The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has filed several public information requests over concerns that police departments are spying on peace protesters.
“We have some indication that something is going on here in Maryland,” said David Rocah, a staff attorney with the ACLU.
“The documents we?ve seen indicate an extraordinary level of surveillance for people who are engaged in nonviolent peace protests.”
Rocah said documents made public by a lawsuit filed over the 2003 arrest of Iraq war protesters outside of the National Security Agency?s Fort Meade headquarters suggest that Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County and State Police have all engaged in monitoring nonviolent peace protesters.
The ACLU on Tuesday filed the public information requests to the Attorney General?s Office, Baltimore Police Department, Governor?s Office of Homeland Security, Maryland Joint Terrorism Task Force, Maryland State Police and Maryland National Guard.
The requests seek any documents relating to plans and programs to monitor, conduct surveillance, question, interrogate, investigate and collect information about political and religious groups in the state.
The organization also filed similar requests with 11 federal agencies.
“It is fundamentally un-American for the government to invade the privacy of peaceful political and religious groups in the name of fighting terrorism,” said Susan Goering, executive director of the ACLU of Maryland, in a statement.
“Such illegal surveillance by the Bush administration and law enforcement agencies abuses our trust and threatens our freedom.”
Several anti-war groups, including Jonah House, Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, Baltimore Emergency Response Network and American Friends Service Committee, say they believe they have been targets of federal monitoring, in coordination with local law enforcement, for their planning and participation in campaigns of nonviolent protest, including the 2003 demonstration.
Internal NSA documents, provided to The Examiner, show the agency used local law enforcement to track members of a group of 11 anti-war protesters as they prepared for a demonstration on Oct. 4, 2003.
The documents reference the work of the “Baltimore Intel Unit,” Anne Arundel County Police and Maryland State Police.
In an Oct. 2, 2003, document titled “Action Plan,” NSA police officials said they intended to “respond to the threat of a group known as Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore.”
The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore was formed for individuals willing to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to protest an invasion of Iraq, according to its Web site.
“We want to know who has been designated a threat and what kind of surveillance is going on,” Rocah said.
“There are enough real threats out there to focus on. Focusing on peace protesters is not only unconstitutional, it raises questions about the appropriate use of resources.”
Baltimore Police Spokesman Matt Jablow said he could not comment on the public information request because he has not yet seen it. Maryland State Police and Anne Arundel County police could not be reached for comment.
Under Maryland?s Public Information Act, state and local agencies have up to 30 days to respond to the public information requests.
