4um: NBC News Reports Pentagon's Secret Database of Antiwar Protesters

Title: NBC News Reports Pentagon's Secret Database of Antiwar Protesters
Source: Daily Kos
URL Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/22/204927/71
Published: Nov 22, 2006
Author: ysbee
Post Date: 2006-11-22 21:32:06 by Zipporah
Keywords: None
Views: 111
Comments: 8

by ysbee

Wed Nov 22, 2006 at 06:04:28 PM PST

Since last year Lisa Myers, NBC's Senior investigative correspondent, keeps her eyes on this issue. And tonight, in Brian Williams' Nightly News, she spots a light on the existence of such database again.

This time she reveals the Pentagon's knowledge about more details on who was targeted and which government agencies may monitor Americans.

Pentagon admitted the mistake before that they went too far, but they also insists the problem has been fixed.
Now Senator Leahy wants a clear answer from Pentagon, as well as the Congress.

MSNBC: Dems want to see citizen-monitoring database
Video footage: Are war protesters being targeted?

Dems Want To See Citizen-monitoring Database
Pentagon has been keeping tabs on groups perceived as security threat

By Lisa Myers / Senior investigative correspondent, NBC News
Updated: 15 minutes ago

A year ago, an NBC News investigation revealed the existence of a secret Pentagon database that included information on antiwar protests and American peace activists. Now, newly disclosed documents reveal new details on who was targeted and which other government agencies may have helped monitor Americans.

At universities across the country, an antiwar group called Veterans for Peace has staged protests by setting up crosses for soldiers killed in Iraq. In New Mexico last year, the local paper described the event as a display of honor.

But a previously secret Pentagon intelligence report labeled that same event a "threat to military installations." The report lists the group's upcoming events and warns that while it's a "peaceful organization," there is potential that "future protest could become violent."

"No, we are not a threat to military installations," says Michael McPhearson, the leader of Veterans for Peace and a former Army captain whose son recently returned from Iraq. "We are not a threat to military installations. We're not trying to blow up anything or anything of that nature.

::::::::::::::

Pentagon documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union provide new details on how even Quakers and churches came to be labeled "threats" worthy of the attention of the military.

::::::::::::::

The documents also suggest for the first time that agents of the Department of Homeland Security played a role in monitoring antiwar activities. A DHS spokesman says agents merely disseminated public information about public events that could impact federal buildings.

The Pentagon admits it made a mistake in collecting information on 186 antiwar protests but claims the problem has been fixed.

That isn’t good enough for Senate Democrats.
"I fully intend to ask what's in those databanks, because many of them go way beyond any legitimate needs for our security," says Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy.
Congress wants to know not just what data was collected, but why and how it was to be used.

What else happened today to get something else off the front page? How about the mandatory breathalizers that will be put into people's cars starting in a couple years? How about the abridgement to your 4th Amendment rights that comes in under guise of public safety?

If there was a list of so called war protestors, I think it would have surfaced oh, I don't know... WHEN THE FUCKING WAR STARTED PERHAPS???

All men die. Not all men truly live. Live for something, rather than die for nothing.

Thanks. There are some days though when I just can't find words foul enough to describe exactly the way I feel, or think.

It all so sucks.. In Ohio they recently passed anti-smoking legislation.. this so pisses me off.. its outrageous.. and at work there are people there that just think this is wonderful? Are they like idiots or what?? It has nothing to do with health or anything else close it has to do with personal freedom..

I do recall that the Quakers were having problems with being watched.. oh those dangerous Quakers! good gawd..

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God" - Matthew 5.

"Why do the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing....I have set my king on my holy Mt. Zion....Kiss the Son while His wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him" - Psalm 2.

"Anything not planted by my Father shall be plucked up by the roots." - Matthew 15:13.

I guess the peacemakers are all in a great big database ~~in the sky~~ in D.C. now.

"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer."
---Henry Kissinger, New York Times, October 28, 1973