Court-Ordered Documents Detail Pentagon Spying on U.S. Anti-War Groups

Interview with Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, conducted by Scott Harris

Over the last several years, the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups have gathered evidence confirming that the FBI has monitored the activities of U.S. civil liberties, anti-war and environmental organizations. A lawsuit brought by these groups forced the Justice Department to reveal more than 3,500 pages of documents detailing the surveillance undertaken against groups and individuals critical of the Bush administration.

Under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the ACLU has recently obtained additional documents which show that government counter-terrorism agencies were used to spy on anti-war groups as they engaged in meetings, protests and counter-military recruitment activity. The Pentagon's Threat and Local Observation Notice, or TALON program spied on groups such as Veterans for Peace, which has engaged in lawful political activity at military recruitment stations and on college campuses. Nevertheless, government undercover agents surveilled or infiltrated these organizations -- while recognizing their peaceful conduct -- but noting that their activity could in the future become a "threat" to U.S. military personnel.

Thus far the Republican-controlled Congress has refused to investigate why government agencies are spying on Americans exercising their free speech rights and where this information has been disseminated. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, who discusses the significance of this new batch of documents and her group's call for the incoming Congress to conduct an aggressive investigation into the Bush administration's spying on domestic political groups.

Contact the ACLU by calling (212) 549-2500. Visit the group's website atwww.aclu.org to view the government's surveillance documents.

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