California law enforcement hamstrung in efforts to combat violent groups like the Earth Liberation Front, the Animal Liberation Front, the Ruckus Society, and Earth First!

[Guest guest]

State's terror analysts reined in

Lockyer tells them to avoid intelligence on religious, political groups

without clear suspicion

By Ian Hoffman and Sean Holstege

STAFF WRITERS

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1513326,00.html#

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - California law-enforcement officers are getting

new marching orders in combating terrorism: Don't collect intelligence on

religious and political activities without clear suspicion that people or

groups are involved in a crime.

 

On Monday, state attorney general Bill Lockyer promised sweeping new

guidelines on intelligence gathering and surveillance of people not

suspected of crimes.

 

Lockyer's commitment trailed 19 months of pressure by civil libertarians

and a series of reports by the Oakland Tribune showing how state

intelligence analysts issued warnings about political protest groups.

 

Under a Tribune public records request, Lockyer released 30 such

communiques, labelled " Terrorism Advisory " or " Law Enforcement Advisory, "

that name 14 anti-war, environmental or left-wing activist groups active

in the Bay Area.

 

" I strongly agree with the need to make clear that we don't investigate

religious and political groups unless there's been criminal activity, "

Lockyer said Monday after negotiations with attorneys for ACLU Northern

California and ACLU Southern California.

 

Civil libertarians roundly praised Lockyer's move, believed to be among

the first state-ordered constraints on intelligence gathering since the

Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

 

" We're very heartened, " said Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy

director for ACLU Northern California. " These are core civil liberties

issues, protected by California's constitution, and we appreciate the

effort made by Attorney General Lockyer to issue these guide-

 

lines. "

 

State Justice Department staff also are re-writing an official state

definition of terrorism to mirror the one used in the federal Homeland

Security Act of 2002, as a guide to intelligence analysts at the

California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC). Unlike federal law,

however, the state's terrorism guide will pointedly steer intelligence

analysts away from looking at protest acts of civil disobedience or minor

law-breaking to make a political point.

 

" We hope to do a variety of things to be sure that our agents and allies

in law enforcement don't interpret it in ways that would allow spying on

political groups or infiltrating mosques or things of that sort that I

guess some believe could be done under the federal guidelines, " Lockyer

said. " We explicitly reject any work of that sort in California. It

doesn't have criminal predicate and that's the basis of our investigative

activities. "

 

Justice Department attorneys plan to give examples as an illustration to

intelligence analysts -- such as a protester who lays down in front of a

bus.

 

" That's not something we consider as having any causal relationship or any

factual relationship to terrorism activity, " said Peter Siggins, Lockyer's

chief deputy for legal affairs.

 

" As opposed to a protester who throws a brick through a window, " added

Steve Cooney, the deputy attorney general for administration and policy.

 

" It depends on the window, " said Siggins. " We don't see as particularly

terrorist-related someone breaking the front window of Macy's because they

want to protest the fact that they sell fur coats.... To attack that under

the rubric of terrorism is, I think, not right. "

 

The exchange illustrates the kind of uncertain territory where CATIC's

intelligence analysts repeatedly have ventured, issuing bulletins labelled

as " terrorism advisories " on protest events.

 

Since its inception on Sept. 25, 2001, at a press conference featuring

Gov. Gray Davis and Lockyer, CATIC has issued 30 special advisories that

mention political groups in the Bay Area alone.

 

In addition to the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front,

which the FBI labels terrorist organizations, CATIC also kept tabs on

Critical Mass, Black Bloc, the Ruckus Society, International ANSWER, Earth

First and nuclear-disarmament groups.

 

Also mentioned: Bay Area Pledge, Not In Our Name, People for the Ethical

Treatment of Animals, Sea Shepherd, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, the

Bay Area Independent Media Center and the International Action Center.

 

CATIC's Situation Unit issued the advisories statewide and across the

nation on an electronic law enforcement network. The communiques show that

state terrorism analysts were worried that anarchists would hijack

political rallies and steer them into violence. On at least one occasion,

CATIC's intelligence analysts appeared to solicit law enforcement agents

to attend events.

 

On Feb. 7, CATIC warned of an upcoming symposium at Fresno State

University, in which an Earth Liberation Front member who had been

convicted for firebombing an animal research center would be speaking. The

bulletin notes that there was no " tangible threat, " but advised law

enforcement to " remain vigilant, " and then to communicate with authorities

if they planned to attend the event. Lockyer's office kept secret the

identity of those contacts.

 

A heavily blacked-out advisory on the " Iraqi Threat Assessment " describes

California's vulnerability from impending war " mainly in the form of civil

disobedience via anti-war activities. " Another alert compares the anti-war

movement to that during the Vietnam War.

 

The documents reinforce mounting evidence that CATIC's April 2 dispatch

about an upcoming protest at the Port of Oakland was hardly isolated,

although Lockyer has consistently held that it was a mistake and an

aberration.

 

" Frankly there hasn't been a lot of abuse that we've found of that

system, " Lockyer said Monday. " As I've reread the April 2 bulletin on the

Port of Oakland, frankly if it hadn't been on the CATIC letterhead, I

don't think anyone would have cared. But it was on the CATIC letterhead

and that was a mistake. "

 

He repeated earlier claims that " We don't collect information on

individuals or groups without a criminal predicate. "

 

The April 2 alert warned local authorities that a " potential for violence "

existed at the protest, based on CATIC's assessment of Ruckus Society

tactics.

 

A day earlier, CATIC issued a lengthy advisory entitled " American

Eco-Terrorists Declare War. " The notice quotes an anonymous Earth

Liberation Front spokesman, who " urged radicals to ditch 'pointless'

protests and wage outright acts of terror 'using any means necessary'

" against " American military establishments, urban centers, corporations,

government buildings and media outlets. "

 

The April 1 alert goes on to warn of " Black Bloc techniques " and noted

that the group had claimed responsibility for $43 million in vandalism.

 

On April 4, Oakland Sgt. Derwin Longmire sent an e-mail to 14 colleagues,

including those who supervised the protest, paraphrasing the CATIC alert.

The e-mail went out on the same day Oakland police met with San Francisco

Deputy Police Chief Rick Bruce to formulate a strategy and told him they

would compensate for thin resources by using " less-than-lethal force, " if

needed.

 

On April 7, OPD officers fired wooden slugs and bean bags at protesters,

resulting in people being hospitalized, a city investigation and a civil

rights lawsuit.

 

A year before CATIC warned about potential violence at Oakland's docks, it

issued a very similar warning about a bicycle activist rally in Berkeley

on May Day.

 

" A Reclaim the Streets party will be held in Berkeley by anarchists,

Critical Mass participants -- bicyclists -- and others, " the April 30,

2002 communique said, adding that at a similar protest a year before

protesters " set trash cans on fire " and " burned a car in the street. "

 

Lockyer bristled at the suggestion that sending such warnings from an

anti-terrorism intelligence center under a heading that read " Midday

Intelligence Briefing On Terrorism Activities " implied a potential link

with terrorism and a greater threat to the state's security.

 

" If people want to do that, OK, it's just very unfair in my view, " Lockyer

said. " I've agreed we're going to scrub that and narrow it and make local

law enforcement less informed in order to address anyone's sensitivity

about this topic. "

 

The California Justice Department still will issue those warnings, he

said, just not under the insignia of its anti-terrorism center.

 

Contact Ian Hoffman at ihoffman and Sean Holstege at

sholstege .