MAINE CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

FBI Spying on More Maine Peace Activists
MCLU Receives Response to FOIA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Contact: Shenna Bellows, 774-5444

Portland- Last week the FBI turned over records it has been keeping on Maine peace groups to the Maine Civil Liberties Union, adding Peace Action Maine and Veterans for Peace to a list of organizations the FBI keeps tabs on in this state.  In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the MCLU in May of 2005,  the FBI sent files containing redacted copies of e-mails it has intercepted that detail the activities of the peace groups.  The files are in addition to those kept on the Maine Peace and Justice Center, which the MCLU received last year. 

 “Spying on innocent Americans has a chilling effect on free speech,” said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the MCLU.  “If the FBI is keeping tabs on peace groups in Maine, activists will be afraid to attend protests or criticize the policies of this country for fear the FBI will target them next.”

The documents include the names of individuals who are members of Peace Action Maine and Maine Veterans for Peace and detail the time and place protest activities are set to take place.

Revelations of the surveillance are reminiscent of the FBI’s historical spying abuses.  During the 1950s, the FBI supplied Senator McCarthy with information that ruined the careers of many innocent people. During the 1960s, the FBI engaged in a campaign to discredit Martin Luther King, Jr. by wiretapping and blackmail. 

“Do Americans really want to return to the days when peaceful critics became the targets of government investigations?” asked Bellows.

“Police would do best to protect us from real criminals, not peaceful protestors,” said Jack Bussell of Maine Veterans for Peace.  “Time and resources should not be misused to target innocent Americans whose only ‘crime’ is nothing more than criticizing the government.” 

The documents are available online at www.mclu.org.

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