At Pro-Publica, Marian Wang writes about the 192-page report of the Department of Justice's Inspector General, A Review of the FBI's Investigations of Certain Domestic Advocacy Groups. Such reports are a product of the U.S. Attorney General's guidelines for investigations. These guidelines were first issued in 1976 as a consequence of the investigation by United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, commonly known as the Church Committee because it was chaired by Frank Church, the last Democrat to serve as a Senator from Idaho:
The FBI in recent years opened investigations into some U.S. activists with little basis, unjustifiably extended the duration of the probes, improperly retained information about activist groups in its files, and classified its investigations of “nonviolent civil disobedience” as investigations into “acts of terrorism,” according to a report released today [pdf] by the Justice Department’s Inspector General.
The FBI activities reviewed by the Justice Department took place from 2001 to 2006, and involved groups including the Thomas Merton Center (a Pittsburgh social justice center), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Greenpeace, The Catholic Worker (communities of religious pacifists) and a Quaker peace activist.
The report by the Justice Department watchdog didn’t find that the FBI targeted these groups on the basis of their free speech activities — which would be a serious violation of FBI guidelines — but did fault the agency for other reasons, most notably a “factually weak” basis for opening investigations.
“FBI agents and supervisors sometimes provided the [Office of the Inspector General] with speculative, after-the-fact rationalizations for their prior decisions to open investigations that we did not find persuasive,” the report said. |
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2004:
This is how Republicans play the game:
Campaign mail with a return address of the Republican National Committee warns West Virginia voters that the Bible will be prohibited and men will marry men if liberals win in November.
The literature shows a Bible with the word "BANNED" across it and a photo of a man, on his knees, placing a ring on the hand of another man with the word "ALLOWED." The mailing tells West Virginians to "vote Republican to protect our families" and defeat the "liberal agenda."
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Looking for a good diary to read? Try Xenophobia Goes Green - Turning Immigrants into "Carbonbaggers" by citisven.