Spying on Americans

by Mary

Thanks to Edward Copeland, we see that the Pentagon is concerned that perhaps they've gone too far in spying on Americans.

But there are now questions about whether CIFA exceeded its authority and conducted unauthorized spying on innocent people and organizations. A Pentagon memo obtained by NEWSWEEK shows that the deputy Defense secretary now acknowledges that some TALON reports may have contained information on U.S. citizens and groups that never should have been retained. The number of reports with names of U.S. persons could be in the thousands, says a senior Pentagon official who asked not be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

...Pentagon officials have broadly defended CIFA as a legitimate response to the domestic terror threat. But at the same time, they acknowledge that an internal Pentagon review has found that CIFA's database contained some information that may have violated regulations. The department is not allowed to retain information about U.S. citizens for more than 90 days—unless they are "reasonably believed" to have some link to terrorism, criminal wrongdoing or foreign intelligence.

So who are the targets of this spying? Anti-war protestors, Greenpeace, the Quakers and even those protesting the corruption of Halliburton. Well, we know why the environmentalists are being targeted:

The FBI says ecoterrorism is the most widespread and damaging form of domestic terrorism.

Obviously our government has its priorities set right. They admit spending enormous resources for spying on "ecoterrorists" while turning a blindeye to the innocuous right wing extremists who are openly urging murdering immigrants or gays or any other people they decide are okay targets. Nice to know that committing arson on car dealerships is a worse crime than blowing up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and murdering 168 people.