Kucinich To Investigate Surveillance of Protest Groups!

"I want the subcommittee to determine how widespread these activities are and who ordered them," the Ohio Democrat and former presidential candidate said.

Kucinich chairs the House Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The press release referred to reports that Maryland state police officers infiltrated peace and anti-death penalty groups and that private investigators working on behalf of "several large corporations" had surveilled environmental groups.

ACLU Releases Documents Detailing Police Monitoring

The documents show that for 14 months, the state police Homeland Security and Intelligence Division used covert agents to infiltrate the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, a peace group, the Coalition to End the Death Penalty (CEDP), and the Committee to Save Vernon Evans, a death row inmate, the ACLU said.

Goering sent a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday asking for an immediate end to the surveillance. The group also wants a ban on sharing existing files with other law enforcement agencies, the withdrawal of the information from databases, a public accounting of the surveillance of peaceful protest activities, the notification of individuals who have been monitored and the opportunity for those monitored to view their files.

Rocah said he hopes the governor and other state officials "would be as troubled as we are and, as I suspect most Marylanders are, to learn this is happening," calling the surveillance "intolerable in a Democratic society."

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
Seems the ACLU has uncovered documents detailing this sickening spying, surveillance, and infiltration operation being waged against anti-war activists.

Maryland Police Infiltrated Activist Groups, Turned Over Information to Feds, Listed Citizens in Database as Committing Anti-War and Anti-Government Terrorism


ACLU attorney David Rocah said state police violated federal laws prohibiting departments that receive federal funds from maintaining databases with information about political activities and affiliations.

The activist was identified as Max Obuszewski. His “primary crime” was entered into the database as “terrorism - anti govern(ment).” His “secondary crime” was listed as “terrorism - anti-war protestors.” The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA.

“This is not supposed to happen in America,” said Mr. Rocah. “In a free society, which relies on the engagement of citizens in debate and protest and political activity to maintain that freedom … you should be able to attend a meeting about an issue you care about without having to worry that government spies are entering your name into a database used to track alleged terrorists and drug traffickers.”