Transparency activist Ryan Shapiro
discusses a growing controversy over the FBI's monitoring of Occupy
Houston in 2011. The case centers on what the FBI knew about an alleged
assassination plot against Occupy leaders and why it failed to share
this information. The plot was first revealed in a heavily redacted
document obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund through a
FOIA request. The document mentioned an individual "planned to engage in
sniper attacks against protesters in Houston, Texas." When Shapiro
asked for more details, the FBI said it found 17 pages of pertinent
records and gave him five of them, with some information redacted.
Shapiro sued, alleging the FBI had improperly invoked FOIA exemptions.
.....
Transparency activist Ryan Shapiro discusses a growing
controversy over the FBI’s monitoring of Occupy Houston in 2011. The
case centers on what the FBI knew about an
alleged assassination plot against Occupy leaders and why it failed to
share this information. The plot was first revealed in a heavily
redacted document obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
through a FOIA request. The document mentioned
an individual "planned to engage in sniper attacks against protesters
in Houston, Texas." When Shapiro asked for more details, the FBI
said it found 17 pages of pertinent records and gave him five of them,
with some information redacted. Shapiro sued, alleging the FBI had improperly invoked FOIA exemptions. Last week, Federal District Judge Rosemary Collyer agreed with Shapiro, ruling the FBI had to explain why it withheld the records.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN:
I want to talk about your work around animal rights activism and
getting information, but I want to first turn to Occupy Houston. You
have been working on getting information from the
FBI around Occupy Houston. The particular issue focuses on what the
FBI
knew about an alleged assassination plot in 2011 against leaders of
Occupy Houston and why it failed to share this information. The plot was
first revealed in a heavily redacted document obtained by the
Partnership for Civil Justice through a
FOIA request. It read, quote, "An identified [
REDACTED]
as of October planned to engage in sniper attacks against protestors in
Houston, Texas if deemed necessary," unquote. When our guest, Ryan
Shapiro, asked for more details, the
FBI said
it found 17 pages of pertinent records and gave him five of them with
some information redacted. So, Ryan Shapiro, you sued, alleging the
FBI had improperly invoked
FOIA exemptions.
Last week, Federal District Judge Rosemary Collyer seemed to agree with you, when she ruled the
FBI had to explain why it withheld records. She made reference in her ruling to David Hardy, the head of the FBI’s
FOIA
division, writing, quote, "At no point does Mr. Hardy supply specific
facts as to the basis for FBI’s belief that the Occupy protesters might
have been engaged in terroristic or other criminal activity. ... Neither
the word 'terrorism' nor the phrase 'advocating the overthrow of the
government' are talismanic, especially where
FBI purports to be investigating individuals who ostensibly are engaged in protected First Amendment activity."
Ryan Shapiro, explain what the judge ruled and what "talismanic" means.
......
Judge Orders FBI to Explain Withholding Records of Occupy Houston Assassination Plot
This article originally appeared on Houston Chronicle
A
federal judge has ordered the FBI to explain why it withheld some
information requested by a graduate student for his research on a plot
to assassinate Occupy Houston protest leaders.
Ryan Noah Shapiro, a
doctoral student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge,
Mass., filed a lawsuit April 29, 2013, against the U.S. Department of
Justice in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer issued her order, with an accompanying memo, on March 12.
The
FBI, as part of the Department of Justice, controls the records Shapiro
wanted for his study of "conflicts at the nexus of American national
security, law enforcement and political dissent," the plaintiff's
complaint stated.
Houston was among hundreds of U.S. cities where
protesters occupied outdoor spaces as part of the Occupy Movement that
started in New York's Zucotti Park on Sept. 17, 2011.
"The
movement has sought to expose how the wealthiest 1 percent of society
promulgates an unfair global economy that harms people and destroys
communities worldwide," the complaint stated.
Shapiro said in his
complaint that the existence of an assassination plot against Occupy
Houston's leaders became known through the FBI's earlier release of
information in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
"According
to one of the released records, ... [REDACTED] planned to gather
intelligence against the leaders of the protest groups and obtain
photographs, then formulate a plan to kill the leadership via suppressed
sniper rifles...," Shapiro stated in his complaint.
Shapiro requested additional information from the FBI in January 2013.
"There
is presently a vigorous and extraordinarily important debate in the
United States about the authority of the government to conduct
extrajudicial killings on American soil," the complaint stated.
"The
records sought by plaintiff would likely be an invaluable contribution
to the public discourse on this issue," Shapiro's complaint said. "It
would also be a significant controversy if it was revealed that the FBI
deliberately failed to act to prevent a plot to assassinate American
protest leaders."
Read More Here
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Dozens wounded: People carry an injured man after the explosion 
