The Washington Post has an article today that comes as no surprise to me, but should not be completely overlooked in the election cycle. http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names into state and federal terrorist watch lists for opposing the death penalty and the Iraq war. Being on the "No-Fly List," I have a bee in my bonnet over the use of terrorist watch list as a method to punish dissenters. The former police superintendent said
I don't believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government.
He needs to go back to Civics 101. That is precisely what the First Amendment is for. It guarantees basic freedoms of speech and assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
Saturday, the Maryland State Police Department sent letters of notification to the activists, inviting them to review their files before they are purged from the databases. Here's a copy of the letter for your reading pleasure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/... It makes no apologies, but concedes that the state police have
no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime
by those listed.
I applaud Maryland for at least admitting their mistake, which the Department of Homeland Security refuses to do. In fact, DHS refuses to confirm or deny that you are on a Terrorist Watch List.
The Maryland sruveillance took place over 14 months in 2005 and 2006. Undercover troopers used aliases to infiltrate organizational meetings, rallies and group e-mail lists. Former state police superintendent Thomas E. Hutchins, defended the program as a weapon against potential violence and called the activists "fringe people." He also said the program was not "spying," testifying that
I doubt anyone who has used that term has ever met a spy.
Rather, the Maryland police were just monitoring "open public meetings" and merely sought a "situational awareness" of the potential for disruption.