who was appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to review the covert monitoring. In a report last week, Sachs also recommended regulations that forbid such spying on protest groups unless the state police chief believes it is justified.
"I can't imagine getting a letter that says, 'You've been classified as a terrorist; come in and we'll tell about it,'" said Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel). Two senators noted that they had been arrested years ago for civil disobedience. Sen. Jennie Forehand (D-Montgomery) asked Sheridan, "Do you have any legislators on your list?" The answer was no.
45 Comments so far
Show AllNew rule
If you against the war you are also a terrorist
You are because we said so F**k the constitution I am the law
"fringe people"
Let that sink in. It would be hard to get more obvious unless they started calling us untermenschen.
The claim is also false on its face, even by their own twisted definitions. A belief against killing others is hardly a fringe opinion. However, it should also be bloody obvious by now that right-wing extremists don't mind lying (or killing) if it advances their agenda.
Discussants here of a certain age will remember how the "Iron Curtain" countries were reviled here in the US for their loathsome practices of spying on their own people and their lack of due process, including "disappearing" them. And now, fellow untermenschen, here we are.
"Stunned senators pressed Sheridan ..."
This is almost as outrageous. The Senate has been deeply complicit in dismantling the Bill of Rights and generally giving the Bush administration everything it wants. Are they really that stupid, or is this just a case of bad acting?
Now let's take stock. Where was the opposition to the aggressive advancement of the police state? Ah yes, it was in "free speech" cages and other places, but, sadly, not in elected office.
"fringe people"
*Associated with radical group ACORN.
*Associated with radical preacher Jeremiah Wright.
*Associated with former radical, current college professor W Ayers.
*Suspiciously Moslem sounding middle name.
*Gives speaches to large groups of (omigosh!) Liberals!
Yup, that Obama feller is still on Hannity's terrorist list.
twelvepax,
Take a look a this,
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17563487/detail.html#
I dare you to defend that police union.
And when you get a break from defending the prospect of a surveillance society, read the Church Committee report and Pike Committee report.
http://bss.sfsu.edu/fischer/ir%20360/Readings/pike.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee
"In any case, who ultimately gives a damn about a list?"
MLK's widow, for one.
For every bad cop out there, you'll obviously find a majority who are on the level. If you're a burglary victim, stabbed by a drug user high on meth, etc. the cops will come, investigate, etc. They may even put their own lives on the line to save YOU.
I simply don't buy the wedge manufacturing going on here between cops and protesters or progressives. We need to clamp down on police brutality, and make some significant adjustments in civilian oversight, but unless you're advocating NRA-style vigilantism -- or private armies for those who can afford it -- there will be a need for public law enforcement of some kind.
The surveillance society is way, way above your local PD unless you live in a notoriously/historically corrupt big city. The wedge we need to look at is where law enforcement meets politics, the mob, and D.C.
I'd advise you, also, to look at other successful leaders in history -- all of whom had faults of their own. In the American revolutionary tradition, let's take Jefferson and Washington. They eventually had to "side" with some faction (if not the majority) of the military, local law enforcement, etc. Any progressive movement which permanently sees itself as a protest movement, a cornered rat, banging its head on a wall, etc. may as well jump over a cliff. I hate to say it, but the incessant championing of victimhood eventually is greeted with disgust rather than empathy. I'm not speaking for myself here -- I'm commenting on how mass psychology obviously works.
Maybe they should have a list of white supremacist nutcases like James Earl Ray.
I'd bet the FBI does.
Folks in other states outside Maryland should understand that their local police force probably does much the same domestic spying. It's certainly true of the Los Angeles Police Department, which used Sheriff Department staff as undercover infiltrators and instigators during the 2000 Democratic National Convention protests.
Police forces are highly imitative, and increasingly militarized. When they get supplied with riot-control gear and trained in SWAT maneuvers, it psychologically moves them away from the notion of being "peace officers." The public becomes the enemy.
The solution is a nationwide effort to defund the police. Specifically, eliminate all terrorist-related training, SWAT training, spy training, along with high-powered military-style weapons. Even so-called non-lethal weapons such as Tasers need to be banned. Tasers have killed people, and they've become favored police weapons to be used on "noncompliant" people.
We could save a lot of money by defunding the police, and right now, with the Wall Street bailout, state governments will be starved for cash. It's a good time to cut out the deadwood. Beyond the highway patrol, we don't really need all of the police we have (despite Senator Joe Biden's brag of adding 100,000 police to the streets).
When protesters are seen by the police as common criminals, the people are losing the very institutions they fund, as well as their civil rights (which were technically eliminated by the PATRIOT Act). Cut the police funds. That's the only thing police will respect. Work locally to get it done.
Bad cop, no donut.
-TIA
Opponents of the death penalty: Those who believe it's wrong to kill criminals.
Opponents of the war: Those who believe it's wrong to kill foreigners.
Vegans: Those who believe it's wrong to kill animals.
In short, "terrorist" has been redefined as "someone who believes killing is immoral"
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Sounds like at some slander and possibly some libel suits need to be launched at this Hutchins creep. A competent Congress would pressure him with hearings and no immunity grants to squeal on the federal spies up the spy chain who initiated this thing.
"Sounds like at some slander and possibly some libel suits need to be launched at this Hutchins creep." Nah, how about TREASON charges. He has virtually ruined those people till it gets "straightened out." He needs to pay (dearly) and really should seek meaningful employment!"
Welcome to AmeriKKKa!!!
itsjuskarma, I've been asking my husband the same question: What is it going to take to wake you up? How many more liberties do you want taken before you're as outraged as I am and will do something to wake others up so we can stop this. Only when enough people stand up and say ENOUGH, will this come to an end. I've had enough of the spying, why hasn't he?
Also, I agree with your concept of voting with your money and would only add that when one does exercise this sometimes legal right, that a third party vote is cast.
"Always vote for principal, though you may vote alone, and you shall enjoy the sweet reward that your vote was never wasted." John Quincy Adams
It is a fine quote, but "principal" ought to be "principle"-- unless you're voting for Seymour Skinner, that is. ;)
F I R E F E M,
Thank you for what clearly is a great quote, that is also so powerfully relevant today.
Namaste
We should all go to our police and ask them right now - will they defend us against over-reaching, spying fascists or betray us and do their dirty work? Get them to say where the line in the sand is before it is too late. At least we will know...
Dafoe
I read a servey about the public perception of professionas and people in the public trust, politicians hada low of 24% doctors at 93% with police at 80 odd%. After this rubbish the police figure should plunge, me i have always mistrusted law enforcement officers, they have to show me I should trust them and am still waiting.u
I think it was JP Morgan who bragged he could always pay half the working-class to kill the other half. So articles like this help perpetuate that wedge among the working-class -- cops are NOT making lawyer/doctor/CEO salaries.
Think before you leap. If the progressives don't ultimately have a GOAL of mending left and right, cop and protester, activist and veteran, they may as well jump off a cliff. We'll need 75-80% of the culture on the same page, or forget it. Now is the time to get cops, soldiers, ordinary people, etc. angry about Wall Street, to agitate UP THE PIPELINE. This is a false skirmish line.
In any case, who ultimately gives a damn about a list? Anyone can make lists. As public employees, you should be able to get a list of all Maryland cops. So what?
Let's be serious, twelvepax. Sure, we can get lists of police in a lot of places. The wages of all Spokane City employees, including the murderous and civil rights abusing Spokane Police Department, can be found on the internet for a few different years. But you ask, "So what?"
Let me answer that question for you. This is a country which disappears people. Puts them on planes and sends them to other countries to be tortured. Anyone who does not think that sooner or later we will learn of cases of U.S. citizens disappeared in the same fashion is simply naive and ignorant. So what? So those being explicitly listed as terrorists by the government on secret list passed from agency to agency (as opposed to policeman whose wages are published as part of a public freedom of information) are in danger by a secretive, unrestrained, criminal government. You may be able to get a list of all Maryland cops but you can not get a list of all the people the government of the US and its individual states have spied on and place on secret lists.
Twelvepax, after they have come for the members of the Maryland Campaign to End the Death Penalty and for the members of the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, after they have come for those who speak up on the behalf of Palestinians run over by bulldozers and Iraqis killed by Marines and Blackwater, after they have come for those who oppose deportation raids which separate children from parents and who oppose disenfranchisement of minority voters, after they have come for those who refuse to remain silent in face of genocide and death by starvation and economic apartheid, after they come for all these and more, twelvepax, if they then come for you, who will speak up for you?
http://spokanepoliceabuses.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/arming-ourselves-aga...
David Brookbank -- "Hasta donde debemos practicar las verdades?"
" As public employees, you should be able to get a list of all Maryland cops." Wanna bet? They are more AFRAID of us than we are of them.
Welcome to AmeriKKKa!!!
Howdy Dafoe,
I agree whole heartedly.
These "heroes" are of the same ilk as the heroes that clubbed us, shot us, beat us arrested us, hell, BURNED US ALIVE in ludlow. The crime? striking for safer working conditions, better wages, collective bargaining and REAL money of the realm, not company scrip.
This cowardly, ignorant love of those lackeys is flaunted by the Lemmings ad NAUSEUM!
"The system will allow Police, for instance, to find local terrorists when they travel to a new town."
The system will allow Police, for instance, to find vegans when they travel to a new town.
Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox browser, has released technology that helps Police detect the physical location of computers.
The system will allow Police, for instance, to find local terrorists when they travel to a new town.
The Geode project is an experimental add-on ahead of a full blown launch of geolocation technology in version 3.1 of Firefox.
Users will have no control over how much location information they give.
It uses technology from a firm called Skyhook which works out a computer's location from nearby wireless networks.
It's so-called Loki system can determine location within seconds with an accuracy of about 10 to 20 metres.
NICE!!!
So peace activists are now terrorists.
I have a t-shirt that says:
"Police State, coming soon, to a former Democracy near you!"
Sigh. It's just not funny any more.
I live in this State and what was done was wrong...Sheridan should (at minimum)resign for this...
Somebody better at least file a libel lawsuit, and that should just be the beginning.
Fringe cops need to be identified.
I was fortunate enough to have been raised by a few people who had been born during the 19th century---two of them had been born "free roaming". They gave me the definition of a "warrior" as one who gave the most to the most needy. Who took their tribe and band into consideration before themselves. The would often adopt children as well as elderly, so that no one would be alone in a difficult world. Their leadership was by example, and they passed that example on to others----until the Americans came along----and they tried to wipe us off the face of the earth. They did not win-----I am alive to be their "terrorist".
Actually with the exception of my own rule of "not shedding innocent blood", I am and should be considered a Terrorist, by the average American. I am a warrior and am capable of "handing the fool who wants to test this his own head", but would cut my own throat before I shed innocent blood---directly or indirectly.
Anyone who sheds innocent blood for their cause---taints that cause beyond reprieve. That includes the USA----
A tribal socialist, I do not believe that the American dream holds within its creed, the license to feed off others. Instead, I believe that the wealthy and successful have the obligation to make it a rule to see that others have the needed tools to reach their own goals both personal and professional. That whose who do not have the means or the ability to provide for themselves a comfortable life, be given the necessary aid to accomplish this.
I could not personally live an extravagant life style while there were hungry elderly or children in at least my home town.
My every thought of myself is contradictory to the typical American self image and this alone makes me a terrorist in their eyes-----
When Bush stated shortly after 9/11---"if your not with us your against us" he met with little objection; because most Americans think in this manner.
And now they have made a mockery of their own "Democracy"----and no one will be with them.
which makes me directly opposite to them-----
which makes me satisfied that I have lived up to my own creed--------
And I am proud to be a terrorist----under that definition.
Put me on your list...........
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
True inner freedom is also what you said, Native Son.
Very well said and I heartily agree!
A very powerful post, NativeSon, Many accolades . . . and many thanks.
I remember reading a news article awhile back (probably sometime in late 2001) about govt entities "infiltrating" suspected terror groups. One of the groups suspected: A vegan community.
I can just imagine how the report came back:
"So, Tom, what did you find out about our dangerous vegan terrorists?"
"So far, we've learned how to make muffins and pancakes without eggs or dairy."
So Hutchins and Sheridan get to decide whose voices are "fringe" and label them as criminal? What we need is a "bulwark" against the totalitarian derangements of nazi thugs such as these two. We used to- a little thing called the Bill of Rights. Fuck off and die, swine. Way to screw up whatever real use may have come from an actual functioning legitimate database as well, turds.
This is exactly how Hitler’s Germany worked. It was people of similar authorities who actually initiated many of the atrocities that we blame on the old leader, and ordinary citizens didn’t challenge such things out of fear that they themselves would become targets. Welcome to Fascist America. I suspect we’ll actually outdo Hitler before the rest of the world is forced to obliterate us. Luckily for me it will probably be more than 20 years hence, and I will be quietly pushing daises while the rest of you get burned alive in 200 milliseconds. That’s what you get for believing a two party system is a democracy. Be smart! Vote independent!
What I want to know when is this State Police Chief going to prison for doing this? They've violated basic rights Americans are supposed to have. So, what's the penalty for this guy? When is he going to prison? How long is he going to have to be in prison for committing a very serious crime? Has he at least been fired from his job? Since the article doesn't say 'former state police chief', I'm guessing the answer is no.
These are the sorts of things that will tell you how serious this is taken by the powers that be. If all they do is send a letter to activists apologizing and asking them to review their records, but there's no disciplinary actions taken against the people who did this, then that tells you that the powers that be are really quite happy with this and view it only as a minor PR problem to finesse.
We need to start demanding real penalties for people who do this. We should be hammering the Gov of MD and the candidates for state legislature about this hard and right now. We should demand real prison time for these officers. Or at the very least that they be fired.
If you don't want this to happen again, that's what's gotta happen. People need to be fired and people need to go to jail.
----------------------------
"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com
The names of those fascists have been added to the official American Traitor List.
Coffeelover,,,,,
So sad, we pay their salary to spy on us. NO taxation without representation.
Keep in mind that the "Democrat-controlled Congress" has not reinstated habeas corpus rights that were taken away from "enemy combatants" as part of the Oct. 2006 revised patriot act.
The subjects in this article, or just about anyone else can be labelled an enemy combatant, and without access to habeas corpus will not even be allowed to establish their true identity let alone get a trial.
" B L A M E _ I T _ O N __ " T H E " __ S O F T W A R E "
How very lame.
I just have to get technical here, as any database can be expanded to include any degree of detail desired, by adding appropriate fields and associcating them with the records. That's actually the purpose of databases, to link together relevant information !
The fact that all of the diverse lower, middle, & high level POLICE "STATE" organizations, are centrally funneled into a computerized PINCH OFF POINT, of _i.d.i.o.c.y_ -- is not an accident, IT IS _B_Y__D_E_S_I_G_N_ !
The designers determined that it WAS NOT RELEVANT to AVOID associating OBL ( really more bu$h!t ) types with anti death penalty protestors, and that thereby it WAS REQUIRED for a nefarious purpose of undercutting ANY DISSENT, and RUINING LIVES OF INNOCENTS.
___ You will know the T R E E
___ by its F R U I T S
ALthough it is not so easily done ( after being deployed, with automated record searches & linkages ) , IT IS VERY SIMPLE in concept.
This is EVIDENCE of the use as a TOOL of DOMESTIC TERROR -- against ALL of USA citizens. It never had anything to do with international terrorists -- not in the least, and there has never been any proof or examples of it having caught a single real terrorist ( if that means someone who isn't a paid neoCON thug ).
Namaste
Thank you, itsjustkarma.
I also have noticed the increasing right-wing fascist corporate socialism being promulgated by N(azi) P(ublic) R(adio) - great use of the 'NPR' logo against itself.
But I could be wrong !
The 'good' Nazis. Always concerned about their fascist leaders. This makes it the more clear that the US has already employed the same tactics the Nazis had perfected so 'wonderfully'. When will the books burn? Shame on all those people who have no respect whatsoever for those who do not agree to the filthy policies of their oppressors. Knowing what happened in Germany under the Nazis or as a matter of fact in a variety of countries like Chile or Spain after WW2 should serve as a reminder of where the US is heading. Civil disobedience is only a threat to the fascist oppressors, no matter how small their position. Why is that dangerously incompetent enabler hutchins still at large? Those people need to be locked away for good, no parole ever for people who have only contempt for the Constitution Of The United States Of America. Who else is on their lists? People with bumperstickers? Civil disobedience would have stopped the Nazis in Germany and elsewhere in the world. It is a mindset, not to buy in into the utter BS a government comes up with. Citizens arrest of all those Nazis.
And while we are at it, I urge You to no longer support NPR if You ever did. The so called 'public radio' has become the 'Wochenschau' equivalent of Nazi Germany. Misinformation and a disturbing bias towards the losers of the republican party, paired with a subtle smear tactic helped me realize that NPR means nothing else but 'Nazi Party Radio'. Many people have called for America to wake up and to stop this nightmare, yet it is to be seen what else it takes for the descent Americans to take back their dignity, their sovereignty, their peace of mind and of course their ability to make a living under the 'Pursuit Of Happiness' that is not related to unchecked materialism.
God (for the one who needs this term) has stopped to bless America in 2000 or even earlier. The status quo is his message to human mankind and his son would certainly kick all those evangelical rightwing dimwits out of their offices.
Forget about elections - the only vote You have is at the register
I'm glad that someone else on this board shares my dismal opinion of National Public Radio. It represents one of Bush and Cheneys triumphs in their efforts to corrupt the free flow of information.
In Atlanta, we have two different public radio stations: WABE, the NPR outlet, and the unabashedly liberal WFRG, Radio Free Georgia. WRFG carries Democracy Now and many locally produced shows concerning issues related to various underrepresented minorities. They also play a great variety of music, everything from blue grass to hip hop.
I got a big kick some months back when I was solicited for donations to WABE. When asked if I support public radio, I responded affirmatively. Told - somewhat snottily - that I couldn't be found on WABE's membership lists, I replied - with equal snottiness - that I supported the "real public radio station" in Atlanta.
q
What do they need to have fundraisers for? They run advertisements. A few days ago, my local affiliate even played an ad for Budweiser.
The ROT is ALWAYS worse at the TOP
Namaste
But I could be wrong !
If you think this is an isolated aberration by a non-federal agency, you've been watching too much American Idol(Idyll?)!
Any country that brings home a battle-hardened combat regiment to patrol its streets....
and they call it america...
Unless Bush and Cheney declare martial law and shut down the press, we're going to see hundreds and possibly thousands of articles such as this one over the next several years as similar atrocities committed in the name of "national security" continue to come to light.
Anytime legislation grants powers to any level of officialdom, it tells cynical officeholders what they CAN do, not what they should do.
As has been stated millions of times, power corrupts to whatever level power is bestowed.
q