[Infowarrior] - FBI hiring moles for GOP Convention

[Richard Forno]

(Paying someone  only if their report leads to an arrest makes it  
quite likely there would be a few false arrests, don'tcha think? This  
is a convention with short-term intelligence requirements, not a  
Missing Persons alert that can conduct deeper and more rigorous  
analysis of leads received....meaning a likely situation of 'shoot- 
first, arrest-first, and ask questions later'  ---of course, once you  
get accidentally placed into 'some database' it'll probably be  
impossible to get out of....how reassuring.  -.rf)


http://articles.citypages.com/2008-05-21/news/moles-wanted/

May 21, 2008

In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is  
soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups

Moles Wanted

By Matt Snyders


Paul Carroll was riding his bike when his cell phone vibrated.

Once he arrived home from the Hennepin County Courthouse, where he’d  
been served a gross misdemeanor for spray-painting the interior of a  
campus elevator, the lanky, wavy-haired University of Minnesota  
sophomore flipped open his phone and checked his messages. He was  
greeted by a voice he recognized immediately. It belonged to U of M  
Police Sgt. Erik Swanson, the officer to whom Carroll had turned  
himself in just three weeks earlier. When Carroll called back, Swanson  
asked him to meet at a coffee shop later that day, going on to assure  
a wary Carroll that he wasn’t in trouble.

Carroll, who requested that his real name not be used, showed up early  
and waited anxiously for Swanson’s arrival. Ten minutes later, he  
says, a casually dressed Swanson showed up, flanked by a woman whom he  
introduced as FBI Special Agent Maureen E. Mazzola. For the next 20  
minutes, Mazzola would do most of the talking.

“She told me that I had the perfect ‘look,’” recalls Carroll. “And  
that I had the perfect personality—they kept saying I was friendly and  
personable—for what they were looking for.”

What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant—someone to  
show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub  
shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner  
circles, then reporting back to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force,  
a partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local  
law enforcement. The effort’s primary mission, according to the  
Minneapolis division’s website, is to “investigate terrorist acts  
carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the  
definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United  
States Attorney General Guidelines.”

Carroll would be compensated for his efforts, but only if his  
involvement yielded an arrest. No exact dollar figure was offered.

“I’ll pass,” said Carroll.

For 10 more minutes, Mazzola and Swanson tried to sway him. He  
remained obstinate.

“Well, if you change your mind, call this number,” said Mazzola,  
handing him her card with her cell phone number scribbled on the back.

(Mazzola, Swanson, and the FBI did not return numerous calls seeking  
comment.)

Carroll’s story echoes a familiar theme. During the lead-up the 2004  
Republican National Convention in New York City, the NYPD’s  
Intelligence Division infiltrated and spied on protest groups across  
the country, as well as in Canada and Europe. The program’s scope  
extended to explicitly nonviolent groups, including street theater  
troupes and church organizations.

There were also two reported instances of police officers, dressed as  
protestors, purposefully instigating clashes. At the 2004 Republican  
National Convention, the NYPD orchestrated a fake arrest to incite  
protestors. When a blond man was “arrested,” nearby protestors began  
shouting, “Let him go!” The helmeted police proceeded to push back  
against the crowd with batons and arrested at least two. In a similar  
instance, during an April 29, 2005, Critical Mass bike ride in New  
York, video footage captured a “protestor”—in reality an undercover cop 
—telling his captor, “I’m on the job,” and being subsequently let go.

Minneapolis’s own recent Critical Mass skirmish was allegedly  
initiated by two unidentified stragglers in hoods—one wearing a  
handkerchief over his or her face—who “began to make aggressive moves”  
near the back of the pack. During that humid August 31 evening,  
officers went on to arrest 19 cyclists while unleashing pepper spray  
into the faces of bystanders. The hooded duo was never apprehended.

In the scuffle’s wake, conspiracy theories swirled that the  
unprecedented surveillance—squad cars from multiple agencies and a  
helicopter hovering overhead—was due to the presence of RNC protesters  
in the ride. The MPD publicly denied this. But during the trial of  
cyclist Gus Ganley, MPD Sgt. David Stichter testified that a task  
force had been created to monitor the August 31 ride and that the  
department knew that members of an RNC protest group would be along  
for the ride.

“This is all part of a larger government effort to quell political  
dissent,” says Jordan Kushner, an attorney who represented Ganley and  
other Critical Mass arrestees. “The Joint Terrorism Task Force is  
another example of using the buzzword ‘terrorism’ as a basis to clamp  
down on people’s freedoms and push forward a more authoritarian  
government.”