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?