- Dec 6, 2009
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Our tax money at work. Or just flushed down the toilet.
FBI Opened Terrorism Investigations Into Nonviolent Palestinian Solidarity Group, Documents Reveal
It is clear, however, that the FBI conducted at least two major investigations into ISM. In addition to the international terrorism investigation into the two St. Louis activists, the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office initiated a domestic security investigation into ISM as an organization.
The LA investigation into ISM also touched offices beyond those at the Washington meeting. During the investigation, agents in Chicago; Springfield, Illinois; Boston; Minneapolis; Atlanta; Richmond, Virginia; Cleveland; Houston; San Francisco; and elsewhere all followed leads, gathered evidence, and in at least on case conducted physical surveillance. In a number of instances, local police aided these efforts.
Nothing in the documents suggests any of these investigations ever resulted in criminal charges. Instead, the documents reveal sprawling investigations involving FBI field offices in multiple states and the national headquarters, as well as local law enforcement. FBI agents resorted not only to confidential informants and physical surveillance, but a scandal-prone unit formed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks accessed the phone records of at least one activist. In both investigations, the FBI relied heavily on biased right-wing publications making fantastical claims of questionable veracity.
It seems the FBI’s investigation resulted in little more than thousands of pages of documents that did little other than to make the FBI itself perhaps the greatest threat, by spying on First Amendment-protected speech.
FBI Opened Terrorism Investigations Into Nonviolent Palestinian Solidarity Group, Documents Reveal
It is clear, however, that the FBI conducted at least two major investigations into ISM. In addition to the international terrorism investigation into the two St. Louis activists, the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office initiated a domestic security investigation into ISM as an organization.
The LA investigation into ISM also touched offices beyond those at the Washington meeting. During the investigation, agents in Chicago; Springfield, Illinois; Boston; Minneapolis; Atlanta; Richmond, Virginia; Cleveland; Houston; San Francisco; and elsewhere all followed leads, gathered evidence, and in at least on case conducted physical surveillance. In a number of instances, local police aided these efforts.
Nothing in the documents suggests any of these investigations ever resulted in criminal charges. Instead, the documents reveal sprawling investigations involving FBI field offices in multiple states and the national headquarters, as well as local law enforcement. FBI agents resorted not only to confidential informants and physical surveillance, but a scandal-prone unit formed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks accessed the phone records of at least one activist. In both investigations, the FBI relied heavily on biased right-wing publications making fantastical claims of questionable veracity.
It seems the FBI’s investigation resulted in little more than thousands of pages of documents that did little other than to make the FBI itself perhaps the greatest threat, by spying on First Amendment-protected speech.
FBI Opened Terrorism Investigations Into Nonviolent Palestinian Solidarity Group
The FBI investigated the International Solidarity Movement for nothing more than First Amendment-protected protests against Israel’s occupation.
theintercept.com