Feds, Cops Track GOP Protesters
Federal agents and city police are keeping tabs on radical activists and others they believe might try to cause trouble at the Republican National Convention — making unannounced visits, conducting interviews and monitoring Web sites and meetings.
The law enforcement effort has been overshadowed by far-reaching counterterrorism measures planned for the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 event. Officials won't discuss it, other than to insist that investigators always act within the boundaries of the law.
"We're not engaging in surveillance of groups or individuals without legal predication," said Jim Margolin, spokesman for the New York office of the FBI.
Ann Roman, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, said agents expect to respond to an increase in possible domestic threats against President Bush and other dignitaries as the convention at Madison Square Garden nears. The Secret Service is also playing a lead role in planning convention security.
"How we do that specifically, I'm not going to go into," she said.
But law enforcement sources said that in recent weeks, federal agents have begun interviewing people in the New York City area they believe might know about plots to sow mayhem at the convention, and have used surveillance against possible suspects.
The intelligence unit of the New York Police Department has been closely monitoring Web sites run by self-described anarchists. It also has sought to infiltrate protest groups with young, scruffy-looking officers posing as activists.
Late Monday, the FBI issued a statment responding to a New York Times article on the intelligence gathering practices. Said assistant director Cassandra M. Chandler:
"The implication that we are conducting interviews without a legal basis is completely unfounded. The FBI is not monitoring groups, or interviewing individuals, unless we receive intelligence that such individuals or groups may be planning violent and disruptive criminal activity or have knowledge of such activity. With regard to the Democratic National Convention, the FBI did receive information that individuals were planning to conduct violent criminal activity to disrupt the convention held in Boston last month. Similar information was received regarding the Republican National Convention to be held later this month in New York. Based on this threat information the FBI conducted interviews, within the bounds of the U.S. Constitution, in order to determine the validity of the threat information. Violent acts are not protected by the U.S. Constitution and the FBI has a duty to prevent such acts and to identify and bring to justice those who commit them."