Works In Progress - June 2003

On June first, people will gather in Seattle to begin to learn about and discuss the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit. On June 2, they will seek to shut it down.

Some writers question whether the concern is warranted; a column in The Stranger (Vol 12 No. 35) suggested that the activist community has lost touch with the LEIU's current history and is planning a protest for unclear reasons, against a misunderstood foe. The columnist's confusion is understandable, since the LEIU has no web site of its own and does not appear to have an office or published phone number.

It's hard to get a press release from an "old-boy" network. But ignorance has never stopped The Stranger from publication on any given political topic before...

The capsule history: LEIU was started in California in 1956 by the California Department of Justice to share intelligence data about organized crime, while bypassing John Edgar Hoover's FBI. Hoover had denied the existence of the Mafia, and was notoriously tight with his files. In addition, Hoover's agents were known to steal the credit in cases cracked by local police, and cooperation was at an all-time low between the FBI and local agencies. LEIU arose in this climate, and it prospered. In the 1960's the LEIU became a clearinghouse of information about VietNam-era radicals and their families. As the country came apart in the late 60's and throughout the 70's, the LEIU served as a way for "red squads" to pass index cards to each other without going through the FBI's computers. This became very important as the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC, begun in January of 1967) was reformed in the wake of the intelligence scandals of that era. (Originally, NCIC was brought out as a way to undercut the LEIU's specialty, for Hoover's benefit.)

As the Senate and House heard testimony about intelligence abuses against Americans who protested the VietNam war, and the President was threatened with impeachment for gross abuse of his power for political gain, the tolerance for "red squads" diminished somewhat, for a short while.

W. Mark Felt, a former Acting Associate Director at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and Edward S. Miller, former Deputy Associate Director, were convicted in November 1980 of illegally ordering break-ins in the investigation known as WEATHERFUG (Weatherman Fugitives). Both were pardoned by President Ronald Reagan less than five months later, in March of 1981.

Police departments around the country were also called to account for their"red squads", and some cities - like Seattle - passed strong ordinances which required criminal investigations to be predicated on criminal acts and plans, rather than political associations and assumptions. The LEIU became a convenient way to back-channel the information between departments while still claiming that the police did not use the public's funds to maintain political dossiers.

In the 1980's, the LEIU became part of the network which coordinated intelligence about people who opposed Ronald Reagan's policies in Central America. The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) was targeted in this period by newsletters which used the World Anti-Communist League, The Anti-Defamation League, and the LEIU to pass information about politically left-of-center Americans between police intelligence units all over the United States. In all, the FBI indexed over 2,375 people involved in domestic dissent against the U.S. government's policies in Central America. It is not known how many LEIU indexed; the point of the organization was to escape accountability. Perhaps it still is.

The current LEIU is in full cooperation with the FBI; Hoover has been dead now for thirty years, and the local police in almost every U.S. city are hooked into NCIC. The LEIU still exists, though, and has invited Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft to speak about terrorism in Seattle this June, although they are not confirmed to attend. Some of the persons advertised to speak include:

John Pistole; FBI Deputy Assistant Director, Counter-Terrorism

Dr. Mark Pitcavage; National Director of Fact Finding, Anti Defamation League

Jerry Marynik; Program Manager Group Analysis Unit, California Anti-Terrorism Information Center, California Department of Justice

Richard Wright; Commanding Officer of the Support Services Division, Simi Valley Police Department General Chairman, LEIU

Russ Porter; Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Intelligence Bureau, Iowa Department of Public Safety Vice-General Chairman, LEIU

Steve Beltz; Senior Computer Forensics Analyst within the Department of State's (DoS) Computer Forensics Unit. Steve was employed by the Washington State Patrol for more than 16 years.

And some of the sponsors:

Microsoft

Starbucks

Boeing

Albertsons

ChoicePoint (The folks who purged Florida of 50,000 innocent 'felons' for G.W. Bush)

7-Eleven Inc

FBI National Academy

Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs

Washington State Sheriffs Association

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Washington State Patrol

Washington State Gambling Commission

King County Sheriff's Office

King County Prosecutor's Office

Pierce County Sheriff's Office

Whitman County Sheriff's Office

Seattle Police Department

Redmond Police Department

Kent Police Department

Kirkland Police Department

Everett Police Department

For more information, check out

http://riseup.net/noleiu/