[News] FBI terrorism taskforce investigating Standing Rock activists

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-rock-fbi-investigation-dakota-access?CMP=share_btn_fb 



  Revealed: FBI terrorism taskforce investigating Standing Rock activists

Sam Levin - 10 February 2017

The FBI is investigating political activists campaigning against the 
Dakota Access pipeline 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/dakota-access-pipeline>, diverting 
agents charged with preventing terrorist attacks to instead focus their 
attention on indigenous activists and environmentalists.

The Guardian has established that multiple officers within the FBI’s 
joint terrorism taskforce have attempted to contact at least three 
people tied to the Standing Rock “water protector” movement in North 
Dakota <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/north-dakota>.

The purpose of the officers’ inquiries into Standing Rock, and scope of 
the task force’s work, remains unknown. Agency officials declined to 
comment. But the fact that the officers have even tried to communicate 
with activists is alarming to free-speech experts who argue that 
anti-terrorism agents have no business scrutinizing protesters.

While tribal leaders have urged activists to let the fight play out in 
the courts, many on the ground have called for a final push as pipeline 
moves ahead

“The idea that the government would attempt to construe this 
indigenous-led non-violent movement into some kind of domestic terrorism 
investigation is unfathomable to me,” said Lauren Regan, a civil rights 
attorney who has provided legal support to demonstrators who were 
contacted by representatives of the FBI 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/fbi>. “It’s outrageous, it’s 
unwarranted … and it’s unconstitutional.”

Regan, who has regularly visited Standing Rock and is the executive 
director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center <https://cldc.org/> in 
Oregon, said she learned of three cases in which officers with the 
taskforce, known as the JTTF, tried to talk to activists in person. She 
described the encounters as attempted “knocks and talks”, meaning law 
enforcement showed up at people’s doors without a subpoena or warrant 
and tried to get them to voluntarily cooperate with an interview.

The three individuals, who include a Native American and a 
non-indigenous activist, asserted their fifth amendment rights and did 
not respond to the officers, according to Regan, who declined to 
identify them to protect their privacy and out of fear of retribution.

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Two of them were contacted in North Dakota and a third at their home 
outside the state, according to Regan. She said all three contacts were 
made in recent weeks after Trump’s inauguration.

Trump, a former investor in Energy Transfer Partners 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/26/donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline-investment-energy-transfer-partners>, 
the Texas-based firm behind the pipeline, took executive action in his 
first week in office to expedite the project 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/07/dakota-access-pipeline-approved-standing-rock-sioux>. 
On Wednesday, workers began drilling to complete the pipeline across the 
Missouri river 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/09/dakota-access-pipeline-cheyenne-river-sioux-legal-action>.

The JTTF revelation comes at a time when there have been increasing 
concerns at Standing Rock about law enforcement surveillance 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/31/north-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-mass-facebook-check-in>, 
police violence 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/29/standing-rock-protest-north-dakota-shutdown-evacuation> 
and the targeted arrests and prosecutions of activists.

Since the summer, law enforcement officials have made roughly 700 
arrests 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/01/standing-rock-arrests-dakota-access-pipeline-construction>, 
in some cases leading to serious felony charges 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/north-dakota-access-pipeline-standing-rock-legal-fine-threats> 
and possibly lengthy state prison sentences. Following recent 
indictments, at least six activists are now facing charges in federal 
court 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/03/dakota-pipeline-activist-red-fawn-fallis-accused-shooting-police-pacifist>. 
Rumors about JTTF have caused further stress among the activists.

Regan said she was able to confirm the identity of one of the JTTF 
officers, Andrew Creed, who attempted to contact an activist. Reached by 
phone, he declined to comment to the Guardian, saying, “I can’t talk to 
you” before hanging up.

An FBI spokesman, Jeffrey Van Nest, also declined to answer any 
questions, saying: “We’re not in a position to provide a comment as to 
the existence of an investigation.”

In November, a JTTF officer also showed up to the hospital room 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/23/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-sophia-wilansky-injury> 
of Sophia Wilansky, a 21-year-old who was seriously injured 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/22/dakota-access-pipeline-protester-seriously-hurt-during-police-standoff-standing-rock> 
during a standoff with law enforcement 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/23/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-sophia-wilansky-injury> 
at Standing Rock, according to her father, Wayne Wilansky. The FBI took 
her clothes and still have not returned them, he said in an interview 
this week.

Wayne said he suspected that the FBI brought a terrorism agent given 
that local police had alleged that activists set off an explosion that 
caused his daughter’s injuries 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/23/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-sophia-wilansky-injury>. 
Witnesses have said they believe she was hit by a police concussion 
grenade.

The timing of the FBI hospital visit in Minneapolis was upsetting, he 
added. “It was especially disturbing, because Sophia’s blood pressure 
was going up. She was about to be wheeled into surgery.”

<about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2017%2Ffeb%2F10%2Fstanding-rock-fbi-investigation-dakota-access%3FCMP%3Dshare_btn_fb#img-3>Police 
have repeatedly painted the anti-pipeline movement as dangerous, which 
is why JTTF may be involved, Regan said.

“From the very beginning, local law enforcement has attempted to justify 
its militarized presence … by making false allegations that somehow 
these water protectors were violent.”

Both projects were opposed by grassroots groups, mired in court battles 
and produced high-profile clashes between environmentalists and energy 
interests

The attorney said it also seemed likely that JTTF may have contacted 
other water protectors and said she worried they may not have realized 
their best option is to remain silent and contact a lawyer 
<https://cldc.org/>.

This is not the first time the JTTF has been tied to an investigation of 
civil rights protesters. Records from Minnesota 
<https://theintercept.com/2015/03/12/fbi-appeared-use-informant-track-black-lives-matter-protest/> 
suggested that the taskforce monitored a Black Lives Matter demonstration.

For indigenous leaders who have vowed to continue fighting the pipeline 
on the ground 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/08/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-last-stand>, 
the FBI investigations and ongoing federal prosecutions have become 
increasingly worrisome. It’s particularly troubling to some given the US 
government’s history of aggressively targeting Native American 
protesters and turning them into political prisoners 
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/21/leonard-peltier-clemency-obama-pine-ridge>. 


“This is history repeating itself,” said LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, who 
founded the first camp opposing the pipeline. “I keep on thinking, how 
we did come to this point? … When did Americans lose their rights? When 
did America stop following the law?”

Brandy-Lee Maxie, a 34-year-old Nakota tribe member from Canada, said 
it’s difficult not to worry about possible prosecution. But the cause, 
she said, is too important to give up: “I’m staying here. Whatever 
happens to those who stay happens. We’ve just gotta keep praying.”

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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