June 8, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org
HELENA, MT – The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana
today filed a Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of eight Montana
grassroots organizations that fear they may have been monitored because
they have questioned federal policies including the war in Iraq.
“These Montana organizations have real concerns that their civil
liberties are being violated by sweeping and overbroad government eavesdropping
on their legitimate political activities,” said ACLU of Montana Executive
Director Scott Crichton. “We want to help them determine whether their meetings
have been monitored and their members targeted for surveillance by one of
several agencies of the government.”
The request was filed
simultaneously with the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland
Security, and the Department of Defense seeking records collected by the
surveillance and monitoring of legitimate grassroots organizations exercising
their constitutional rights to meet, associate, and organize.
The
groups, including the Montana ACLU, are the Helena Peace Seekers; the Billings
Peace Seekers; the Butte-based TAPS (Taking Action for Peaceful Solutions); the
Helena-based “Just Don’t Go”; the Missoula-based University of Montana Students
for Peace and Justice and the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center; and the
Hamilton-based environmental group Friends of the Bitterroot.
“NSA
spying programs tracking personal phone and Internet communications are deeply
troubling, but they are only the tip of the iceberg,” Crichton said. “We are
inquiring of multiple agencies because we know, for example, that the Pentagon’s
Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) has been keeping tabs on organizations
speaking against the pre-emptive war in Iraq, with complete disregard for human
rights and the rule of law.”
The ACLU has filed similar Freedom of
Information Act requests in 20 states on behalf of more than 150 organizations
and individuals. In response to these requests, the government has released
documents that reveal monitoring and infiltration by the FBI and local law
enforcement, targeting political, environmental and anti-war groups. Last
month, for instance, ACLU of Georgia released new evidence that the FBI is using
counterterrorism resources to spy on peaceful faith- and conscience-based
advocacy groups including School of the Americas Watch and its multinational
faith-based network.
For details on the organizations
requesting their files, and to see the complete text of the actual FOIA request
online, go to
www.aclumontana.org. For
more information on "spyfiles" revelations around the country, go to
www.aclu.org/spyfiles
