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Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Thu Dec 15, 2005 at 05:48:59 AM EST
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Bump and Update: Arianna says this news requires Congressional action.

...as is emblematic of this administration, these agencies now appear to be overreaching, moving away from identifying "possible terrorist pre-attack activities" and heading into the murky waters of spying on U.S. citizens doing nothing more than voicing their objections to U.S. policy.

*****
Original Post 12/13

NBC News has obtained a secret 400 page Defense Department document that shows how the Pentagon is spying on Americans:

The Defense Department document is the first inside look at how the U.S. military has stepped up intelligence collection inside this country since 9/11, which now includes the monitoring of peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups.

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

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    • Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups | 29 comments (29 topical)
    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    An Enemies List again?? Is anybody at the White House over 21?

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    I don't know whether to laugh or scream. I'm sure the same crack minds who brought us the war on terror will bring us a similarly sh*t-fer-brains war on domestic tranquility. We have nothing to fear but fear itself is right. Except for the fear of these dingweeds. On another happy note, all the pot clubs in San Diego got raided yesterday. But the bars and liquor stores and tobacco shops and all the rest remain open. Ignorance, prejudice, pharmeceutical industry profits, and the aching creek of Reefer Madness propagandized paranoia had a good day in this little corner of lower alta California.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    “Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.” ~ Mark Twain Hope they add my name to the list. Nixon missed me last time. Hey, that's graphicus with a little "g"!

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. -- Mark Twain
    The subject of this thread, when viewed in the context of the thesis advanced by this book would lead one to conclude that it is the former -- smart people who are pursuing evil ends, and exploiting gullible imbeciles every step of the way.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    I think we need to kick this over to Pat Fitzgerald. I think he can get NBC to tell who leaked the secret report. I'm sure that all the HuffPo/Kossites who got all secretive over Valerie Girl would support that. Jimbo

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#6)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    Dadler, sounds like you're personally pissed over the reefer raids. I wonder who put the authorities up to that? Read your paper and see what butters the bread of local attorneys. BS marijuana charges.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    Someone should FOIA Duncan Black's and Markos Moulitas' records from the FBI, CIA, DOD, NSA, ETC. PDQ.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#8)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    Hey Rumsfeld... here boy! (anyone know how to type an emoticon that looks like a hand with the middle finger raised?)

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#9)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:59 PM EST
    From the linked article:
    WASHINGTON - A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. What they didn't know was that their meeting had come to the attention of the U.S. military.
    They're threatened by people who sit in silence and have lots of bumper stickers on their cars? Haw! Proof of the power of non-violence!

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#10)
    by jen on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:00 PM EST
    oh man, no offense, Quaker iaB but I would hate to be the poor agent assigned to listening to every gathering of Quakers. Now I'm going to be hearing "Sound of Silence" in my head all day. 400 groups. I wonder if that includes breaking into and bugging the dnc offices.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#11)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:00 PM EST
    Jen: I wonder if that includes breaking into and bugging the dnc offices. Naw. They use much more sophisticated approaches now... They just kick down the door and bug the dnc offices. And threaten to arrest, swift boat and expose as unpatriotic anyone who sees it happen.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:00 PM EST
    But the Pentagon now collects domestic intelligence that goes beyond legitimate concerns about terrorism or protecting U.S. military installations, say critics. Critics?? Hummm...I wonder who that could be? The (left leaning) news media perhaps??? Other documents obtained by NBC News show that the Defense Department is clearly increasing its domestic monitoring activities. Well if NBC has them, it must be true then!!!! Anybody remember a guy called Dan Rather? I am LOL

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:00 PM EST
    I faxed a letter to both Florida Senators today and suggested:
    Perhaps the Constitution should be moved from the Washington area to a safer location (maybe Canada can hold it for us until our own government is grown up enough to know how to use it safely).
    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#14)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:00 PM EST
    Isn't it cute how the right-wing trolls write "I am LOL" all the time? They're trying to blend in, you know, with the internets.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#15)
    by Joe Bob on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    Umm, didn't Dan Rather work for CBS, not NBC? I seem to recall Rather working at CBS for a little while.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#16)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    CoIntelPro...Part Duex. Let the entrapment begin! For shame Uncle Sam....for shame.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#17)
    by zak822 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    It's good to see that folks here remember what went before. Cointelpro redux it is! Honestly, I've seen this movie before. And it's very weird to see just how similar the track is here.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    Joe Bob.... didn't Dan Rather work for CBS, not NBC. My point was, all the major news networks are the same... they lean so far to the left that they can't tell the truth...and most of the people in the USA are finally seeing it for what it is...... BS! Why do you think other agencies (like Fox) are getting to be so popular?

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#19)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    The fact that the gov't is monitoring groups opposing leadership is not new, nor scary. What is scary is under the patridiot act, they have broad new powers to incarcerate protesters. The rape of the constitution and the stripping of civil liberties applies to both left and wrong wingers.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#20)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    Hey, where's PPJ? You'd think he could at least muster a "Clinton did it too!" or something.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#21)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    Also, "I am LOL" at BB's "Dan Rather worked for NBC" comment. Somebody needs to go back to troll school and finish his diploma.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#22)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    Is the penatagon spying on Pat Robertson? I seem to remember him making some references to assasinating foreign leaders. Or is it just anti-war activists. I can see the enemies of freedom now, deep in the halls of power..."They want peace!! We must infiltrate these groups by any means possible!! Agent X, go to the antiwar rally and start throwing rocks so we can lock them up. Agent Z, go to 'Grandmas against the War' headquarters and plant some heroin on those old biddies."

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#23)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:01 PM EST
    Fred Phelps says God is killing our soldiers because some gay people haven't been lynched yet. Wonder if he has a spy assigned to him.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#24)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    Scar, Fred's just got his signals mixed a bit. Probably needs some dental work to improve signal reception.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#25)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    Pat Robertson is one of the most dangerous men in America. All you have to do is watch the "liberal" media to figure that one out... *rolls eyes* Seriously, he needs to be stopped. If he so decreed, any number of his sheep would be willing to lob hand grenades at Planned Parenthood locations.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    Hey, back slightly OT, did anyone try to track down the secret DOD list that MSNBC.COM has been frontpaging and where an 8-page excerpt has been linked here. The excerpt has a lot of stuff redacted (whited out, rather than blacked out, i.e, with no indication that the redaction was done) from the page that I saw on a TV show (Jim Lehrer?) where someone was pointing out that the case codes above the area where MSNBC helpfully whited out could be used to interpret whether the lead LE agency was Military Counterintelligence or Civilian LEOs. Those codes and many of the codes in the second column are missing from what MSNBC released. Also, there's *.pdf metadata left in the MSNBC file that indicates that the thing was worked over after scanning with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I went looking for an unexpurgated copy thru a Google search, but the only doc out there keeps coming back to the MSNBC "excerpt". Anyone find anything better?

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    scar.... Also, "I am LOL" at BB's "Dan Rather worked for NBC" I never said that. Go back & read it again. I was making a point...that obviously went over your head.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:04 PM EST
    Yeah, BB made a point. Using the same language as GWB made when using 9/11 and Iraq in the same sentence hundreds and hundreds of times. Just like BB, he can say, "I didn't say Iraq had a connection to 9/11," but the inference is nevertheless exactly the same. Do me a favor, BB, have the cojones to stand by your dishonest smears when they're called out. The fact that the Corporate media is just now reporting something like this means that it has been going on for a long, long time and is far, far worse than the story relates. Far fetched to believe that our own government could be responsible for the hundreds of computer viruses floating around our email servers and computers, isn't it? Locators, mysterious crashes, hacks, etc.

    Re: Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups (none / 0) (#29)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:07 PM EST
    Who will track these suspicious groups? Pentagon White House Congress CIA DEA FBI NSA ATF Supreme Court etc, etc, etc Seriously. Whose more dangerous, my list or some peaceniks?

    Pentagon Tracking "Suspicious" Domestic Groups | 29 comments (29 topical)