Although the FBI has been forthcoming about their involvement in domestic spying regarding some of the Occupy activities of Constitutionally protected protests the ACLU has received a disturbing response regarding Occupiers in Northern California. I immediately thought of Occupy Oakland when I saw this:
"in the interest of national defense or foreign policy."
Why you might ask? Because the FBI has some serious issues with people that live in Oakland apparently. Anyone remember this attempt to break out of ghettoization?
Perhaps the FBI is to afraid to let on the extent of resources they waste there as opposed using those resources to monitor militia training camps that shoot at the picture of our President. Perhaps thy consider Northern California the hippie vortex- the source of peace, love, and tolerance- three things authoritarians hate thus must be prevented from spreading. Sadly that may have worked before the internet now we see them with their pants down as they will either continue to stonewall or bluster some lame excuse about the special powers of Northern California protesters. There are many other reasons for their claim.
Like Romney's returns hiding the truth can be just as damaging because it raises suspicions that all is not right.
But more troubling than what the FBI has revealed is what it's refused to reveal. We asked for FBI records about Occupy protests in Northern California, where several of the most high profile demonstrations have taken place, as well as intelligence bulletins, training materials, or justifications for investigating the Occupy movement anywhere in the country. The agency claims it only has a grand total of 37 pages on all of these topics, and is refusing to hand over more than half of those documents. One of the justifications for withholding the information, is that it supposed must be kept secret "in the interest of national defense or foreign policy."
We're at a loss to understand how information about the Occupy movement could implicate national security, and if it does, how the FBI can claim that it has only 37 pages of documents. We intend to push for additional information from the FBI on these issues. Stay tuned.
What commonalities are present in this exclusion of one specific region? Is it the large number of outright obvious agent provocateurs causing mayhem?