Researching the Right for Progressive Changemakers
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Torrance, California A string of robberies in southern California in 2005 by two people with an interest in violent jihad has taken on mythic importance in the drive to develop fusion centers; it has become a creation story with ideological force. Counterterrorism professionals retell the tale of the Torrance gas station terrorism investigation, and media outlets uncritically report it as “the most celebrated example” of the success of a fusion center. Read more... PRA’s recent investigation of the domestic security infrastructure yielded an article in the New Times concerning the FBI’s intimidation of Imam Foad Farahi to spy on his community and mosque for the federal government. This article describes how the FBI collaborated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pressure Imam Farahi to work as an informant and subsequently punished him for refusing to report on innocent people. Read the article, by Trevor Aaronson. Intelligence Fusion Centers In a 2007 article for the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Colonel Bart Johnson explained how state-level intelligence “fusion centers” collect data from a range of sources and connect “seemingly unrelated” incidents that could be precursors of terrorist activity. At the time, Colonel Johnson led the New York State (NYS) Intelligence Center in Albany, where officers from a range of federal, state and local police agencies as well as civilian analysts function as a “nerve center” for all calls into a statewide terrorism tip line. He explains how in July 2004, his fusion center received an anonymous call warning of a college senior leading the campus Muslim Student Association, who, the caller claimed, had expressed hatred for America and was only in the country to teach Islam. Read more... From Movements to Mosques In February, 2009, members of the Islamic Center of Irvine learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had hired Craig Monteilh, a 46-year-old fitness instructor and convicted con man, to infiltrate their mosque and keep it under surveillance. Members had wondered about Monteilh for a while. Back in 2007, the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), alarmed by his talk of jihad and plans for a terrorist attack, reported him to Irvine police and secured a three-year restraining order against him. Read more... First Amendment Blues Miles Swanson was a legal observer at the 2003 protests in Miami against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas when he became victim of a "snatch squad," a new police tactic where officers drag protestors off, having singled them out based on their perceived political ideology. It is unconstitutional to target someone for arrest based on their political views, but snatch squads are only one of many new government tactics that are chilling Americans' free speech rights. These measures are rarely passed by Congress or a state legislature, but are devised and adopted informally through expanding networks of police agencies. Now lawyers are learning from past abuses to try to protect protestors attending the Republican and Democratic conventions next summer. Read more…
On Civil Liberties The current erosion of civil liberties in the United States began well before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001; and extends far beyond the draconian provisions of the Patriot Act. Looking back into this nation's history, we see deep trends in political repression; the tendency of government agencies to over-react in times of crisis; and its use of demonization, scapegoating and other ideological frameworks to mobilize public opinion in support of measures that undermine or erase basic Constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to a fair trial. Political Research Associates produces and archives materials that help those defending civil liberties understand this recent history as well as theories of political repression. Our collection includes extensive archived material on COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program), the FBI's postwar spying program on the black power, student, anti-war, socialist and other movements, and analysis of how the government and its allies use the rubric of "terrorism" as a scare tactic to justify its repressive techniques and policies. Concerns about repression can hamper effective organizing, For basic security precautions, Security for Activists offers useful advice. |
Misplaced Priorities in U.S. Counter-terror StrategyThe recent attempted bombing of NWA Flight 253 in Detroit underscores the fact that the main terrorist threat to U.S. persons is from foreign terrorists linked to Al Qaeda. Every official review of U.S. intelligence failures that led to the 9/11 attack concluded that bureaucratic cultures at the CIA and FBI impeded effective information sharing and analysis. Here again, U.S. intelligence agencies failed to share information regarding live tips and leads that should have triggered not only a secondary screening at Amsterdam’s airport, but more importantly, a full assessment of the threat posed by the 23-year old Umar Farouk Abduulmutallab. Sign up for Liberty-Beat RSS feed using your favorite RSS reader Related Pages
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