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Pentagon spied on Parkin
Monday 23 January, 2006: US peace activist Scott Parkin's Houston-based anti-war group was spied on by a top-secret Pentagon counter-intelligence agency in 2004, according to a report in Newsweek magazine.
The peaceful protest, organised by Scott Parkin and his group Houston Global Awareness on June 29, 2004, was attended by approximately ten local peace activists.
The protest involved handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to employees of giant military contractor Halliburton to draw attention to allegations that the company over-charged for military food contracts in Iraq.
A report in Newsweek this week reveals that the Pentagon's Counter Intelligence Field Activity (CIFA) filed a report on the protest, which took place outside Halliburton's headquarters in Houston, Texas.
Speaking from San Francisco, Mr Parkin said he was "disturbed, but not surprised" by the latest revelations.
"The theme of the protest was to 'cook food, not books'", Mr Parkin said from San Francisco today.
"It's unbelievable that this simple act of street theatre could be considered a potential threat to national security by the Pentagon."
In September 2005, Mr Parkin's detention and forced removal from Australia sparked protests around the country.
Mr Parkin's detention followed his participation in a similar protest outside the Sydney headquarters of Halliburton subsidiary Kellog, Brown and Root.
The Australian Government has denied that the decision to detain and deport Mr Parkin on national security grounds was influenced by information or pressure from US intelligence agencies.
In October, ASIO Director-General Paul O'Sullivan admitted that Mr Parkin had not been involved in violent activity in Australia. Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock has refused to divulge the contents of the adverse security assessment that led to the Mr Parkin's removal from the country.
"I find it disturbing that acts of lawful, permitted dissent are being criminalised in this way," Mr Parkin concluded.