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The Hunt for Red Menace: - 4
Information Collection & Sharing
David Kaplan noted that there were other agencies of the federal government who spied on citizens during the 1960's and 1970's:
=== "Until 1974, the CIA conducted a widespread, illegal spying operation within the United States. According to Congressional reports, the names of 300,000 U.S. citizens were cross-indexed within agency files, and thousands of Americans were placed on "watch lists" to have their mail opened and telegrams read. === "The Pentagon's intelligence operations spilled into a highly questionable area during the 1960s and early 1970s. The U.S. Army Intelligence Command, among others, rean a far- reaching domestic spying program that, at its height, fielded over 1500 plainclothes agents from 350 offices to spy on anti-war and civil rights groups. The Army's program was, in the words of a Congressional subcommittee, "both massive and unrestrained," and compiled an estimated 100,00 dossiers on U.S. citizens. The Secretary of the Army subsequently ordered those files destroyed, although, like the CIA, there are now indications that such activities may have continued.
Information from the private right-wing groups and federal agencies also flowed in and out of the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit, an association of local law enforcement intelligence and investigative squads set up to compete with the sometimes less- than-cooperative FBI.
Civil liberties activist and author Richard Criley was especially concerned with local police intelligence units.
=== "In Chicago, the local police intelligence unit amassed files on over 200,000 citizens and groups ranging from the PTA to the Communist Party. They had already considered plans to computerize the file system when a series of civil lawsuits brought their activities to light. Chicago was just one of several cities with similar surveillance units.
In fact, an informal nationwide network for sharing political dossiers among police and private intelligence agencies existed for several decades prior to 1975. According to files produced in a series of lawsuits against government surveillance in Chicago, 159 agencies in 33 states throughout the nation received political spying files from, or sent such files to, the Chicago Police Department Intelligence Division, which for many years was called the Red Squad.
The agencies include 100 municipal police departments, 26 state law enforcement agencies, 16 county sheriffs offices, and 17 other public and private agencies.
"While many concerned civil libertarians have been convinced of the existence of politically-motivated activity by their local police, they have frequently been frustrated by the need for concrete proof." said Frank Donner, author of The Age of Surveillance who called for a "remedial campaign to abolish such abuses," based on the revelations.
According to attorney Richard Gutman, who obtained the police reports, the following examples are typical of the material discussed in the Chicago Police Transmittal Files: · The Texas Department of Public Safety ("Texas Rangers") sought "any pertinent information related to subversive activities or affiliations" regarding Chicago attorney Terry Yale Feiertag. The Chicago police responded that attorney Feiertag was employed by an organization whic provided legal aid to low income groups and in civil rights cases; · The Indianapolis Police Department sought "any data" regarding Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. The Chicago police in response sent information about the group's lawful anti-war activities; · The Detroit Police Department sought information regarding Lucy Montgomery. in response the Chicago police sent Detroit a four-page report detailing Mrs. Montgomery's lawful political activities.
"Many of these political surveillance units-which have also surfaced in Detroit, Seattle, and elsewhere-have been disbanded as the result of public outrage and, in some cases, lawsuits," observed journalist David Kaplan. "Civil liberties watchdogs, however, believe that other units whose activities remain secret continue to grow."
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AGENCIES EXCHANGING POLITICAL SPYING INTELLIGENCE
WITH THE CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT INTELLIGENCE
DIVISION (CPD/IU)
Alabama
Alabama Dept. of Public Safety
Birmingham Police Dept.
Huntsville Police Dept.
Arizona
Phoenix Police Dept.
Maricopa County Sheriff
Temple Police Dept.
Tucson Police Dept.
California
Anaheim Police Dept.
Alameda County District Attorney's Office
Bakersfield Police Dept.
California Dept. of Justice, Organized Crime and
Criminal Intelligence Branch
California Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation
Delano Police Dept.
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles County Sheriff's OIffice
Los Angeles Police Dept.
McFarland Police Dept.
Newark Police Dept.
Oakland Police Dept.
Orange Police Dept.
Palo Alto Police Dept.
San Francisco Police Dept.
San Jose Police Dept.
San Mateo County Sheriff
Santa Ana Police Dept.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff
Torrance Police Dept.
Colorado
Aspen Police Dept.
Denver Police Dept.
Connecticut
Connnecticut State Police
Hartford State Police
Delaware
Delaware State Police
District of Columbia
Metropolitan Police Dept.
Office of Economic Opportunity, Office of Inspection
Florida
Dade County Sheriff's Office
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Duval County Sheriff's Office
Miami Beach Police Dept.
Miami Police Dept.
Orlando Police Dept.
Tallahassee Police Dept.
Tampa Police Dept.
Hawaii
Honolulu Police Department
Illinois
Carbondale Police Dept.
Crystal Lake Police Dept.
Decatur Police Dept.
Dekalb Police Dept.
Evanston Police Dept.
Galesburg Police Dept.
Grayville Police Dept.
Hammond Corporation, Deerfield
Highland Park Police Dept.
Illinois State Police
Peoria Police Dept.
Rockford Police Dept.
Rock Island Police Dept.
Skokie Police Dept.
United States Army Intelligence, 113th MI Group,
Evanston
University of Illinois Police, Chicago Circle Campus
Woodridge Police Dept.
Indiana
Anderson Police Dept.
East Chicago Police Dept.
Gary Police Dept.
Indiana State Police
Indianapolis, Mayor
Indianapolice Police Dept.
Northwest Indiana Crime Commission, Inc.
Iowa
Cedar Rapids Police Dept.
Des Moines Police Dept.
Iowa Dept. of Pulic Safety, Bureau of Criminal
Investigation
Kansas
Columbia Police Dept.
Kansas City Police Dept.
Minneapolis Sheriff's Police Dept.
Kentucky
Kentucky Dept. of Corrections, Division of
Probation and Parole
Kentucky State Police
Louisville Police Dept.
Louisiana
Franklin Parish Sheriff's Office
New Orleans Police Dept.
Maine
Houlton Police jDept.
Maine State Police
Maryland
Baltimore County Police Dept.
Baltimore Police Dept.
Maryland State Police
University of Maryland
Massachusetts
Boston Police Dept.
Fitchburg Police Dept.
Massachusetts Dept. of Public Safety, Division of
Subversive Activities
Massachusetts State Police
Medford Police Dept.
Michigan
Ann Arbor Police Dept.
Berrien County Prosecuting Attorney
Detroit Police Dept.
Detroit Police Officers Ass'n
Eaton County Sheriff's Dept.
Flint Police Dept.
Michigan House of Representatives, Economic
Development Committee
Michigan State Police
Saginaw Police Dept.
Minnesota
Bloomington Police Dept.
Missouri
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Dept.
Minutemen
Nebraska
Omaha Police Dept.
Nevada
Reno Police Dept.
New Jersey
Atlantic City Police Dept.
Camden Police Dept.
Newark Police Dept.
New Jersey State Police
New Mexico
Albuquerque Police Dept.
New Mexico State Police
New York
Beacon Police Dept.
Buffalo Police Dept.
Ithaca Police Dept.
Nassau County Police Dept.
National Goals, Inc. (Private group, John Rees, Dir.)
New Rochelle Police Dept.
New York City Police Dept.
New York State Dept. of Civil Service
New York State Police
Port of New York Authority
Suffolk County Police Dept.
Yonkers Police Dept.
Ohio
Akron Police Dept.
Canton Police Dept.
Cincinnati Crime Bureau
Cincinnati Division of Police
Columbus Police Dept.
Cleveland Division of Police
Cuyahoga Falls Sheriffs Office
Dayton Police Dept.
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Steubenville Police Dept.
Toledo Division of Police
Wintersville Police Dept.
Zenia Police Dept.
Oregon
Eugene Police Dept.
Portland Bureau of Police
Portland District Attorney
Multnomah County Sheriffs Office
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Pennsylvania State Police
Pittsburgh Bureau of Police
Philadelphia Police Dept.
Rhode Island
Providence Police Dept.
Tennessee
Knoxville Police Dept.
Memphis Police Dept.
Nashville Metropolitan Police Dept.
Tennessee Office of the Attorney General,
Dyersburg
Texas
Dallas Police Dept.
Fort Worth Police Dept.
Houston Police Dept.
Texas Dept. of Public Safety
Utah
Salt Lake City Police Dept.
Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Dept of Public Safety
Washington
Camas Police Dept.
Seattle Police Dept.
Wisconsin
FonduLac County Sheriffs Office
Milwaukee Police Dept.
Washington County Sheriffs Office
Wauwatosa Police Dept.
Wisconsin Dept. of Justice, Division of
Criminal Investigation
Break-ins and thefts were numerous during the COINTELPRO period. When a judge allowed plaintiffs in one lawsuit against government spying access to the Chicago Police Red Squad files, lawyers found original membership lists stolen from radical groups such as Medical Committee for Human Rights and Students for a Democratic Society. Former staff members from the groups remembered the lists vanishing after mysterious office break-ins where office equipment was left untouched.
In some cases break-ins and assaults were carried out by right- wing paramilitary groups coordinating their efforts with FBI informants, military intelligence agents, and local police investigative units. Chicago's Legion of Justice not only assaulted activists, but stole files and distributed photocopies to government agencies.<$FSee numerous articles in Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Tribune, especially circa July 1970 when first grand jury indictments were handed down, and July- August 1975 when sworn testimony firmly tied members of police unit to Legion. Noteworthy are the articles by Larry Green in Chicago Daily News July 29 & 30, August 1, 1975. Also depositions from Socialist Workers Party, et. al. v. Joseph Grubisic, et. al. Also discussed in Donner.>
Detroit's Operation Breakthrough harassed activists while it was essentially controlled by police agents who sometimes outnumbered non-informant members.<$FConclusions arrived at after review of material produced in the Michigan ACLU lawsuit, Benkert v. Michigan State Police. Also unpublished academic paper by Daniel Jacobs.>
The FBI relationship to the far right reached a violent climax in San Diego, where an FBI informant testified the FBI provided him with $10,000 worth of weapons, including explosives used in a bombing by the Secret Army Organization (SAO), a right-wing group which harassed activists protesting the Vietnam war. The FBI even hid a gun used in an SAO assasination attempt against a leftist professor until an ACLU-sponsored lawsuit by a woman wounded in the assault forced the FBI to reveal the weapon's existence.<$FSee generally San Diego Door coverage of SAO, especially investigation by Doug Porter, Larry Remer and Bill Ritter. "The FBI's Secret Soldiers," Peter Biskind, New Times, Jan. 9, 1976. For hiding of gun see Donner p.444-445.>
The interlocking network of private right-wing counter-subversion operations flourished during the COINTELPRO period. Groups such as the American Security Council, Church League of America, Wackenhut Security, Research West, Agitator, Inc., FIPOL/UCC, and Anacapa Sciences gathered information about alleged subversives. Several of these groups were active in California during the governorship of Ronald Reagan and one security specialist for a California utility told investigators of a link between Research West, Governor Reagan, and Edwin Meese.
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