FBI improperly spied on peaceful rallies, ACLU says

Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, December 8, 2005

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado said it will release documents today that show FBI agents improperly spied on peaceful protesters in Colorado Springs in the name of combating terrorism.

"These documents are further confirmation of our contention that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is wasting resources and threatening First Amendment rights by equating nonviolent protest with what it calls domestic terrorism," said Mark Silverstein, ACLU legal director in Colorado.

FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso said the FBI only investigates or watches people when it has credible information that a crime may be committed, will be committed or has been committed.

The newly released documents, to be posted on the ACLU's Web site at www.aclu-co.org, were obtained by the organization through the federal Freedom of Information Act.

They discuss FBI activities involving two protests. One was in June 2002 at the Broadmoor hotel, where the North American Wholesale Lumber Association held a three-day convention. The other was in February 2003 at a Colorado Springs park and Peterson Air Force Base.

An FBI agent sent a memo to the agency's "counterterrorism" branch in early June 2002, asking that a case be opened to investigate possible protests during the lumber convention as well as other activities preceding it.

"Investigation has revealed that a 'training camp' will take place in the Pikes Peak National Forest from 6/7-9/2002," the agent wrote. "The purpose of the training is to 'learn nonviolent methods of forest defense,' offering workshops in climbing, blockades, organizing, security culture, street theater and banner making."

Said Silverstein: "Nonviolent training has nothing to do with terrorism."

The FBI agent's memo continued: "Internet traffic indicates scheduled protest activity beginning on Monday, June 10, 2002, at the City Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and continuing throughout the NAWLA meeting."

In another memo after the NAWLA meeting, an FBI agent wrote that 30 to 40 individuals participated in protests at the hotel at any one time and that three people were arrested for trespassing after they entered the Broadmoor bell tower to hang a banner from it.

That memo also said: "A copy of the State of Colorado Driver Record searches are attached."

That's not attached to the recent documents obtained by the ACLU, but the organization had obtained it earlier through separate procedures.

Silverstein said it's a three-page list of license plate numbers on cars parked near the protest, with identities of the cars' owners.

He said law enforcement officers writing down license plate numbers easily could include those of people not involved in the protest.

The license plates and names of protesters who weren't arrested or even suspected of any crime could be included in such a list, as could the names of people who weren't even involved in the protest but merely parked nearby, Silverstein said.

"Their names and vehicle registration information are now included in this Joint Terrorism Task Force file," he said.

He said a Colorado Springs police officer sent the list to the FBI after the protest, with a note indicating an FBI agent had asked for it.

Kelso said the FBI agent didn't ask for the entire list, but only for certain numbers and names involved in an ongoing investigation. She declined to elaborate.

The second protest mentioned in the documents was an anti-war demonstration in Palmer Park in Colorado Springs on Feb. 15, 2003.

Days before that, an FBI agent wrote a memo requesting "a preliminary inquiry" into protest plans of three organizations: the Revolutionary Anti-War Response, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice, and Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace.

"Web sites and hyperlinks associated with the 'Mile High Resistance' an Anti-Global Expansion, Environmentalist radical movement located in Denver and Boulder, Colorado, is advertising for an antiwar demonstration," the agent wrote.

"They are hyping the demonstration as the 'biggest peace rally in the history of Colorado' and are representing the size of the rally to be 2,000 demonstrators," the agent wrote. "The organizations are organizing car pools and hiring buses to transport the demonstrators to Colorado Springs."

"The two groups are advocating committing what they refer to (as) 'civil disobedience,' possibly by blocking the vehicular traffic at (two intersections," the agent wrote.

Kelso said blocking intersections is a type of crime, or potential crime, to which the FBI should devote attention because the agency is supposed to protect the rights of Americans. The blocking of intersections by protest groups can infringe on the rights of others, she said.

Thousands of demonstrators showed up at two protests, one at the park and one at nearby Peterson Air Force Base. Police used tear gas to chase away dozens of people who blocked nearby intersections. Thirty-four people were arrested for offenses such as trespassing and failure to disperse.

The protests were part of demonstrations staged nationwide that day to protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"We want the American people to know that the only time we will open up an investigation is to protect our citizens from the credible information that we have gathered, either through intelligence or through an ongoing investigation, that a crime may be, will be or has been committed," she said.

Kelso expressed cordiality toward the ACLU.

"The ACLU is doing their due diligence, and they have a job to do," she said.