Via Thinkprogress.
An internal Department of Homeland Security report obtained by Rolling Stone shows the agency was keeping its eyes on Occupy Wall Street, concerned about potential disruptions to transportation networks and infrastructure. The five-page memo from October, titled, “SPECIAL COVERAGE: Occupy Wall Street,” acknowledged the peaceful nature of the movement and made mostly anodyne observations from publicly available sources, but did warn of the potential for violence.
“Large scale demonstrations also carry the potential for violence, presenting a significant challenge for law enforcement,” the report states. The “continued expansion” of the protests would make it harder for police and “movement organizers to control protesters,” which could potentially put “critical infrastructure” in danger, it concluded. Thus, the report called for heightened “continuous situational awareness” of the movement as it expanded. Rolling Stone’s Michael Hastings argues this a potentially dangerous step towards a possible “covert and illegal campaign of domestic surveillance.”
Not only did they
spy (ok, fine - covertly surveilled) in person, they
spied (read, hotlisted, RSS fed, followed, LIKED!, data-mined, profiled) electronically to track the movement - including sites like this one.
Even though DHS previously claimed they had nothing to do with the various a OWS Crackdowns across the country. Uh huh. Right. I guess a ton of people owe Naomi Wolf a big apology.
More on this from Raw Story:
In addition to monitoring Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Meetup and Occupy live video feeds, the feds also relied on the left-leaning activist website Daily Kos for tracking protest locations.
Well, I for one am glad to know the Feds think we're special enough to pay attention too.
Exactly why is the critical question.
“The growing support for the OWS movement has expanded the protests’ impact and increased the potential for violence,” the report notes in its final paragraph. “While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure (CI). The continued expansion of these protests also places an increasingly heavy burden on law enforcement and movement organizers to control protesters.
Oh, poor law enforcement with all those fat overtime checks are going to have such a hard time
controlling peaceful protestors? Uh huh.
Here's Hasting on Current's The Young Turks discussing his report.
I think that there's isn't anything necessarily wrong with DHS keeping track of this, particularly because Anonymous is involved and they have committed crimes. It's fair to argue they've done nothing violent, but they haven't been anything close to law abiding.
There will be, by the very nature of the process of Civil Disobedience, a natural conflict with Law Enforcement by entities that use that tactic. There is a legitimate question of how absolute and sweeping First Amendment Rights to protest extend and how much legal authority there is to quell and evict protestors.
That being said, I think Hastings is absolutely right to highlight this because just a few years ago when there was - not just a 5 page memo - but a full detailed report on Rise of Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists - with Wing-nuts blew their stack at the thought of being targeted in such a way.
Even though they weren't targeting the Tea Party - they were targeting groups like the Hutaree Militia, people like James Van Brunn (who killed a guard at the Holocaust Museum) and Gregory Guisti (who threaten Nancy Pelosi's Life) and Byron Williams who got into a shoot-out with police on his way to stage a violent attack on the ACLU and Tides Foundation because Glenn Beck said they deserved It.
I'm glad they're paying attention to things like that. It's saved lives. Sunlight Disinfects All Corruption. If they're really paying attention to Occupy, they should have learned a few things - like the fact that they are clearly NON-VIOLENT - by now. Watching in and of itself isn't a bad thing, that's why we write, that's why people livestream - to be seen and heard.
Everyone should be invited to watch and learn, including DHS.
What I would prefer though, as they're watching, is that when they see violence against the protestors that they pay attention to that too. I would like to know if they are investigating who in the Oakland Police Force fired the gas canister at Scott Olsen? I'd like to know if their investigating Sargent Spray-It-All in Davis and on the Officers on the NYPD for excessive use of force?
If you're reading us here on DKOS, then you also know we're watching you too. Via Livestream. Via iPhone. Via Twitter. We already know Homeland is involved in the Occupy Crackdowns, we saw your Vans at the eviction of OccupyLA. We know about the conference calls - and as John Kerry showed when Dailykos helped him Nearly Filibuster Justice Alito - you can expect that we will be Lobbying Congress Hard for answers when your Director(s) come up for confirmation.
You - DHS - have some hard questions to answer, and we have friends on the Hill who know just how to ask them. Count on it.
We expect to see some even handed treatment. Yes, pay attention to those who are potentially violent. Yes, pay attention to potential criminals-of course logic dictates that would include the illegal activities of Hacker gropus like "Anonymous". But also keep it all in perspective. It should be clear by now - that OWS aren't the people causing violent situations, the Police in some select cities - certainly not all - have been and continue to be.
Where's the memo on them?
Go ahead, watch us - just remember, we're watching back.
Vyan
11:04 AM PT: The Full DHS Memo as provided by Rolling Stone via their partnership with Wikileaks is Here Feel Free to see how our Federal Tax Dollars are being spent tracking peaceful uses of free speech.
At the end of the report is an email for feedback and comments which is: CIKR.productfeedback@hq.dhs.gov be my guest and indulge them with a piece of your mind if you're so inclined.