Sam Feldman, vice president of Veterans for Peace Chapter 32 of Southeast Florida, walks among the thousands of tombstones placed along Ocean Drive on South Beach earlier this month in honor of deceased veterans. Photos by Mitchell Zachs/MagicalPhotos.com

The ACLU Lawsuit

The organization that has been most alarmed about what it perceives as unchecked government surveillance of dissenters and anti-war protesters is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). After receiving information about the monitoring and in order to uncover the scope and nature of the government’s monitoring activities of presumably innocent people – locally and nationally – the ACLU of Florida filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Feb. 1 of this year. However, it took a national lawsuit (filed simultaneously on June 14 by 12 ACLU branches) for the federal government to eventually get back to the ACLU and release its first documents.

“Subsequent to the lawsuit, a lot of the documents started rolling in, but we’re still waiting for more,” says Brandon Hensler, communications director for the ACLU of Florida.

The most salient of these documents are the originally confidential TALON (Threat and Local Observation Notices) reports, which are basically military anti-terrorism databases that the Pentagon gathers and shares with other government agencies. Each of these documents states that the information is provided “only to alert commanders and staff to potential terrorist activity or apprise them of other force protection issues.” However, all the subjects in the TALONs are either nonviolent protesters or dissenting groups.

For instance, one April 12, 2005 TALON report indicates a demonstration by the Broward Anti-War Coalition (BAWC) at the Fort Lauderdale Air and Sea Show as “suspicious activities/incidents.” “BAWC plans to counter military recruitment and the ‘pro-war’ message with ‘guerilla theater’ and other forms of subversive propaganda…. This event attracts a large crowd and South Florida military recruiters say this event is one of their biggest recruiting arenas,” the report reads.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time the BAWC has been monitored by the feds since, as written in the same report, “Previous TALONs have reported various threats and actions by BAWC against recruiters in the South Florida area.”

Furthermore, another TALON report uncovered by the ACLU, dated Oct. 2, 2002, refers to a planned protest at the Kennedy Space Center organized by the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space: “Demonstrators will be escorted by NASA security to the designated (fenced in) demonstration area. NASA will ensure an adequate security presence is available to deal with unexpected events or acts of violence.”

Even though it keeps tabs on anti-war protesters, the TALON database was originally created to track groups or individuals with links to terrorism or threats to homeland security. Sources for such information vary. The NASA demonstration was simply discovered on a public Web site, while, curiously, the Miami-Dade Police Department provided information about the Fort Lauderdale Air and Sea Show protest, according to TALON documents. Other sources include agents from the Department of Homeland Security, local police departments and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

Importantly, as substantiated by the several documents exposed by the ACLU, this phenomenon is happening across the country. One document labeled such events as a “Stop the War NOW!” rally in Akron, Ohio on March 19, 2005, as “potential terrorist activity.” Citing a university anti-war rally in New Orleans in 2005, another TALON report claims that “Veterans for Peace should be viewed as a possible threat to Army and DoD [Department of Defense] personnel.”

Back in October, Maj. Patrick Ryder, spokesman for the office of the assistant secretary of defense, admitted that the BAWC surveillance was a “mistake” and that reports irrelevant to terrorism have been removed from the database. He told the Miami Herald that, following the NBC News report on the TALON database in 2005, “We put oversight steps into place that will prevent these kind of mistakes from happening again…. Personnel received immediate refresher training concerning the laws, policies and procedures that govern collection.”

Still, the ACLU and local activists, along with anti-war groups throughout the nation, are expressing much consternation over this matter, especially since there may be many more documents that haven’t been released.

“It is appalling that the Pentagon would label peace activists – including those of us who put our lives at risk defending this country – as potential threats,” Michael T. McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace, writes in an ACLU press release. “The federal government should not be wasting valuable resources gathering files on peaceful protesters who disagree with the Bush administration’s policies.”

“The Pentagon has gone too far in collecting information on Americans who pose no real threat to national security,” adds the ACLU’s Ben Wizner. “It is an abuse of power and an abuse of trust for the military to play any role in monitoring critics of administration policies.”

The ACLU’s Fight

Currently, the ACLU is calling on Congress to investigate the nationwide monitoring of political and religious groups by the Department of Defense, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Moreover, the ACLU claims Congress has also been mum on the hundreds of FBI documents previously obtained by the organization that show evidence of Joint Terrorism Task Forces monitoring peace activists, religious groups, environmental groups and animal rights activists.

At the ACLU of Florida headquarters – in a building sequestered from Biscayne Boulevard traffic by the streetscape construction – several civil rights posters adorn the walls. One is particularly fitting here, stating, “The Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech. Otherwise, it might all have been a dream.” Naturally, the text is accompanied by a picture of Martin Luther King waving to a crowd.

Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, is a sharp, engaging character with a heavy Bronx inflection. His office has a quaint appeal, with its antique wooden furniture and images of Giuseppe Verdi and Pavarotti (Simon is an opera fan). The 62-year-old is a veteran of the ACLU, having previously worked as the director of the Michigan branch for 23 years. In 1997, he was recruited to Florida and has been here ever since. One of his most pressing concerns now is that we may be turning into a surveillance society, all paid for by federal money.

“It’s hard to measure the extent of this because most of it is done in secret,” he says. “And much that has been discovered has been done inadvertently. All of what we know comes from using the Freedom of Information Act and the Florida public records statutes, and seeing things the police intended to redact [black out]. Based on what we’ve discovered so far, it’s rational to understand that this is only the tip of the iceberg – the National Security Agency’s illegal spying, the FBI surveillance of anti-war protestors and the TALON database are only the beginning.”

Simon worries that the country is regressing to a Nixonian era where government scrutiny of Vietnam anti-war protestors was common.

“Bear in mind,” he continues, “that these illegal activities of surveillance happen repeatedly whenever there is a serious challenge to government policy. So yes, it’s been ramped up as the country has been divided over the war…. Law enforcement agencies will blur the line between criminal activity and protected free speech and protest. We’re repeating the same pattern.”

One of the ACLU’s roles, Simon insists, is to defend that line which clearly separates real crime and peaceful dissent. He emphasizes that the government should not be collecting information or infiltrating groups simply because they criticize certain policies.

“The Bush administration has essentially recreated all the worst features of the Nixon administration, unleashing surveillance of political activists at a time where dissent equals disloyalty,” says Simon.

The ACLU is presently trying to get police departments all over the United States to issue guidelines that prohibit infiltration and surveillance when there is no evidence that criminal activity is afoot. One success that can be attributed to the ACLU of Florida is in Brevard County, which altered its surveillance program of videotaping protest activities, including a group that held an anti-Bush demonstration in front of Melbourne City Hall in 2005. The ACLU and Brevard County Sheriff Jack Parker negotiated and established new guidelines.

‘It Is Part of Our Duty’

Government officials have a different perspective on the whole matter. When initially contacted about the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, irritably told the SunPost, “Listen, there’s an ongoing lawsuit, so we will be making our case in court, and not in the press.

“The public should be comforted to know that the government maintains awareness of large public gatherings; it is part of our duty,” he continued. “Terrorists have expressed the will to strike at the heart of the homeland and kill as many people as they can. But what you need to understand is that when members of the public are put in those reports, that does not constitute surveillance. That’s not the same as terrorist surveillance. What we are talking about here is a prudent public measure to maintain general awareness of big gatherings, such as football games, parades, protests or speeches.

“There are multiple reports that law enforcement will use to describe what occurs – there are these reports at all levels of governments.”

Knocke explained that the department works with law enforcement agencies around the country to “strengthen the security of the homeland, whether it relates to local criminal activity or potential terrorist activity.”

Underlining his point, Knocke added, “The government has a responsibility to maintain awareness at any time. That’s different than the threat monitoring that we do on a constant basis.… Don’t forget to look at the broader context here: This is about public safety and maintaining a general awareness, irrespective of the group or what they’re gathering for – it’s a responsibility we have as mandated by Congress.”

As mentioned previously, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) agencies have been involved in collecting information about anti-war protesters and general dissenters. Thus, such involvement does seem dubious when the JTTF’s mission statement proclaims “to utilize the collective resources of the participating federal, state and local agencies for the prevention, preemption, deterrence and investigation of terrorism and activities related to terrorism, both actual and potential, occurring in or affecting the South Florida region carried out by terrorist groups and/or individuals, as well as apprehending individuals committing such violations.”

Judy Orihuela, spokesperson for the Miami FBI branch, denies that the FBI regularly contacts local law enforcement agencies to gather information about large public gatherings, i.e. anti-war protests or political speeches.

“We would only contact local law enforcement if we received information that criminal activity was going to take place at the gathering,” she says.

Roy Rutland, spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department, wouldn’t comment specifically on how closely the MDPD communicates with the federal government to monitor such political protests, except to say, “We do communicate with the federal government, and information is exchanged between our homeland security and theirs and we have an effective communication route between the two.”

Regarding the fact that the MDPD was cited on the TALON document as a source for the Broward Anti-War Coalition protest, Rutland says, “I’m not aware of the information forwarded to Broward, but when it comes to our jurisdiction, any time we may have information that we feel may have an impact on a sister county or on the federal government, we will forward the information.… We embrace peaceful protesting, which is certainly protected under the Constitution and we will protect them ourselves. But if it becomes violent or escalates at any level, then we have a job to protect the public.”

Asked further about details on what criteria the department seeks to decide which events to monitor, Rutland would not comment, saying it would “compromise their intelligence.”

In a recent interview, Miami Police Chief John Timoney stressed that the local JTTF (of which he is co-chair) deals strictly with terrorism.

“And this whole idea, any kind of monitoring of any social groups, whatever their politics may be, is taboo as far as my department is concerned,” he said. “But I don’t control what other departments do.… I remember many law enforcement departments were sued in the 1970s for this type of monitoring. So they reached an agreement where certain protocols would be set up so that this kind of monitoring would not take place willy-nilly – a police department would have to first go to an independent board before it [could] pursue the monitoring.… When I was in the NYPD it was Handschu Committee, and I was on that board from 1995-1996.

“As for the FBI,” Timoney adds, “having them contact me to give them information about a certain protest or event, I don’t have to cooperate with them, absolutely not.”

However, as endorsed by both Timoney and Mayor Manny Diaz, the Miami City Commission recently passed a resolution allowing the Police Department to use $400,000 of homeland security money to purchase computers, peripherals, software and related services necessary to create a closed-circuit camera system to be placed primarily in areas where large events and public gatherings take place, such as Bayfront Park, the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, Biscayne Boulevard, Flagler Street, Brickell Avenue and eventually Coconut Grove.

The Chilling Effect

Notwithstanding whatever the government and law enforcement agencies intend to do with information they gather on anti-war groups and the like, one of the most disquieting consequences of such activities, the ACLU and activists contend, is the inevitable chilling effect, one that could potentially silence and instill fear in many Americans.

Rich Hersh, a spokesman for the Truth Project, a Florida group that educates kids about enlisting in the military, explains the possible ramifications: “First of all they’re paying attention to us and not to the real problem and criminals, and squandering tax dollars to follow people who are only exercising their First Amendment rights in public – these aren’t even clandestine events. Secondly, there is a more far-reaching chilling effect on people who might want to talk out against the war but who may not do so because of fear of being labeled unpatriotic. What this leads to is a less informed citizenry for our democracy and a bunch of fearful people who’ll do whatever they’re told.”

Hersh and his group were included in the TALON database for assembling at a Quaker meeting house in 2003 in Lake Worth, Fla. “Our government is rife with paranoia,” he says. “It’s the American people who need to be suspicious of the government, not the other way around – that’s the way the Founding Fathers put it.”

Further commenting on the goals of the Truth Project, he says, “We go into the schools and supplement the kids with information that the recruiters don’t give them. We help disabuse them of wrong notions, such as the $75,000 a year they supposedly get for college, when only 5 percent are eligible for that maximum amount. There are all sorts of conditions. That’s the part that the kids don’t hear and the recruiters don’t tell them — the downside. And I say this from the perspective of someone who’s had brothers and fathers and a sister-in-law who have been in the service. We are not anti-military, but we just think the kids ought to know the truth.”

The ACLU’s Howard Simon asserts that there are sundry reasons the government may be gathering information. “Sometimes it takes years to see the consequences,” he says. “I know people that have suffered sanctions simply because they were exercising their constitutional rights. A guy in Michigan who worked for the state was denied a promotion and it was discovered years later that it was because his brother had a history as a protestor.”

A particularly striking case that the ACLU has taken on involves freelance journalist David Lippman, who was traveling to Miami to cover the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) protests of 2003. As stated in the lawsuit, filed this year, “After spying upon and following this reporter from North Carolina to Miami because he was a ‘known protestor with history,’ FBI agents recruited local officers to use brute force to break into his vehicle and then, after damaging the vehicle and disturbing the personal possessions he kept within it, to haul the vehicle and his possessions away.”

“We are in the process of undertaking discovery and hope to drill down and uncover what was the basis for this kind of monitoring,” says Jeanne Baker, the attorney on the case. “You know, we thought that in this day and age, political surveillance went out with the Nixon era. David Lippman was a protestor back in the late ’60s, back in the days when we had former regimes where it was common for political activists to be tagged by the FBI and become the subject of dossiers.”

The ACLU and Simon are well aware that countering the government’s watchful eye will be a difficult, even frustrating endeavor. Yet Simon is not ready to give up.

“It’s not the first time this kind of stuff is happening in this country and I’m sure it won’t be the last,” he says. “Having been through this battle throughout the civil rights movement, through Vietnam and now with the Iraq war protests, maybe I’m the naïve one that thinks we can bring a halt to this kind of unconstitutional activity and government surveillance. But at least we can make it harder for them, expose it to the people and encourage a greater understanding about what’s going on.”

Comments? E-mail omar@miamisunpost.com.