Surveillance Of MIT: From COINTELPRO to Chelsea Manning

Surveillance of MIT: From Cointelpro to Chelsea Manning

Saul Tannenbaum@stannenb

saultannenbaum.org

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COINTELPRO – Counterintelligence Program

“The FBI began COINTELPRO in 1956 to disrupt the activities of the Communist Party of the United States. In the 1960s, it was expanded to include a number of other domestic groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Black Panther Party. All COINTELPRO operations were ended in 1971. … COINTELPRO was later rightfully criticized by Congress and the American people for abridging first amendment rights and for other reasons.” - vault.fbi.gov

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July, 1968

Some things don’t change“serious-mind young people … little time for outside activity”

They read The Tech to discover “ringleaders”

June, 1969

Problem: MIT Humanities Dept. employing “radical-type” instructors

June 1969

Tangible ResultsInstructor’s “automatic” renewal of contract halted

January 29, 1969

“The Daily Reamer”: “not … sufficiently obnoxious to warrant” interference with advertising, except the NSA

October 31, 1967

It’s not like harassment was a secretFrom The Tech

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Chelsea Manning

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Wikileaks Timeline

✤ Early January 2010: Manning downloads Iraq/Afghan war logs

✤ Late January 2010: Manning visits Cambridge and MIT independent living group PIKA

✤ Early February 2010: Manning provides Wikileaks with war logs

MIT/Manning Connections

Manning PGP key signed by Daniel Clark, PIKA resident

Manning/MIT Connections

✤ David House, then MIT researcher, founded Bradly Manning Support Network

✤ Laptop seized without warrant at the border

✤ Summoned before Wikileaks Grand Jury

✤ Wikileaks Grand Jury has subpoenaed one other unnamed “Cambridge resident”

✤ Wikileaks Grand Jury still sitting, investigation still open

✤ Wikileaks investigation seems pretty clearly to have used all the NSA “dragnet” techniques that have been disclosed

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How many hops away from a “terrorist” are you?