FBI and police keep watch on political activists and others

By Tom Hays
The Associated Press

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"Just a visit by the FBI has overtones," said Young, 68, an activist who says the government has been monitoring a Web site he runs ever since the agents visited late last year. "Whether you've done anything wrong or not, you think, 'Oh no.' "

With the Republican National Convention less than two weeks away, federal agents and city police are keeping tabs on activists and others they think might try to cause trouble. They are making unannounced visits to people's homes, conducting interviews and monitoring Web sites and meetings.

The effort has been overshadowed by far-reaching counterterrorism measures planned for the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 event. Officials will not discuss it on the record, other than to say investigators always act within the law.

"Violent acts are not protected by the U.S. Constitution, and the FBI has a duty to prevent such acts and to identify and bring to justice those who commit them," FBI Assistant Director Cassandra Chandler said yesterday.

Ann Roman, a Secret Service spokeswoman, said agents expect to respond to an increase in possible domestic threats against President Bush and other dignitaries as the convention at Madison Square Garden nears. "How we do that specifically, I'm not going to go into," she said.

According to three law-enforcement sources, federal agents in New York have begun interviewing people they think might know about plots to sow mayhem at the convention and have used surveillance against possible suspects.

The intelligence unit of the New York Police Department has been watching Web sites run by self-described anarchists. It also has sent officers posing as activists to protest-organizing meetings, said one high-ranking law-enforcement source, who requested anonymity.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, raised an alarm, arguing that few people know they have a right to turn away the FBI.

"Political interrogation without suspicion of criminal activity harkens back to the bad old days of the McCarthy era," she said. "The FBI does not have a right to intimidate people for criticizing the government."

Officials deny the operation threatens civil rights. They note that the FBI interviews are voluntary and that protest meetings and Internet postings being monitored are public forums.
 
In recent weeks, several people linked to anarchist groups in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and elsewhere have reported being "harassed" by federal agents about the convention.

Many activists fear a repeat of the last Republican convention, in Philadelphia, where authorities were accused of rounding up protesters on trumped-up charges before they could take to the streets. Police raided a warehouse and seized puppets that protesters planned to use as props, and arrested an organizer on misdemeanor charges and held him on $1 million bail before his case was dropped.

Authorities in New York say no pre-emptive strikes are planned.

"We're not looking to get people with open warrants or anything like that," the law-enforcement source said. "We'll only arrest them if they commit vandalism or other illegal acts on 'game day.' "

In Manhattan, Young caught law enforcement's attention by what he described as an innocent attempt to expose gaps in national security through his Web site, www.cryptome.org. Recent postings feature diagrams, maps and photos of rail tunnels and gas lines leading toward Madison Square Garden.

The goal, he said, was "to point out what's not being protected."

In November, two FBI agents arrived at his apartment and told him they believed information on his site "could be used to harm the United States," he said.

"They were very polite," he said. "They made it clear that nothing I was doing was illegal."

The agents also suggested he could help them identify threats, an idea he rejected as "an invitation to be an informant."

Since then, Young said, his Web site has recorded a "tremendous number" of hits from the Justice Department and — in recent weeks — the NYPD.

"It certainly is chilling," he said.