The Justice Department has now revealed that the FBI has thousands of pages of files on various activist groups including civil rights groups, environmental groups and other similar organizations. Included on the list are Greenpeace and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The leaders of the organizations believe that evidence will show these pages have been scrutinized by the FBI as part of the government's anti-terror efforts.
The FBI has admitted it has approximately 1,173 pages related to the ACLU and 2,383 pages about Greenpeace according to a published report in the Associated Press. The documents are now under review but will not be released until next June according to a filing in a U.S. District Court.
The members of these organizations are concerned because it means that the FBI has been monitoring groups that are engaging in lawful conduct.
'I know for an absolute fact that we have not been involved in anything related to promoting terrorism and yet the government has collected almost 1,200 pages on our activities,' Romero said. 'Why is the ACLU now the subject of scrutiny from the FBI?'
Greenpeace's U.S. Director, John Passacantando added, 'This administration has a history of using its powers against its peaceful critics. If, in fact, the FBI has been deployed to help in that effort, that would be quite shocking.'
One memo dated September 4, 2003 dealt with Internet sites that were promoting protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention.
'Why is this being labeled as counter terrorism when it's nothing more protests at a political convention, a lawful First Amendment activity?' Romero asked.
