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ACLU Launches Nationwide Effort to Uncover Details of Pentagon Domestic Spying Program
MIAMI -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida
today filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of itself,
seven other Florida organizations, and four local peace activists whose lawful
activities may have been monitored by the Pentagon. The move is part of a
national ACLU effort to reveal the extent and purpose of Pentagon
spying.
"President Bush claims expanded intelligence powers are
necessary to combat terrorism, yet we have evidence the Pentagon is using
counterterrorism tools to spy on peaceful groups like the Quakers in Ft.
Lauderdale," said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida.
"Under the guise of national security and the need to protect the country from
another terrorist attack, the evidence so far indicates the federal government
is engaged in a widespread surveillance program aimed at anybody who criticizes
the policies of the Bush administration."
The ACLU of Florida
filed its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on behalf of itself as well
as the Patriots for Peace, Melbourne Florida Counter Inaugural, the Global
Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, the Fort Lauderdale
Friends Meeting, the Haiti Solidarity Committee, the Broward Anti-War Coalition,
the Truth Project, and Florida residents Pete D. Ackerman, Jeffrey Allen Nall,
Bruce K. Gagnon, and Maria A. Telesca-Whipple. Complete descriptions of the
organizations and individuals appear in the FOIA request, available online at:
www.aclufl.org/issues/national_security/PentagonSpyingFOIA.pdf
The ACLU of Florida is seeking the disclosure of all documents maintained by the
Department of Defense on the individuals and groups, as well as information on
whether the records have been shared with other government
agencies.
The national ACLU filed a similar FOIA request on behalf
of the American Friends Service Committee, Veterans for Peace, United for Peace
and Justice and Greenpeace. Other ACLU state affiliates are seeking Pentagon
files on local groups in Georgia, Rhode Island, Maine, Pennsylvania and
California.
Some of the groups involved in today's action, such as
the Fort Lauderdale Friends Meeting, learned through news reports in December
that they are listed in the Pentagon's Threat and Local Observation Notice
(TALON) database. The TALON program was initiated by former Deputy Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz in 2003 to track groups and individuals with possible links to
terrorism, but the Pentagon has been collecting information on peaceful
activists and monitoring anti-war and anti-military recruiting protests
throughout the United States. Following public outcry over the domestic spying
program, current Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England issued a memorandum
on January 13 directing intelligence personnel to receive "refresher training on
the policies for collection, retention, dissemination and use of information
related to U.S. persons."
The ACLU has exposed and challenged
other expanded domestic spying programs as well. Documents requested by the ACLU
under previous FOIA requests have revealed that the FBI is using its Joint
Terrorism Task Forces to gather extensive information about peaceful
organizations such as Greenpeace and Food Not Bombs. Earlier this month, the
ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and attorneys
against the National Security Agency for illegally intercepting vast quantities
of the international telephone and Internet communications of Americans without
court approval.
For details and documents regarding the FOIA
requests filed today by the ACLU around the country, including a list of
clients, go to www.aclu.org/spyfiles