Spying on Civilians

ARMED FORCES

Anything smacking of secret police tactics has always been highly suspect in the U.S. The Central Intelligence Agency is specifically barred from domestic spying. The FBI operates under tight civilian and judicial controls. Pentagon intelligence and security operations within the country are supposed to be limited to matters of direct military concern, such as counterespionage, protection against sabotage and investigation of personnel. Thus the shock when it became known recently that Army Intelligence had got into the business of monitoring the political and social protest activities of civilians.

From its own field work and that of other Government agencies, the Army has compiled dossiers in its computer at Fort Holabird, Md., on between 2,000 and 5,000 individuals and numerous political organizations. The records are not even limited to such avowedly revolutionary groups as the Black Panthers or the Weathermen. Also among them are respected organizations like the N.A.A.C.P. and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Army has also circulated to base commanders a six-volume "blacklist" of dissidents and their organizations.

Love Festival. About 1,000 agents have been used to monitor disturbances, rallies, even high school demonstrations. One agent was on the floor of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, mission uncertain. Two Keystone Korporals were flushed out of the bushes in a Chicago park as they watched a Yippie love festival. From such activities the Army compiled reports that were circulated to base commanders and law-enforcement officials. Some of the information relayed seemed ludicrous. One item warned of impending violence on the "Day of St. Lazar," when

"Serbian men are supposed to show their manhood," presumably by bombing Yugoslav diplomatic missions.

The domestic intelligence program started modestly enough in 1967, when the Army began serious preparations to support local authorities in quelling ghetto riots. With the advent of large-scale antiwar protests, the Army argued that the files of the FBI, Justice Department and other agencies were not adequate for its intelligence needs. Therefore the Army extended its purview into areas normally reserved to regular law enforcement bodies. This was done without congressional approval. In some cases, the Army launched its clandestine activities without the knowledge of Army civilian officials.

Free Speech. The extent of the operations was revealed in January's Washington Monthly, a political review, by a former intelligence officer, Christopher Pyle. Since then, some members of Congress have threatened an investigation. The A.C.L.U. filed suit, charging that the Army's activities sought to inhibit civilians from exercising their rights of free speech and petition.

Last week the Army retreated, promising to conduct no more covert investigations of civilians without the Secretary of the Army's approval, and to recall the blacklist. It also promised to destroy information about domestic political activists stored on the Fort Holabird computer. But the Army still maintains extensive files on civilian political activists, and has no intention of ceasing its snooping altogether. With that in mind, the A.C.L.U. intends to press its court suit for a permanent injunction against all such Army surveillance activities.

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