Md. Police Put Activists’ Names On Terror Lists

Lisa Rein
Washington Post
Wednesday, Oct 8, 2008

The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.

Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan revealed at a legislative hearing that the surveillance operation, which targeted opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war, was far more extensive than was known when its existence was disclosed in July.

The department started sending letters of notification Saturday to the activists, inviting them to review their files before they are purged from the databases, Sheridan said.

“The names don’t belong in there,” he told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. “It’s as simple as that.”

The surveillance took place over 14 months in 2005 and 2006, under the administration of former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). The former state police superintendent who authorized the operation, Thomas E. Hutchins, defended the program in testimony yesterday. Hutchins said the program was a bulwark against potential violence and called the activists “fringe people.”

Sheridan said protest groups were also entered as terrorist organizations in the databases, but his staff has not identified which ones.

Stunned senators pressed Sheridan to apologize to the activists for the spying, assailed in an independent review last week as “overreaching” by law enforcement officials who were oblivious to their violation of the activists’ rights of free expression and association. The letter, obtained by The Washington Post, does not apologize but admits that the state police have “no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime” by those classified as terrorists.

Hutchins told the committee it was not accurate to describe the program as spying. "I doubt anyone who has used that term has ever met a spy," he told the committee.

"What John Walker did is spying," Hutchins said, referring to John Walker Jr., a communications specialist for the U.S. Navy convicted of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Hutchins said the intelligence agents, whose logs were obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland as part of a lawsuit, were monitoring "open public meetings." His officers sought a "situational awareness" of the potential for disruption as death penalty opponents prepared to protest the executions of two men on death row, Hutchins said.

"I don't believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government," he said. Hutchins said he did not notify Ehrlich about the surveillance. Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said the governor had no comment.

Hutchins did not name the commander in the Division of Homeland Security and Intelligence who informed him in March 2005 that the surveillance had begun. More than a year later, after "they said, 'We're not getting much here,' " Hutchins said he cut off what he called a "low-level operation."

But Sen. James Brochin (D-Baltimore County) noted that undercover troopers used aliases to infiltrate organizational meetings, rallies and group e-mail lists. He called the spying a "deliberate infiltration to find out every piece of information necessary" on groups such as the Maryland Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance. When Hutchins called their members "fringe people," the audience of activists who filled the seats in the hearing room in Annapolis sighed.

Some activists said yesterday that they have received letters; others said they were waiting with anticipation to see whether they were on the state police watch list.

Laura Lising of Catonsville, a member of the Baltimore Coalition Against the Death Penalty, received her notification yesterday. She said she wants a hard copy of her file, because she does not trust the police to purge it. "We need as much protection as possible," she said.

Both Hutchins and Sheridan said the activists' names were entered into the state police database as terrorists partly because the software offered limited options for classifying entries.

The police also entered the activists' names into the federal Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database, which tracks suspected terrorists. One well-known antiwar activist from Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, was singled out in the intelligence logs released by the ACLU, which described a "primary crime" of "terrorism-anti-government" and a "secondary crime" of "terrorism-anti-war protesters."

Sheridan said that he did not think the names were circulated to other agencies in the federal system and that they are not on the federal government's terrorist watch list. Hutchins said some names might have been shared with the National Security Agency.

(Don't think? Might have? Of course they did, that what the militarization of our Police through the DHS and the drug war is all about-WM)

Although the independent report on the surveillance released last week said that it was part of a broad effort by the state police to gather information on protest groups across the state, Sheridan said the department is not aware of any surveillance as "intrusive" as the spying on death penalty and war opponents.

The police notified the protesters at the recommendation of former U.S. attorney and state attorney general Stephen H. Sachs, who was appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to review the covert monitoring. In a report last week, Sachs also recommended regulations that forbid such spying on protest groups unless the state police chief believes it is justified.

"I can't imagine getting a letter that says, 'You've been classified as a terrorist; come in and we'll tell about it,'" said Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel). Two senators noted that they had been arrested years ago for civil disobedience. Sen. Jennie Forehand (D-Montgomery) asked Sheridan, "Do you have any legislators on your list?" The answer was no.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100703245_pf.html

meh. it all depends really. if they were ever violent or ignorant, id slap them on a few lists.

Was John Lennon on the list?

Deja vu

I agree that ignorant people should be placed on a list.

Let's start with people that can't spell, use proper punctuation or capitalization.

ok but the internet dont count, im typing dyslexic,lol.

Correction; "doesn't count"! Doesn't!!!!!!!!!!

That makes two strikes. One more error and you are going to the top of the list.

pffft im on tons o lists yo. lol. and i really dont have the care or energy to spell check or check ym grammar,lol.

One of my instructors at college is on the terror watchlist just because she is from Iran and a granddaughter of a mullah. She is one of the finest upstanding women I have ever known. The government sux. They arnt protecting us They are preying on us. Screw the U.S. goverment. They dont do nothing right except screw things up and mess with people lives.

welcome to an age of fear. there is no peace, no respite, there is only war

Because of the government. Its all their fault. And they are the ONLY REAL THREAT.

And by the way, I dont live in fear. Maybe you do, but I dont.

nah theres alot of threats, theyre just the closest. hajjis really do hate you, and so do the russians and the french and spanish,lol.

And so does the U.S. government apparently. And by the way, France and Spain are U.S. allies so Im not sure what your talking about.

Hajis hate me? Really, because I was under the impression that our Government has been paying and working with the Mujahadin for decades.

Russians hate me? Thats odd, one of my best friends was from Russia, I guess she was just KGBing me.


French hate me? Really? I was under the impression that they hate the overwhelming Hubris that comes from our Government and promoted by our media.

The Spanish hate me? Then why do they sell me those fantastic peanuts?

Careful Mirror, you may end up on the LIST!

I don't believe they hate the American people. They hate our foriegn policy and leaders.

as for the peanuts i dont know lol. Mujahadin just means god's warriors, and hajji is a person who makes the trip to mecca, its army slang for terrorists and muslims who yes, do hate you,lol. as for russia, aka the NEW soviet union, theyre really mad at all americans for a number of things. so yeah they hate us all. theyre not gonna cry if you get run over by a t-80,lol. and the frendh theyre just pompous asses. lol. they used ot be cool, but now theyre the butt of every joke so they dont like us,lol.

What about the Germans? Do they hate us too?

they hate us cause bush grope dthe chancellor and we americans steal all their women, and i swear to god both of those statements are true, honestly. 1 1/2 years in germany taught me that one,lol.

It seems you are quite the ambassador for America. No wonder.

Well I could tell you many stories of local San Diego boys fighting/knifing the US sailors when they came into port, for stealing their local women.

lol. its sucky but true,lol. cant tell ya how many fights got started over a german wanting to go ot america so she tries to get a joe to get her pregnant,lol.