The complete record

17 incidents matching your filters.

January 2023

Jan 23, 2023Richmond, VA

FBI Richmond field office memo profiles 'Radical Traditionalist Catholics' as extremism threat

A January 2023 internal FBI Richmond memo, later released by a House Judiciary subcommittee, proposed using sources within Catholic parishes to investigate ties between 'radical traditionalist Catholic' ideology and racially motivated violent extremism. The FBI rescinded the memo after public disclosure.

Surveillance#FBI#Religious Expression

April 2021

Verified

Apr 21, 2021Washington, DC

U.S. Postal Service 'iCOP' Program Illegally Monitors Americans' Social Media Posts

Yahoo News revealed in April 2021 that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service had been running a covert program called Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) that monitored Americans' social media posts for keywords like 'protest,' 'attack,' and 'destroy,' which the USPIS Inspector General later found exceeded the agency's legal authority.

Surveillance#biden-admin#usps

December 2020

Verified

Dec 10, 2020Washington, DC

Supreme Court rules unanimously in Tanzin v. Tanvir that Muslim men placed on No Fly List after refusing to inform on mosques can seek damages

On December 10, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (8-0, Justice Thomas writing) in Tanzin v. Tanvir that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act permits money-damages suits against federal officials in their individual capacities. The plaintiffs — Muhammad Tanvir, Jameel Algibhah, and Naveed Shinwari — alleged they were placed or kept on the No Fly List in retaliation for refusing to act as FBI informants in Muslim communities. On remand in 2023, the FBI agents were granted qualified immunity, a ruling affirmed by the Second Circuit in October 2024.

Surveillance#Tanzin v. Tanvir#RFRA

June 2020

Verified

Jun 1, 2020Minneapolis, MN

FBI Misuses Surveillance Authorities to Investigate BLM Protesters After George Floyd Killing

A declassified May 2023 ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court found that the FBI had improperly used national security surveillance authorities to query the communications of Black Lives Matter protesters and individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, targeting people engaged in constitutionally protected activities.

Surveillance#trump-admin-1#biden-admin

July 2015

Verified

Jul 13, 2015Washington, DC

Filmmaker Laura Poitras detained more than 50 times at borders; files FOIA suit over watchlist status

Between approximately 2006 and 2012, Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras was detained and subjected to secondary screening more than 50 times when entering the United States and at foreign airports. Agents seized and copied her notebooks, cameras, and storage drives, and questioned her about her journalistic sources. The detentions began after her 2006 Iraq war documentary My Country, My Country and intensified in the years leading up to her work with Edward Snowden. In July 2015 she filed a FOIA suit (Poitras v. DHS et al., D.D.C.) seeking records about the basis for her targeting.

Surveillance#Laura Poitras#DHS

June 2014

Verified

Jun 24, 2014Portland, OR

Latif v. Holder ruling holds DHS no-fly list redress process constitutionally inadequate

On June 30, 2010, the ACLU filed Latif v. Holder in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on behalf of 15 American Muslim plaintiffs — including U.S. Marine veteran Ayman Latif — who had been denied boarding on flights and were unable to clear their status through the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP). The Ninth Circuit (686 F.3d 1122) ruled in 2012 that the no-fly list significantly burdened liberty and triggered due-process protections. In 2014, U.S. District Judge Anna Brown held that the existing TRIP process was constitutionally inadequate; the government subsequently revised its procedures.

Surveillance#Latif v. Holder#No Fly List

January 2014

Verified

Jan 14, 2014San Francisco, CA

Stanford PhD student Rahinah Ibrahim wins no-fly list case after court finds FBI clerical error caused 9-year travel ban

On January 2, 2005, Stanford architecture PhD student Rahinah Ibrahim, a Malaysian national, was handcuffed and detained at San Francisco International Airport after being placed on the U.S. No Fly List. She was later denied a visa, stranding her outside the U.S. for nearly a decade. After years of litigation in which the government invoked the state secrets privilege, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found on January 14, 2014, that an FBI agent had checked the wrong box on a nomination form in 2004 — erroneously placing her on the No Fly List rather than recommending against it. The court ordered her removed from all watchlists.

Surveillance#Rahinah Ibrahim#No Fly List

June 2013

Verified

Jun 14, 2013Washington, DC

CBS News Confirms Sharyl Attkisson's Work Computer Was Repeatedly Breached During Benghazi and Fast-and-Furious Reporting

On June 14, 2013, CBS News issued a public statement confirming that a forensic examination of investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson's work laptop found evidence of unauthorized external intrusions in late 2012, while she was reporting on Benghazi and the ATF 'Fast and Furious' gun-walking scandal. Attkisson said a separate forensic analysis of her personal computer also showed intrusions consistent with government-grade spyware.

Surveillance#attkisson#cbs-news

September 2011

Verified

Sep 17, 2011New York, NY

FBI Surveils and Infiltrates Occupy Wall Street Protest Movement

FBI documents obtained through FOIA requests and released in 2012–2013 revealed that the bureau monitored Occupy Wall Street organizers, worked with local law enforcement to track protests, and questioned activists — all activities centered on constitutionally protected protest, assembly, and speech.

Surveillance#obama-admin#fbi-surveillance

December 2010

Verified

Dec 14, 2010Alexandria, VA

DOJ obtains sealed Stored Communications Act orders for Twitter records of WikiLeaks-associated journalists and activists

On December 14, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice obtained a sealed § 2703(d) court order in the Eastern District of Virginia directing Twitter to produce subscriber information, connection records, and IP addresses for accounts associated with WikiLeaks, including Julian Assange, Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning, journalist-activist Jacob Appelbaum, Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jónsdóttir, and Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp. The order was accompanied by a gag order; Twitter successfully moved to unseal it.

Surveillance#WikiLeaks#Twitter

November 2010

Verified

Nov 3, 2010Chicago, IL

DHS Seizes WikiLeaks Supporter David House's Laptop at Border

In November 2010, Department of Homeland Security agents detained MIT researcher David House at Chicago's O'Hare Airport upon his return from Mexico, seized his laptop and other electronics without a warrant, and copied their contents — apparently because of his work supporting the Bradley Manning defense fund.

Surveillance#obama-admin#border-search

September 2008

Verified

Sep 1, 2008St. Paul, MN

FBI Informant Brandon Darby Infiltrates Protest Groups Before 2008 RNC

FBI informant Brandon Darby infiltrated Austin-based protest groups planning demonstrations at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, leading to the arrest of activists on terrorism-related charges. The case raised serious First Amendment concerns about government surveillance of lawful advocacy organizations.

Surveillance#bush-admin#fbi-informant

June 2006

Verified

Jun 1, 2006Fort Meade, MD

NSA Section 215 Bulk Phone Metadata Collection Program Exposed

Disclosed by Edward Snowden in June 2013, the NSA's bulk collection of phone metadata on virtually all Americans under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act was later ruled illegal by a federal appeals court. Legal scholars argued the surveillance's scale had a documented chilling effect on journalist-source communications, attorney-client privilege, and political association.

Surveillance#bush-admin#obama-admin

August 2004

Verified

Aug 19, 2004Washington, DC

Senator Ted Kennedy repeatedly stopped at airports after name match with terror watch list alias

In March 2004, U.S. Senator Edward M. 'Ted' Kennedy (D-MA) was stopped and questioned at airports on at least five occasions when attempting to board US Airways shuttle flights between Washington and Boston, because his name matched an alias used by an individual on the federal selectee list. Kennedy disclosed the incidents during an August 19, 2004 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, illustrating the difficulty ordinary travelers faced contesting watchlist designations. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge personally cleared Kennedy's name, and Congress later included a statutory redress requirement in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

Surveillance#Ted Kennedy#No Fly List

January 2004

Verified

Jan 1, 2004San Francisco, CA

FBI Surveilled Antiwar.com for Six Years Based on Clerical Error

The FBI monitored Antiwar.com, a prominent antiwar news website, for approximately six years beginning around 2004, based on a clerical error that confused the site's domain with a suspect's email address. A court later ordered the FBI to expunge the records, and the ACLU sued on behalf of editor Eric Garris.

Surveillance#bush-admin#obama-admin

January 2002

Verified

Jan 1, 2002New York, NY

NYPD Demographics Unit Conducts Suspicionless Surveillance of Muslim Communities

From at least 2002 through 2014, the NYPD's secret Intelligence Division — aided by CIA officers embedded in the department — mapped and monitored Muslim communities, mosques, student groups, and businesses across New York and surrounding states without any predicate of criminal suspicion, creating a chilling effect on religious speech and association.

Surveillance#bush-admin#obama-admin

October 2001

Verified

Oct 1, 2001Washington, DC

FBI Improperly Surveilled Greenpeace, PETA, and Anti-War Groups 2001–2006

A September 2010 DOJ Inspector General report found that the FBI had improperly opened domestic terrorism investigations into Greenpeace, PETA, the Thomas Merton Center, and the Catholic Worker Movement between 2001 and 2006, placing members on terrorist watch lists based on evidence that was 'factually weak' and driven by their protected speech.

Surveillance#bush-admin#fbi-investigation