State peace groups fear surveillance MCLU files request, questions FBI actions

BANGOR – Peace activists in Maine, with some help from the Maine Civil Liberties Union, are asking if they’ve been under FBI surveillance or investigation for their anti-war activities.

An attorney for the MCLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Wednesday with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, the organization announced in a press release.

The FOIA request was made on behalf of 15 individuals and seven organizations, including the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor.

“Do Americans really want to return to the days when criticizing the government was grounds for FBI surveillance?” Shenna Bellows, MCLU executive director, asked in a press release e-mailed on Wednesday to media outlets in Maine. “The FBI should be spending its time and our taxpayer dollars in going after real terrorists – not law abiding peace and justice activists.”

The Maine effort is part of a nationwide attempt by the MCLU’s parent organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, to see if there is a coordinated effort by government agencies to gather information about the activities of groups that oppose President Bush’s policies.

Through a series of FOIA requests filed last year by the ACLU, the organization found that the FBI and local police in many communities are “spying” on peace activists, environmental groups and civil rights leaders.

The ACLU has alleged that the FBI has withheld documents that could shed light on the bureau’s surveillance of such groups. The FBI released late on Tuesday a short statement in response to press releases sent out by the ACLU and its state affiliates.

“It is the FBI’s top priority to prevent any act of terrorism,” the release stated, “which requires special agents of the FBI to thoroughly investigate every credible threat received.”

Ilze Petersons, Peace and Justice program coordinator at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, is one of the individuals on whose behalf the MCLU has requested information.

She said Thursday that she was not sure if the FBI has observed the organization’s peace activities.

“I don’t know if we’ve been watched,” Petersons said. “There have been people taking pictures of us, but I don’t know if it’s [the FBI].

“The best outcome would be that there is no file. That would reassure people that they can comfortably stand up for what they believe in.”

Other individuals for whom information has been requested include former Maine Assistant Attorney General Stephen Wessler, who is now director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence in Portland; Tom Ewell, longtime executive director of the Maine Council of Churches in Portland; and Timothy Sullivan of Orland, a coordinator of the Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice.

Other groups seeking to discover if their activities have been under surveillance include Veterans for Peace, Peace Action Maine, the MCLU and the MCLU Foundation.