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href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-rock-fbi-investigation-dakota-access?CMP=share_btn_fb">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-rock-fbi-investigation-dakota-access?CMP=share_btn_fb</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Revealed: FBI terrorism taskforce
investigating Standing Rock activists</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">Sam Levin - 10 February
2017<span class="content__dateline-time"><br>
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<p>The FBI is investigating political activists
campaigning against the <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/dakota-access-pipeline"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">Dakota
Access pipeline</a>, diverting agents charged with
preventing terrorist attacks to instead focus their
attention on indigenous activists and environmentalists.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/north-dakota"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">North
Dakota</a>.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<aside class="element element-rich-link element--thumbnail
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<div class="rich-link__container">
<p class="rich-link__standfirst u-cf"> 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 </p>
</div>
</div>
</aside>
<p>“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 <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/fbi"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">FBI</a>.
“It’s outrageous, it’s unwarranted … and it’s
unconstitutional.”</p>
<p>Regan, who has regularly visited Standing Rock and is
the executive director of the <a
href="https://cldc.org/" data-link-name="in body link"
class="u-underline">Civil Liberties Defense Center</a>
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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
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<p>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. </p>
<p>Trump, a former <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/26/donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline-investment-energy-transfer-partners"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">investor
in Energy Transfer Partners</a>, the Texas-based firm
behind the pipeline, took executive action in his first
week in office to <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/07/dakota-access-pipeline-approved-standing-rock-sioux"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">expedite
the project</a>. On Wednesday, workers began <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/09/dakota-access-pipeline-cheyenne-river-sioux-legal-action"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">drilling
to complete the pipeline across the Missouri river</a>.</p>
<p>The JTTF revelation comes at a time when there have
been increasing concerns at Standing Rock about <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/31/north-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-mass-facebook-check-in"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">law
enforcement surveillance</a>, <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/29/standing-rock-protest-north-dakota-shutdown-evacuation"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">police
violence</a> and the targeted arrests and prosecutions
of activists. </p>
<p>Since the summer, law enforcement officials have made <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/01/standing-rock-arrests-dakota-access-pipeline-construction"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">roughly
700 arrests</a>, in some cases leading to <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/north-dakota-access-pipeline-standing-rock-legal-fine-threats"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">serious
felony charges</a> and possibly lengthy state prison
sentences. Following recent indictments, at least six
activists are now <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/03/dakota-pipeline-activist-red-fawn-fallis-accused-shooting-police-pacifist"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">facing
charges in federal court</a>. Rumors about JTTF have
caused further stress among the activists.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.” </p>
<p>In November, a JTTF officer also <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/23/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-sophia-wilansky-injury"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">showed
up to the hospital room</a> of Sophia Wilansky, a <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/22/dakota-access-pipeline-protester-seriously-hurt-during-police-standoff-standing-rock"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">21-year-old
who was seriously injured</a> during a <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/23/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-sophia-wilansky-injury"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">standoff
with law enforcement</a> 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. </p>
<p>Wayne said he suspected that the FBI brought a
terrorism agent given that local police had alleged that
activists set off an explosion that <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/23/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-sophia-wilansky-injury"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">caused
his daughter’s injuries</a>. Witnesses have said they
believe she was hit by a police concussion grenade. </p>
<p>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.” </p>
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</a>Police have repeatedly painted the anti-pipeline
movement as dangerous, which is why JTTF may be
involved, Regan said. </figure>
<p>“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.” </p>
<aside class="element element-rich-link element--thumbnail
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data-link-name="rich-link-2 | 2">
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<p class="rich-link__standfirst u-cf"> Both projects
were opposed by grassroots groups, mired in court
battles and produced high-profile clashes between
environmentalists and energy interests </p>
</div>
</div>
</aside>
<p>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 <a href="https://cldc.org/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">contact
a lawyer</a>. </p>
<p>This is not the first time the JTTF has been tied to an
investigation of civil rights protesters. <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2015/03/12/fbi-appeared-use-informant-track-black-lives-matter-protest/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Records
from Minnesota</a> suggested that the taskforce
monitored a Black Lives Matter demonstration.</p>
<p>For indigenous leaders who have vowed to <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/08/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-last-stand"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">continue
fighting the pipeline on the ground</a>, 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 <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/21/leonard-peltier-clemency-obama-pine-ridge"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">political
prisoners</a>. </p>
<p>“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?” </p>
<p>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.” </p>
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