[Peace-discuss] anyone synchronizing in Illinois???

[Paul Mueth]

Look for update and  a link  at end of this piece...

look for raging grannies reference


State Guard forms anti-terrorism intelligence unit
Officials deny civil libertarian claims that the group
will monitor American citizens, which is prohibited
By DION NISSENBAUM Sun, Jun. 26, 2005 San Jose Mercury
News

SACRAMENTO - Three decades after aggressive military
spying on Americans created a national furor,
California's National Guard has quietly set up a
special intelligence unit that has been given ''broad
authority'' to monitor, analyze and distribute
information on potential terrorist threats, the
Mercury News has learned.
	Known as the Information Synchronization, Knowledge
Management and Intelligence Fusion program, the
project is part of an expanding nationwide effort to
better integrate military intelligence into global
anti-terrorism initiatives.
	Although Guard officials said the new unit would not
collect information on American citizens, top National
Guard officials have already been involved in tracking
at least one recent Mother's Day anti-war rally
organized by families of slain American soldiers,
according to e-mails obtained by the Mercury News.
	Creation of California's intelligence unit is already
raising concerns for civil libertarians who point to a
string of abuses in the 1960s and 1970s when the
military collected information on more than 100,000
Americans, infiltrated church youth groups, posed as
reporters to interview activists, monitored peaceful
protests and even attended an elementary school
Halloween party in search of a ''dissident.''
	''The National Guard doesn't need to do this,'' said
Christopher Pyle, a former Army intelligence officer
who first exposed the military's domestic spying
operations in 1970. ''Its job is not to investigate
individuals, but to clear streets, protect facilities
and help first responders.''
	Top Guard officers said that they have no intentions
of breaking long-established rules barring the
military from gathering information on Americans and
that the evolving program is meant to help California
and the nation thwart terrorist attacks.
	''We do not do any type of surveillance or human
intelligence or mixing with crowds,'' said Lt. Col.
Stan Zezotarski. ''The National Guard does not operate
in that way. We have always had a policy where we
respect the rights of citizens.''

Forming the unit|
		Generally, the National Guard is called upon to help
the state deal with natural disasters and riots. But
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have put major
strains on the military, which has started drawing
more on Guard soldiers to fight overseas. And now
Guard units are being integrated into anti-terrorism
efforts in the United States.
	The intelligence unit was quietly established last
year by Major Gen. Thomas Eres, the National Guard
leader who was forced by the Schwarzenegger
administration to retire earlier this month. Eres left
amid allegations that he failed to prove his shooting
skills for a trip to Iraq, set up a questionable
military flight for a Republican friend's political
group, and improperly used money meant to stem the
flow of drugs for anti-terrorism programs.
	Just before Eres retired, the Guard hired its first
director for the intelligence unit who has ''broad
authority'' and is expected to ''exercise a high
degree of independent judgment and discretion,''
according to the job description obtained by the
Mercury News.
	''However, highly controversial or precedent-setting
decisions, directives and policies are discussed with
the appropriate senior leadership prior to
implementation,'' the description states.
	Col. Robert J. O'Neill, a veteran intelligence
officer who started last week as director of the new
program, said he envisions his team as being a
one-stop shop for local, state and national law
enforcement to share information. Intelligence
officers will have access to sensitive national
security information that they can analyze and
potentially share with state and local law
enforcement, he said.
	''We are trying to integrate into their systems and
bring them information that they don't have,'' O'Neill
said.
	He said his unit would not cross any legal lines into
spying on Americans. But the Guard's role in
monitoring at least one demonstration has already
alarmed civil libertarians.
		Tracking the rally|
	Last month, a group of anti-war activists, including
the parents of American soldiers killed in Iraq, held
a small Mother's Day rally at the Vietnam Veteran's
Memorial near the California Capitol to call for the
return of all National Guard troops by Labor Day.
	Three days before the rally, as a courtesy to the
military, an aide in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
press office alerted the Guard to the event, according
to e-mails obtained by the Mercury News.
	The information was passed up the chain of command
directly to Eres and other top Guard officials
including Col. Jeff Davis, who oversees O'Neill's
operation.
	''Sir,'' Guard Chief-of-Staff Col. John Moorman wrote
in the e-mail to Eres that was copied to Davis and
other top commanders. ''Information you wanted on
Sunday's demonstration at the Capitol.''
	In response, Davis indicated that Guard intelligence
officers were tracking the rally.
	''Thanks,'' Davis wrote. ''Forwarding same to our
Intell. folks who continue to monitor.''
	That rainy Sunday, the protest organized by Gold Star
Families for Peace, Raging Grannies and CodePink, drew
about three-dozen supporters.
	Guard spokesman Zezotarksi said that the monitoring
did not involve anything more than keeping tabs on the
protest through the media and that no one went to
observe the demonstration.
	But he said the military would be ''negligent'' in
not tracking such anti-war rallies in the event that
they disintegrate into a riot that could prompt the
governor to call out troops.
	''It's nothing subversive,'' said Zezotarksi.
''Because who knows who could infiltrate that type of
group and try to stir something up? After all, we live
in the age of terrorism, so who knows?''
	Civil libertarians scoffed at such defenses.
	''That's ludicrous,'' said Joseph Onek, a former
Carter and Clinton administration official who now
heads the Liberty and Security Initiative for The
Constitution Project at Georgetown University.
''That's not what the American people expect its
military to be doing.''
	"Mission creep"|
	Pyle, the Army officer who exposed the abuses in the
1970s and is now a professor at Mount Holyoke College
in Massachusetts, said the evolving intelligence
programs are susceptible to dangerous ''mission
creep'' that led to overaggressive tactics during the
Vietnam War.
	Since the Civil War, the United States has tried to
create firm barriers preventing the military from
getting involved in domestic issues. The 1878 Posse
Comitatus Act prevents the U.S. military from taking
part in domestic law enforcement.
	The Army got involved with collecting intelligence on
Americans in the 1960s when it was called in to deal
with civil rights protests and riots. Its role
expanded as the decade wore on and the anti-Vietnam
War movement grew more confrontational.
	At the time, according to congressional records, the
military collected files on more than 100,000
Americans and embraced aggressive tactics to try to
undermine anti-war groups, including attending a
Halloween party for kids and infiltrating church youth
groups.
	In response, Congress and the military set up new
rules to strictly regulate military spying in the
United States.
	But Sept. 11 raised concerns that the controls had
gone too far. Since then, the FBI and military have
been expanding their intelligence operations.
		Intelligence centers|
	The notion of creating intelligence ''fusion
centers'' is slowly gaining momentum. Massachusetts is
setting up one, but it is housed in the State Police
headquarters, not its National Guard.
	Currently, federal law allows the U.S. military to
gather information on Americans under exceptionally
tight restrictions. The intelligence must be essential
to its mission, publicly available or related to
national security issues.
	The Pentagon has created a new operation in Colorado
known as the Northern Command to help protect the
nation from terrorist attacks. Its leader, Gen. Ralph
Eberhart, raised some concerns among civil
libertarians last year after telling a National Guard
group that ''we can't let culture and the way we've
always done it stand in the way'' of gathering
intelligence.
	Last year, the U.S. military came under fire after it
was reported that two Army lawyers in civilian clothes
attended a forum on sexism in Islam and later demanded
a roster of attendees, along with a videotape of the
conference, after being questioned by three Middle
Eastern men during the event.
	Army officials said the attorneys had ''exceeded
their authority'' and ordered a refresher course for
agents.
Contact Dion Nissenbaum at dnissenbaum at mercurynews.com
or (916) 441-4603. 

Posted on Mon, Dec. 05, 2005
Good riddance to a nosy National Guard unit
Mercury News Editorial

To avoid further embarrassment and temptation to spy
on Californians, the head of the state National Guard
has dissolved a controversial surveillance unit.
Dismantlement, though belated, was the right course of
action.

Last summer, the Mercury News first reported on the
two-member unit, which the previous Guard adjutant
general had created without the governor's or the
Legislature's approval. It operated under a ``broad
authority'' to track potential terrorist threats. It
decided that one of these was a Mother's Day anti-war
rally in Sacramento, in which a pacifist group, the
``Raging Grannies'' -- median age 72 -- participated.

For over a century, federal law has forbidden the
military from engaging in domestic law enforcement.
It's a bright line that shouldn't be crossed, even
post-Sept. 11.

The Guard unit, with a mouthful of a name --
Information Synchronization, Knowledge Management and
Intelligence Fusion program -- probably was uncovered
before it could do much damage to Californians'
rights. But it's hard to know.

U.S. Army investigators concluded that the Guard never
collected intelligence on U.S. citizens, but the Army
and the Guard refused to release the report. The Guard
refused to release some e-mail communications with the
governor's office, and, in a Rosemary Woods/Watergate
moment, erased the hard drive of the prior adjutant
general's computer on the very day that Democratic
state Sen. Joe Dunn served notice to preserve all
relevant material.

Between preparing for emergencies at home and bearing
a burden of the war in Iraq, the Guard has a lot on
its plate. Spying on neighbors should be off-limits.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3346821