Category: - First Amendment - TARGETED AMERICA

Coalition Letter on Reauthorization of Patriot Act's Section 215

4/15/2019

Letter from ACLU and 40 other groups requesting that Congress review Section 215 of the Patriot Act

March 18, 2019

The Honorable Jerrold Nadler
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Doug Collins
Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Nadler and Ranking Member Collins:

The undersigned organizations, which are dedicated to preserving privacy, civil liberties, and advancing transparency and accountability, write to request that you hold hearings and make public information critical to permit an informed debate over the reauthorization of Section 215 and other provisions of the Patriot Act, which are set to expire December 15, 2019. . . .

Access Now, ADC American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association, Americans for Prosperity, Arab American Institute, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Call Detail Records, Carpenter v. United States 138 S.Ct. 2206, Cell Phones, Center for Democracy & Technology, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Color Of Change, Committee on the Judiciary, Consumer Action, Council on American-Islamic Relations, CREDO Action, Committee on Oversight and Reform, Defending Rights & Dissent, Demand Progress, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, First Amendment, FISA Amendments Act, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Free Press Action, FreedomWorks, Government Accountability Project, Government Information Watch, Government Transparency, Human Rights Watch, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Indivisible, Liberty Coalition, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, Muslim Justice League, Muslim Public Affairs Council, NAACP, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Immigration Law Center, National Security, National Security Agency, New America's Open Technology Institute, Open the Government, Patriot Act, PEN America, Privacy, Project on Government Oversight, Restore The Fourth Inc., Section 215 of the Patriot Act, Section 702 of FISA Amendments Act, TechFreedom, Telephones, Transparency International, “Unique Identifiers", USA Freedom Act, US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

The Government Had to Approve This Op-Ed: Prepublication review of the writings of current and former federal employees violates their First Amendment rights.

4/2/2019

The New York Times April 2, 2019
By Mark Fallon
Mr. Fallon worked for the federal government for 31 years.

Between the time I wrote these words and the time that you are reading them, a team of government censors decided how much of what I wrote you would get to see. Fortunately, it was cleared without redactions. But I haven’t always been so fortunate.

There are millions of others like me who face this scrutiny as present and former employees of the armed services and a dozen other government agencies, from the C.I.A. and F.B.I. to the State and Energy Departments. We have faithfully carried out our duties and upheld our oaths of allegiance to the Constitution. Many of us earned the highest trust of our country, serving in roles that brought us in contact with government secrets and classified material. We have honored and repaid that trust, guarding sensitive information and fulfilling the obligations associated with our security clearances. . . .

9/11 Terrorist Attacks, American Civil Liberties Union, Censorship, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Federal, Federal Employees, First Amendment, Government, Government Transparency, Knight First Amendment Institute, Lawsuits, Prisoners, State Department, Torture

Alarm over leaked US database targeting journalists and immigration activists: Secret database listed 59 advocates and journalists tied to the migrant caravan, according to leaked documents

3/20/2019

The Guardian Wed 20 Mar 2019 03.00 EDT
Amanda Holpuch and Lauren Aratani

Photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped for a secondary screening three separate times in one week while crossing the US-Mexico border to cover the migrant caravan in Tijuana this winter – unaware that the journey she had taken countless times before was suddenly more complicated because her name was logged in a secret government database.

That database, part of something called Operation Secure Line, listed 59 advocates and journalists tied to the migrant caravan, according to leaked documents obtained by local news station NBC 7. . . .

Activists, American Civil Liberties Union, Congressional Inquiry, Customs and Border Protection, First Amendment, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Immigration, "Instigators", Journalists, Lawyers, Mexican Border, Migrant Workers, Operation Secure Line, Organizers, Secondary Security Screening Selection, Watchlisting

Report: Government Kept Database On Journalists, ‘Instigators’A San Diego TV station accessed leaked documents, revealing the operation.

3/6/2019

HUFFINGTON POST 03/06/2019 11:14 pm ET

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S. government ran an operation to screen journalists, activists and others while investigating last year’s migrant caravan from Mexico, a San Diego TV station reported Wednesday, citing leaked documents.

Dossiers that included photos from their passports or social media accounts, date of birth and other details were kept in a database and some freelance journalists had alerts placed on their passports and were flagged for secondary screenings at customs points, the station KNSD-TV said. . . .

Activists, American Civil Liberties Union, Civil Rights, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, First Amendment, "Instigators", Journalists, Lawyers, Mexican Border, Operation Secure Line, Organizers, Secondary Security Screening Selection, Surveillance, Watchlisting

Federal appeals court revives mosque surveillance claim

3/1/2019

Jurist MARCH 1, 2019 04:21:01 PM
Thomas DeLorenzo

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled Thursday that a federal district court improperly limited the scope of a lawsuit alleging that the FBI had illegally targeted mosques and Islamic individuals for surveillance on a basis of religion.

The suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California on behalf of an Imam and two Muslim parishioners, charged that the FBI had illegally and unconstitutionally conducted espionage of their mosque based solely on their religion, violating due process and First Amendment protections. The FBI countered that their activities were protected by state secret privileges and that to defend against the allegations in court would threaten national security by exposing the FBI’s anti-terrorism activities to public scrutiny. The district judge agreed with the FBI’s defense and dismissed the majority of the claims in 2012. . . .

American Civil Liberties Union, Civil Rights, Federal Bureau of Investigation, First Amendment, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Law Enforcement, Muslims, National Security, State Secret Privileges, Surveillance, Terrorism

Revealed: FBI investigated civil rights group as 'terrorism' threat and viewed KKK as victims: Bureau spied on California activists, citing potential ‘conspiracy’ against the ‘rights’ of neo-Nazis

2/1/2019

The Guardian Fri 1 Feb 2019 03.01 EST
Sam Levin
The FBI opened a “domestic terrorism” investigation into a civil rights group in California, labeling the activists “extremists” after they protested against neo-Nazis in 2016, new documents reveal.

Federal authorities ran a surveillance operation on By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), spying on the leftist group’s movements in an inquiry that came after one of BAMN’s members was stabbed at the white supremacist rally, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. . . .

Anarchist Extremism, By Any Means Necessary, Civil Rights, Civil Rights Organizations, Domestic Terrorism, Federal Bureau of Investigation, First Amendment, FOIA Requests, Ku Klux Klan, Law Enforcement, Neo-Nazis, Police Brutality, Property of the People, Rape and Sexual Assault, Sacramento, Surveillance, Traditionalist Worker Party, White Supremacists

IN THE NEWS

Coalition Letter on Reauthorization of Patriot Act's Section 215

The Government Had to Approve This Op-Ed: Prepublication review of the writings of current and former federal employees violates their First Amendment rights.

Alarm over leaked US database targeting journalists and immigration activists: Secret database listed 59 advocates and journalists tied to the migrant caravan, according to leaked documents

Report: Government Kept Database On Journalists, ‘Instigators’A San Diego TV station accessed leaked documents, revealing the operation.

Federal appeals court revives mosque surveillance claim

Revealed: FBI investigated civil rights group as 'terrorism' threat and viewed KKK as victims: Bureau spied on California activists, citing potential ‘conspiracy’ against the ‘rights’ of neo-Nazis

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