Terrorism

"Operation Tripwire" -- the FBI, the Private Sector, and the Monitoring of Occupy Wall Street

by Beau Hodai — May 24, 2013 - 8:12am

Topics: Activism, Banking, Terrorism, Corporations, Democracy, Human Rights, U.S. Government

This article was first published by PRwatch.org on December 31, 2012, while we were writing our report "Dissent or Terror: How the Nation's Counter Terrorism Apparatus, in Partnership with Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street," published by DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy in May 2013. We re-release it now as part of a PRwatch series on the new report.

Records obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy (DBA/CMD) through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request indicate that the FBI employed tactics under a "counter terrorism" initiative called "Operation Tripwire" in the monitoring of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) activists.

[Note: records referenced in this article were obtained by DBA/CMD on November 8, 2012, as a partial response to a FOIA request submitted by DBA/CMD to the FBI on June 7, 2012. DBA/CMD have been analyzing these incomplete materials along with other public records to tell a more complete story of the pattern of domestic surveillance that has been underway.]

News

CMD Opposes Anti-Muslim Intelligence Tools

by Patrick Moran — October 17, 2011 - 7:01am

Topics: Terrorism, Democracy, Religion

The Center for Media and Democracy has signed onto a letter with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and 26 other civil and human rights groups urging Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) director Robert Mueller to reform intelligence tools that express an anti-Muslim bias.

The letter addresses FBI intelligence guidelines for law enforcement that purport to identify when a religious convert becomes a "Homegrown Islamic Extremist," but the list of "indicators" are behaviors protected by the First Amendment. The FBI has publicly declared that "strong religious beliefs should never be confused with violent extremism," but these guidelines contradict that message.

Guest Contributor

Koch's "Response" Agrees with Parts of Greenpeace Toxic Koch Report

by PRW Staff — August 31, 2011 - 8:16am

Topics: Corporate Social Responsibility, Terrorism, Environment

By John Deans of Greenpeace, August 26, 2011.

On August 25, 2011, Koch Industries issued a response to the Greenpeace report that CMD cross-posted last week, via KochFacts.com. Below is Greenpeace's August 26, 2011, counter-response to Koch. The original can be found here.

Op-Ed

Toxic Koch: Keeping Americans at Risk of a Poison Gas Disaster

by PRW Staff — August 25, 2011 - 10:38am

Topics: Corporate Social Responsibility, Terrorism, Corporations, Energy, Environment, War / Peace

By Will Vickery

NPR Erases Domestic Terrorism

by Anne Landman — May 11, 2010 - 4:05pm

Topics: Journalism, Terrorism, Propaganda

National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast a story on May 9 by Dina Temple-Raston titled Terrorism in the U.S. Takes on a U.K. Pattern that started out with the following flawed premise:

"For years, the U.S. seemed largely immune to homegrown terrorism, but experts think the recent attack [in Times Square] is more proof that has changed."

Raston then proceeded to discuss "home grown terrorists" only in the context of Pakistani-Americans, Afghan-Americans, South Asian Americans and others originally from outside the country who became citizens and then somehow became "radicalized."

The story completely ignored the fact that the United States has a long history of domestic terrorism committed by home-grown, home-radicalized terrorists.

FreedomWorks/Tea Party Leader Dick Armey Lobbied for Terrorist Group

by Anne Landman — March 22, 2010 - 3:21pm

Dick ArmeyThe magazine In These Times reports that in his previous position with the lobbying firm DLA Piper, Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey promoted the interests of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, otherwise known as Mujahedeen-

Main Source:

In These Times, March 21, 2010

Cheney's Huge Blunder

by Anne Landman — February 24, 2010 - 10:40am

Topics: Right Wing, Terrorism, U.S. Government

Former VP Dick CheneyIn April, 2009, former vice president Dick Cheney called for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to release classified memos he said demonstrated how well "harsh interrogation methods" -- torture -- worked to prevent terrorist attacks and save lives. But investigators with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) just released a report saying that the CIA memo Cheney cited as justifying U.S. torture contains "plainly inaccurate information" that undermines its conclusions.

"The President Won't Say the Word 'Terrorist,'" and Other Right-Wing Spin

by Lisa Graves — January 5, 2010 - 1:12am

Topics: Terrorism

I've noticed a strange echo lately in claims by right-wingers that supposedly President Obama will not say the word "terrorism" or "terrorist." On January 2nd, Chris Matthews had two fellows on to debate about the White House's Saturday radio

"Love IS Worth Fighting For" -- Lt. Dan Choi

by Lisa Graves — October 4, 2009 - 8:29am

Topics: Iraq, Terrorism, Democracy, Gay / Lesbian, Human Rights

"Love is worth fighting for." That's how Lt. Dan Choi ended his remarks this weekend about his journey from West Point to Iraq to discharge under the continuing Pentagon policy of "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT). It really made me think about this deeply flawed policy I have opposed privately over the years. Because, as Lt. Choi distilled it so well, love is worth fighting for.

He is one of only eight people in his graduating class at West Point who majored in Arabic, and so his story also brought home to me the gap between the rhetoric about the "global war on terror" (GWOT) and the reality, in a particular way. Since I left the government over four years ago, I have been speaking out about misplaced priorities involving terrorism, civil liberties, and human rights.

Exposing How the Government Lied about National Security Letters and the Patriot Act

by Lisa Graves — September 30, 2009 - 10:47am

Topics: Terrorism, Human Rights, Propaganda, U.S. Government

Last week, I was honored to be invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Patriot Act, a new endeavor for the Center for Media and Democracy, even though CMD has covered national security-related issues in its books and on SourceWatch.

One of the reasons I was so pleased to be able to join CMD is because in Washington, DC, I saw first-hand how propaganda and selective disclosures were used to influence and distort public opinion. In my testimony, I highlighted examples from the Patriot Act debate in 2005 where key information was hidden while the bill for reauthorization was being publicly debated, and did not come out until after the bill had passed. With parts of the Patriot Act up for renewal and reform this fall, I wanted to make sure the public record included the story of how the previous Bush administration misled the American people. I also wanted to share my views about why these extraordinary powers need to be fixed to better protect civil liberties and human rights.