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Whoop, There It Is... 'Evidence Homeland Security Coordinated Occupy Crackdown' - CounterPunch
Evidence Homeland Security Coordinated Occupy CrackdownLawyers Guild Expects More Documents
by DAVE LINDORFF - CounterPunch
WEEKEND EDITION MARCH 23-25, 2012
<snip>
If you want to know where the real government of the United States is located, just check out one of the documents http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/dhs.html received by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund in response to their Freedom of Information Act request to the Dept. of Homeland Security relating to surveillance of the Occupy Movement. That document, from the Secret Service, dated September 17, 2011, the day the Occupy movement began on Wall Street, from the US Secret Service Intelligence Division, titled Prism Demonstrations Abstract, list the location as “Wall Street Bull” — a reference to the bronze statue of a bull on Wall Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange, and the “protectee” as “The United States Government.”
As the National Lawyers Guild comments dryly, “American taxpayers might find it odd to learn that the Secret Service was on duty to protect the Wall Street Bull in the name of protecting the U.S. Government. But there it is.”
The trove of 398 documents (many of them heavily censored) received on behalf of thePCJF, the NLG and filmmaker Michael Moore, consists primarily of materials from top Homeland Security Officials, which PCJF Executive Director Mara Verhayden Hilliard says is a deliberate effort by Homeland Security officials to deflect attention from the workings of the mid-level intelligence staff of the various agencies within DHS who do the spying, and the so-called Fusion Centers around the country — all wholly funded by DHS–which link federal agencies like the FBI with local and state police agencies.
“It’s all a game of hide-the-ball” says Verhayden Hilliard, who adds that the National Lawyers Guild is challenging the effort by insisting on getting the records from all levels, including the Fusion centers. Even so, she says that the documents obtained so far show the extraordinary attention that federal intelligence and police agencies from the Secret Service to the FBI to the Federal Protective Service and others devoted to the Occupy movement from its inception. “The documents we received were only from the highest officials in DHS,” she stresses, “which shows that the government was highly concerned about Occupy at the highest levels of government.”
The National Lawyers Guild explains that documents show that the DHS, in responding to its FOIA request, looked only at records of the Intelligence & Analysis division and the Federal Protective Service, where any intelligence documents relating to the Occupy Movement had already been “purged, restricted and/or rescinded,” and avoided, in responding to the documents request, looking for Occupy movement-related materials “where they are likely to be found, including in Fusion Centers and DHS sub-division such as the Operations Coordination & Planning sub-division which is responsible for DHS coordination with local and federal law enforcement partners.”
<snip>
More: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/23/evidence-homeland-security-coordinated-occupy-crackdown/print
To See The Documents: http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/dhs.html
55 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
stand on your head. 
Internal Documents Show the Department of Homeland Security Tried Pretty Hard Not to Monitor Occupy Wall Street
<snip>
"The Department of Homeland Security struggled to avoid monitoring or suppressing the Occupy Wall Street movement last year, despite being bombarded with requests from various federal agencies for intelligence on the protests, according to documents released via the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents show that officials in DHS's offices of Intelligence Analysis and Civil Rights and Civil Liberties were keenly aware of the legal and constitutional issues raised by federal agencies monitoring political protesters, and sought to tamp down the appetite for intelligence on the Occupy protesters from their colleagues in DHS and other federal agencies that rely on DHS bulletins and intelligence.
The records also show that the efforts weren't always successful—there are several instances of DHS gathering and distributing intelligence on Occupy protesters without much justification. DHS released 340 redacted pages in response to a Freedom of Information Request we filed for records concerning the Occupy movement; it characterized them as an "interim release," suggesting that more records will be forthcoming."
http://gawker.com/5895202/internal-documents-show-the-department-of-homeland-security-tried-pretty-hard-not-to-monitor-occupy-wall-street
<snip>
"The Department of Homeland Security struggled to avoid monitoring or suppressing the Occupy Wall Street movement last year, despite being bombarded with requests from various federal agencies for intelligence on the protests, according to documents released via the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents show that officials in DHS's offices of Intelligence Analysis and Civil Rights and Civil Liberties were keenly aware of the legal and constitutional issues raised by federal agencies monitoring political protesters, and sought to tamp down the appetite for intelligence on the Occupy protesters from their colleagues in DHS and other federal agencies that rely on DHS bulletins and intelligence.
The records also show that the efforts weren't always successful—there are several instances of DHS gathering and distributing intelligence on Occupy protesters without much justification. DHS released 340 redacted pages in response to a Freedom of Information Request we filed for records concerning the Occupy movement; it characterized them as an "interim release," suggesting that more records will be forthcoming."
http://gawker.com/5895202/internal-documents-show-the-department-of-homeland-security-tried-pretty-hard-not-to-monitor-occupy-wall-street
The DHS’s Game of Three Card Monte to Deflect Disclosure of Law Enforement Operations
These documents, many of which are redacted, show that the highest officials in the Department of Homeland Security were preoccupied with the Occupy movement and have gone out of their way to project the appearance of an absence of federal involvement in the monitoring of and crackdown on Occupy.
On the street it would be called “Three Card Monte,” a swindler’s game to hide the ball -- a game of misdirection. The House always wins.
The DHS, as revealed in the newly released documents, has engaged in what appears to be a effort to avoid looking for Occupy related materials where it is likely to be found, including in Fusion Centers and DHS sub-divisions such as the Operations Coordination & Planning sub-division which is responsible for DHS coordination with local and federal law enforcement partners.
These documents, many of which are redacted, show that the highest officials in the Department of Homeland Security were preoccupied with the Occupy movement and have gone out of their way to project the appearance of an absence of federal involvement in the monitoring of and crackdown on Occupy.
On the street it would be called “Three Card Monte,” a swindler’s game to hide the ball -- a game of misdirection. The House always wins.
The DHS, as revealed in the newly released documents, has engaged in what appears to be a effort to avoid looking for Occupy related materials where it is likely to be found, including in Fusion Centers and DHS sub-divisions such as the Operations Coordination & Planning sub-division which is responsible for DHS coordination with local and federal law enforcement partners.
Link: http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/dhs.html
Either that, or you may be in denial.
I believe the DHS was...
But it shows what you are afraid people might end up believing...
In poker... that called "a tell".
For me... I just want the transparency we were promised.
Another promise that was broken, BTW.
And who said the "conspiracy had to be nationwide???
Oakland Mayor Quan already said that they were on the phone with DHS.
So if they just helped out "certain cities" that would be Ok with you???
PERF - Police Executive Research Forum
Many of us have been wondering why the raids on Occupy camps across the country have had such a coordinated feel. If only the official response to real social ills could have been as timely and widespread as the crackdown on peaceful demonstrators expressing their freedom of speech, assembly, and the press covering their protest. An article at Examiner.com was understandably derided as being under-sourced for a charge as serious as a national DHS crackdown on non-violent protests. However, we have now received confirmation via Amy Goodman's interview on the 11/17 episode of Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/17/paramilitary_policing_of_occupy_wall_street with PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler that this private NGO coordinated high-level conference calls amongst 40 police chiefs, distinct from the mayoral "therapy session" referred to by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, in order to broadcast advice and documentation about cracking down on the Occupy social movement.
Link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/19/1038054/-Confirmed-Police-Executive-Research-Forum-PERF-coordinating-Occupy-raids
Also suspicious is an email exchange dated September 29, 2011, in which DHS officials are discussing a National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center alert, based apparently on monitoring of email, twitter and Facebook communications among Occupy organizers, of the coming Occupy actions. The exchange is about how to respond to inevitable media inquiries about the DHS’s role in monitoring and obstructing the Occupy movement. The whole discussion is redacted from the documents, though one participant is shown writing “Here it is. That answer works.”
The documents also, while repeatedly noting that “most” of the Occupy actions are “peaceful” and “first amendment protected,” go on to note that under the principle of “congruence,” the DHS could initiate surveillance if there were some report of a possible threat or illegal action. As Verhayden Hilliard observes, “The congruence concept, which they discuss in the documents, is the idea that if it would be improper to overtly collect intelligence or to surveil people engaged in free speech activities, as long as you can link it to some allegation of criminal activity, then you can do it. In short, it’s a pretext. So an informant, a provocateur or anyone, credible or not, supported or not, even anonymous, can give them “some reason” to suspect possible criminal activity. Then they can engage in intelligence gathering.”
From the analysis of the documents.
So monitoring Twitter and Facebook is A-OK, but e-mail would be out of bounds???
Please... explain further.
Who's got your back, America?
Can't wait for more documents to be revealed!!!
"You know that Prosense's word is as good a proof as is needed?"
...all the proof I need from people who spend all their time making shit up.
President Obama and His Key Advisors are a Gang of War Criminals
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1081
http://thiscantbehappening.net/node/913
Dave Lindorff is an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to Businessweek, The Nation, Extra! and Salon.com. He received two Project Censored awards in 2004 and 2011.[1]
Born in 1949, Lindorff lives just outside Philadelphia.
Born in 1949, Lindorff lives just outside Philadelphia.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Lindorff
exactly is your subject line, i never see it... weird, might wanna get a new browser
"where exactly is your subject line, i never see it... weird, might wanna get a new browser "
...did you find my post if you couldn't "see it"? I saw yours.
Maybe you should get a "new browser"
Despite all the...
Nevermind...
