NSA used (Baltimore)city police as trackers(of Peace Group)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.nsa13jan13,1,3964287.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

The National Security Agency used law enforcement agencies, including the Baltimore Police Department, to track members of a city anti-war group as they prepared for protests outside the sprawling Fort Meade facility, internal NSA documents show.

The target of the clandestine surveillance was the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, a group loosely affiliated with the local chapter of the American Friends Service Committee, whose members include many veteran city peace activists with a history of nonviolent civil disobedience.

Under various names, the activists have staged protests at the NSA campus off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway every year since 1996.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, members of the group say, their protests have come under increasing scrutiny by federal and local law enforcement officials working on behalf of the NSA.

[LiberalEsto]

1. That doesn't surprise me

When we held a rather impromptu peace demo in Rockville, MD last fall, the Montgomery County police showed up with amazing speed.

One cop -- who wore a Homeland Security sweatshirt -- stayed to "babysit" us. He sat in his van and watched every move we made. Other cops kept stopping in the parking lot, or driving by on Rt. 355.

As if a couple dozen mostly aging peaceniks are seriously any kind of threat to anyone.

[rodeodance]

2. Local police should NOT be involved in this mess.