With the constitutionality of warrantless wiretapping of ordinary Americans debated in court and bills supporting it before Congress-Frist in the Senate and the recently green-lighted Wilson bill in the House of Representatives-the question gains added significance and reason for concern. If people and groups like this can be monitored, then we need to ask ‘where does it end?’ ” “The Pentagon is snooping on individuals and groups that have no history of organizing or even calling for violence against the government. The email that prompted DOD scrutiny announced a “Stop the War, Now” rally held to commemorate the second anniversary of the U.S. “If the government has avowed pacifists under surveillance, then no one is safe,” states Greg Coleridge, an AFSC community organizer based in Akron, Ohio, where a sponsored protest at a military recruitment station and at the Federal Building was earmarked as “suspicious.” According to the documents, the threat was later found to be “not credible.”

This disclosure of documents means that no one is safe from the arbitrary intrusive eye of government surveillance.” “Besides being a waste of time and taxpayer money, this essentially amounts to a ‘fishing expedition’ that undermines rather than enhances national security. “The Department of the Army has confirmed through our FOIA request that they had AFSC under surveillance in spite of our Quaker adherence to nonviolence and peaceful protest,” states Michael McConnell, director of the AFSC Great Lakes Region, where documented instances of DOD spying occurred. Both activities were organized by or conducted in partnership with one of AFSC’s regional offices. The FOIA documents obtained from the suit note DOD surveillance in February and March, 2005, of email announcing peace demonstrations in two cities. The requests were made under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in the wake of reports that the Defense Department has been conducting secret surveillance of legal protest activities and individuals whose only reported “wrong-doing” was “attending a peace rally.” The Service Committee became lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union earlier this year to uncover exactly who the Pentagon is spying on and why. The documents reveal the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization committed to the principles of nonviolence, came under Pentagon surveillance on several occasions last year for organizing or supporting peaceful protest activity. PHILADELPHIA, (OCTOBER 12)-Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union confirm the Department of Defense (DOD) has been “spying” on peaceful protestors. The American Friends Service Committee Lawsuit Confirms Defense Department “Spying” Newly released surveillance files reveal Pentagon is keeping secret tabs on peaceful protest activities

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