from the Amnet Civil Liberties BBS, Chicago
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BUGS, TAPS AND INFILTRATORS: WHAT TO DO ABOUT POLITICAL SPYING
by Linda Lotz
Organizations involved in controversial
issues — particularly those who
encourage or assist members to commit civil disobedience —
should be alert to
the possibility of surveillance and disruption by police or federal
agencies.
During the last three decades, many individuals and organizations were
spied
upon, wiretapped, their personal lives dirupted in an effort to draw them away
from their political work, and their organizations infiltrated. Hundreds of
thousands of pages
of evidence from agencies such as the FBI and CIA were
obtained by Congressional inquiries
headed by Senator Frank Church and
Representative Otis Pike, others were obtained through use
of the Freedom of
Information Act and as a result of lawsuits seeking damages for First
Amendment violations.
Despite the public outcry to these revelations, the apparatus
remains in place,
and federal agencies have been given increased powers by the Reagan
Administration.
Good organizers should be acquainted with this sordid part of American
history,
and with the signs that may indicate their group is the target of an
investigation.
HOWEVER, DO NOT LET PARANOIA IMMOBILIZE YOU. The results of paranoia
and
overreaction to evidence of surveillance can be just as disruptive to an
organization as an actual infiltrator or disruption campaign.
This document is a brief
outline of what to look for — and what to do if you
think your group is the subject of an
investigation. This is meant to suggest
possible actions, and is not intended to provide legal
advice.
POSSIBLE EVIDENCE OF GOVERNMENT SPYING
|| OBVIOUS
SURVEILLANCE
Look for:
* Visits by police or federal agents to politically
involved individuals,
landlords, employers, family members or business associates. These
visits may
be to ask for information, to encourage or create possibility of eviction or
termination of employment, or to create pressure for the person to stop his or
her political
involvement.
* Uniformed or plainclothes officers taking pictures of people entering
your
office or participating in your activities. Just before and during
demonstrations
and other public events, check the area including windows and
rooftops for photographers.
(Credentialling press can help to separate the
media from the spies.)
* People
who seem out of place. If they come to your office or attend your
events, greet them as
potential members. Try to determine if they are really
interested in your issues — or just
your members!
* People writing down license plate numbers of cars and other vehicles
in
the vicinity of your meetings and rallies.
Despite local legislation and
several court orders limiting policy spying
activities, these investigatory practices have
been generally found to be
legal unless significant "chilling" of constitutional
rights can be proved.
|| TELEPHONE PROBLEMS:
Electronic
surveillance equipment is now so sophisticated that you should not
be able to tell if your
telephone converstaions are being monitored. Clicks,
whirrs, and other noises probably
indicate a problem in the telephone line or
other equipment.
For example, the
National Security Agency has the technology to monitor
microwave communications traffic, and
to isolate all calls to or from a
particular line, or to listen for key words that activate a
tape recording
device. Laser beams and "spike" microphones can detect sound waves
hitting
walls and window panes, and then transmit those waves for recording. In these
cases, there is little chance that the subject would be able to find out about
the
surveillance.
Among the possible signs you may find are:
* Hearing a tape
recording of a conversation you, or someone else in your
home or office, have recently
held.
* Hearing people talking about your activities when you try to use the
telephone.
* Losing service several days before major events.
Government
use of electronic surveillance is governed by two laws, the Omnibus
Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act. Warrants for such surveillance can
be obtained if there is evidence of a
federal crime, such as murder, drug trafficking, or
crimes characteristic of
organized crime, or for the purpose of gathering foreign
intelligence
information available within the U.S. In the latter case, an "agent of a
from a
faction or opposition group, or foreign based political groups.
|| MAIL
PROBLEMS:
Because of traditional difficulties with the US Postal Service, some
problems
with mail delivery will occur, such as a machine catching an end of an envelope
and tearing it, or a bag getting lost and delaying delivery.
However, a pattern of
problems may occur because of political intelligence
gathering:
* Envelopes may
have been opened prior to reaching their destination;
contents were removed and/or switched
with other mail. Remember that the glue
on envelopes doesn’t work as well when volume or bulk
mailings are involved.
* Mail may arrive late, on a regular basis different from others
in your
neighborhood.
* Mail may never arrive.
There are currently
two kinds of surveillance permitted with regards to mail:
the mail cover, and opening of mail.
The simplest, and least intrusive form is
the "mail cover" in which postal employees
simply list any information that can
be obtained from the envelope, or opening second, third
or fourth class mail.
Opening of first class mail requires a warrant unless it is believed to
hold
drugs …. More leeway is given for opening first class international mail.
|| BURGLARIES:
A common practice during the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program
(COINTELPRO)
was the use of surreptitious entries or "black bag jobs." Bureau agents
were
given special training in burglary, key reproduction, etc. for use in entering
homes and offices. In some cases, keys could be obtained from "loyal American"
landlords or building owners.
Typical indicators are:
* Files, including
membership and financial reports, are rifled, copied or
stolen.
* Items of
obvious financial value are left untouched.
* Equipment vital to the organization may
be broken or stolen, such as
typewriters, printing machinery, and computers.
*
Signs of a political motive are left, such as putting a membership list or
a poster from an
important event in an obvious place.
Although warrantless domestic security searches
are in violation of the Fourth
Amendment, and any evidence obtained this way cannot be used in
criminal
proceedings, the Reagan Administration and most recent Presidents (excepting
Carter) have asserted the inherent authority to conduct searches against those
viewed as
agents of a foreign power.
|| INFORMERS AND INFILTRATORS:
Information about an organization or individual can also be obtined by placing
an informer or
infiltrator. This person may be a police officer, employee of a
federal agency, someone who
has been charged or convicted of criminal activity
and has agreed to "help" instead
of serve time, or anyone from the public.
Once someone joins an organization for the
purposes of gathering information,
the line between data gathering and participation blurs.
Two types of
infiltrators result — those who are under "deep cover" and adapt to
the
lifestyle of the people they are infiltrating, and agents provocateurs.
Deep-cover
infiltrators may maintain their cover for many years, and an
organization may never know who
these people are. Agents provocateurs are more
visible, because they will deliberately attempt
to disrupt or lead the group
into illegal activites. They often become involved just as an
event or crisis
is occurring, and leave town or drop out after the organizing slows down.
An agent may:
* Volunteer for tasks which provide access to important
meetings and papers
such as financial records, membership lists, minutes and confidential
files.
* Not follow through or complete tasks, or else do them poorly despite an
obvious ability to do good work.
* Cause problems for a group such as commiting it to
activities or expenses
without following proper channels, or urge the group to plan activities
that
divide group unity.
* Seem to create or be in the middle of personal or
political difference that
slow the work of the group.
* Seek the public
spotlight, in the name of your group, and then make
comments or present an image different
from the rest of the group.
* Urge the use of violence or breaking the law, and provide
information and
resources to enable such ventures.
* Have no obvious source of
income over a period of time, or have more money
available than his or her job should pay.
* Charge other people with being agents (a process called snitch-jackets),
thereby
diverting attention from him or herself, and draining the group’s
energy from other work.
THESE ARE NOT THE ONLY SIGNS, NOR IS A PERSON WHO FITS SEVERAL OF THESE
CATEGORIES
NECESSARILY AN AGENT. BE EXTREMELY CAUTIONS AND DO NOT CALL ANOTHER
PERSON AN AGENT WITHOUT
HAVING SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
Courts have consistently found that an invividual who
provides information,
even if it is incriminating, to an informer has not had his or her
Constitutional rights violated. This includes the use of tape recorders or
electronic
transmitters as well.
Lawsuits in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere, alleging
infiltration of lawful
political groups, have resulted in court orders limiting the use of
police
informers and infiltrators. However, this does not affect activities of federal
agencies.
|| IF YOU FIND EVIDENCE OF SURVEILLANCE:
* Hold a meeting
to discuss spying and harassment
* Determine if any of your members have experienced
any harassment or noticed
any surveillance activities that appear to be directed at the
organization’s
activities. Carefully record all the details of these and see if any
patterns
develop.
* Review past suspicious activities or difficulties in your
group. Have one
or several people been involved in many of these events? List other
possible
"evidence" of infiltration.
* Develop internal policy on how
the group should respond to any possible
surveillance or suspicious actions. Decide who should
be the contact person(s),
what information should be recorded, what process to follow during
any event or
demonstration if disruption tactics are used.
* Consider holding a
public meeting to discuss spying in your community and
around the country. Schedule a speaker
or film discussing political
surveillance.
* Make sure to protect important
documents or computer disks, by keeping a
second copy in a separate, secret location. Use
fireproof, locked cabinets if
possible.
* Implement a sign-in policy for your
office and/or meetings. This is helpful
for your organizing, developing a mailing list, and
can provide evidence that
an infiltrator or informer was at your meeting. Appoint a contact
for spying
concerns. This contact person or committee should implement the policy
developed above and should be given authority to act, to get others to respond
should any
problems occur.
The contact should:
* Seek someone familiar with
surveillance history and law, such as the local
chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, the
American Civil Liberties Union, the
National Conference of Black Lawyers or the American
Friends Service Committee.
Brief them about your evidence and suspicions. They will be able to
make
suggestions about actions to take, as well as organizing and legal contacts.
* Maintain a file of all suspected or confirmed experiences of surveillance
and disruption.
Include: date, place, time, who was present, a complete
description of everything that
happened, and any comments explaining the
context of the event or showing what impact the
event had on the individual or
organization. If this is put in deposition form and signed, it
can be used as
evidence in court.
* Under the Freedom of Information Act and the
Privacy Act, request any files
on the organization from federal agencies such as the FBI, CIA,
Immigration and
Naturalization, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, etc. File similar
of
information act applies.
|| PREPARE FOR MAJOR DEMONSTRATIONS AND EVENTS:
*
Plan ahead; brief your legal workers on appropriate state and federal
statutes on police and
federal officials spying. Discuss whether photographing
with still or video cameras is
anticipated and decide if you want to challenge
it.
* If you anticipate
surveillance, brief reporters who are expected to cover
the event, and provide them with
materials about past surveillance by your
city’s police in the past, and/or against other
activitists throughout the
country.
* Tell the participants when surveillance is
anticipated and discuss what
the group’s response will be. Also, decide how to handle
provocateurs, police
violence, etc. and incorporate this into any affinity group, marshall or
other
training.
|| DURING THE EVENT:
* Carefully monitor the
crowd, looking for surveillance or possible
disruption tactics. Photograph any suspicious or
questionable activities.
* Approach police officer(s) seen engaging in questionable
activities.
Consider having a legal worker and/or press person monitor their actions.
|| IF YOU SUSPECT SOMEONE IS AN INFILTRATOR:
* Try to obtain information
about his or her background: where s/he attended
high school and college; place of employment,
and other pieces of history.
Attempt to verify this information.
* Check public
records which include employment; this can include voter
registation, mortgages or other debt
filings, etc.
* Check listings of police academy graduates, if available.
|| ONCE YOU OBTAIN EVIDENCE THAT SOMEONE IS AN INFILTRATOR:
* Confront him or
her in a protected setting, such as a small meeting with
several other key members of your
group (and an attorney if available).
Present the evidence and ask for the person’s
response.
* You should plan how to inform your members about the infiltration,
gathering information about what the person did while a part of the group and
determining any
additional impact s/he may have had.
* You should consider contacting the press with
evidence of the infiltration.
|| IF YOU CAN ONLY GATHER CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE,
BUT ARE CONCERNED THAT THE
PERSON IS DISRUPTING THE GROUP:
* Hold a strategy
session with key leadership as to how to handle the
troublesome person.
*
Confront the troublemaker, and lay out why the person is disrupting the
organization. Set
guidelines for further involvement and carefully monitor the
person’s activities. If the
problems continue, consider asking the person to
leave the organization.
* If
sufficient evidence is then gathered which indicates s/he is an
infiltrator, confront the
person with the information in front of witnesses
and carefully watch reactions.
* Request an investigation or make a formal complaint
* Report telephone difficulties
to your local and long distance carriers.
Ask for a check on the lines to assure that the
equipment is working properly.
Ask them to do a sweep/check to see if any wiretap equipment is
attached
(Sometimes repair staff can be very helpful in this way.) If you can afford it,
request a sweep of your phone and office or home from a private security firm.
Remember this
will only be good at the time that the sweep is done.
* File a formal complaint with
the US Postal Service, specifying the problems
you have been experiencing, specific dates, and
other details. If mail has
failed to arrive, ask the Post Office to trace the envelope or
package.
* Request a formal inquiry by the police, if you have been the subject of
officers and ask a
variety of questions. If an activity was photographed, ask
what will be done with the
pictures. Set a time when you expect a reply from
the police chief. Inform members of the City
Council and the press of your
request.
* If you are not pleased with the results
of the police chief’s reply, file
a complaint with the Police Board or other administrative
body. Demand a full
investigation. Work with investigators to insure that all witnesses are
*
Initiate a lawsuit if applicable federal or local statutes have been
violated. Before
embarking on a lawsuit, remember that most suits take many
years to complete and require
tremendous amounts of organizers’ and legal
workers’ energy and money.
* Always
notify the press when you have a good story; keep interested
reporters updated on any new
developments. They may be aware of other police
abuses, or be able to obtain further evidence
of police practices. Press
coverage of spying activities is very important, because
publicity-conscious
politicians and police chiefs will be held accountable for questionable
Prepared by:
Linda Lotz
American Friends Service Committee
Pasadena, CA 91103
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