Maryland Admits Unwarranted Infiltration of Citizens' Groups, Spying on Pacifists, Environmentalists and Nuns

Spying on pacifists, environmentalists and nuns

Reporting from Takoma Park, Md. -- To friends in the protest movement, Lucy was an eager 20-something who attended their events and sent encouraging e-mails to support their causes.

Only one thing seemed strange.

"At one demonstration, I remember her showing up with a laptop computer and typing away," said Mike Stark, who helped lead the anti-death-penalty march in Baltimore that day. "We all thought that was odd."

Not really. The woman was an undercover Maryland State Police trooper who between 2005 and 2007 infiltrated more than two dozen rallies and meetings of nonviolent groups.

Maryland officials now concede that, based on information gathered by "Lucy" and others, state police wrongly listed at least 53 Americans as terrorists in a criminal intelligence database -- and shared some information about them with half a dozen state and federal agencies, including the National Security Agency.

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Digg here please: http://digg.com/politics/Spying_on_pacifists_environmentalis...

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As much as I disagree with some of her positions today (namely ignoring criticisms of the presumed dictator-select), this is clearly one of the ten steps to close down an open society identified by Naomi Wolf. Mind you, by posting this article I am not endorsing the actions or beliefs of pacifists, environmentalists or nuns, but I agree with their unalienable rights to be free from arbitrary and unreasonable search and seizure.