FBI documents FOIAd by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) revealed that the FBI coordinated the violent crackdown on Occupy in partnership with the big banks and Federal Reserve offices through a secretive FBI - corporate collaboration called the Domestic Security Alliance. Occupy was monitored, infiltrated and targeted by the FBI as a domestic terrorist organization according to the documents, with close coordination between the big banks, local police and the FBI. The heavily redacted documents reveal the existence of a corporate-federal police state.
Update - Clarification:
Plans were made to assassinate Occupy leaders by sniper fire, but the documents don't make it clear who was involved with the plans. The FBI did not inform the targets of the assassination plans. It is not clear whether an organization or individual was involved. The document's source was Texas and it discussed activities in Texas.
I couldn't sleep, checked out the news and read this chilling article by Naomi Wolf at the Guardian. I have just started to review the documents to verify the extraordinary claims made by Naomi Wolf. The documents are so heavily redacted that they are hard to follow, but it's clear from the image above that she didn't make up the claim about plans to assassinate Occupy leaders.
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, in a groundbreaking scoop that should once more shame major US media outlets (why are nonprofits now some of the only entities in America left breaking major civil liberties news?), filed this request. The document – reproduced here in an easily searchable format – shows a terrifying network of coordinated DHS, FBI, police, regional fusion center, and private-sector activity so completely merged into one another that the monstrous whole is, in fact, one entity: in some cases, bearing a single name, the Domestic Security Alliance Council. And it reveals this merged entity to have one centrally planned, locally executed mission. The documents, in short, show the cops and DHS working for and with banks to target, arrest, and politically disable peaceful American citizens.
The documents, released after long delay in the week between Christmas and New Year, show a nationwide meta-plot unfolding in city after city in an Orwellian world: six American universities are sites where campus police funneled information about students involved with OWS to the FBI, with the administrations' knowledge (p51); banks sat down with FBI officials to pool information about OWS protesters harvested by private security; plans to crush Occupy events, planned for a month down the road, were made by the FBI – and offered to the representatives of the same organizations that the protests would target; and even threats of the assassination of OWS leaders by sniper fire – by whom? Where? – now remain redacted and undisclosed to those American citizens in danger, contrary to standard FBI practice to inform the person concerned when there is a threat against a political leader (p61).
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) has done a stunning job of revealing the metastasizing of the police state in America in the name of Homeland Security.
“This production, which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a window into the nationwide scope of the FBI’s surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy movement,” stated Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). “These documents show that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity. These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America.”
“The documents are heavily redacted, and it is clear from the production that the FBI is withholding far more material. We are filing an appeal challenging this response and demanding full disclosure to the public of the records of this operation,” stated Heather Benno, staff attorney with the PCJF.
As early as August 19, 2011, the FBI in New York was meeting with the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the Occupy Wall Street protests that wouldn’t start for another month. By September, prior to the start of the OWS, the FBI was notifying businesses that they might be the focus of an OWS protest.
The integration of corporate America with the Department of Homeland Security is a chilling development that threatens Americans' basic rights, especially their First and Fourth Amendment rights. Peaceful protests against Wall Street crime and corruption are being handled by the DHS as domestic terrorism. Moreover, military intelligence units are now being used to monitor domestic activities. The corporations that brought America's economy to its knees and caused average Americans to lose most of their wealth are collaborating with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. military intelligence to stifle protest. Local police were militarized to violently crack down on peaceful protesters to defend corporate interests.
• Documents released show coordination between the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and corporate America. They include a report by the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), described by the federal government as “a strategic partnership between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector,” discussing the OWS protests at the West Coast ports to “raise awareness concerning this type of criminal activity.” The DSAC report shows the nature of secret collaboration between American intelligence agencies and their corporate clients - the document contains a “handling notice” that the information is “meant for use primarily within the corporate security community. Such messages shall not be released in either written or oral form to the media, the general public or other personnel…” (The DSAC document was also obtained by the Northern California ACLU which has sought local FBI surveillance files.)
• Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) reported to the DSAC on the relationship between OWS and organized labor for the port actions. The NCIS describes itself as “an elite worldwide federal law enforcement organization” whose “mission is to investigate and defeat criminal, terrorist, and foreign intelligence threats to the United States Navy and Marine Corps ashore, afloat and in cyberspace.” The NCIS also assists with the transport of Guantanamo prisoners.
• DSAC issued several tips to its corporate clients on “civil unrest” which it defines as ranging from “small, organized rallies to large-scale demonstrations and rioting.” It advised to dress conservatively, avoid political discussions and “avoid all large gatherings related to civil issues. Even seemingly peaceful rallies can spur violent activity or be met with resistance by security forces. Bystanders may be arrested or harmed by security forces using water cannons, tear gas or other measures to control crowds.”
Bob Swern posted on this topic, too, while I was writing this post.