Activists opposed to the Keystone XL oil pipeline were the subject of unlawful surveillance conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly a year, according to previously classified law enforcement documents.
Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the Guardian newspaper and the Earth Island Journal have turned up more than 80 pages of FBI files detailing the United States government’s monitoring of environmental activists. A report published by both outlets on Tuesday this week show that the surveillance activities waged by an FBI field office in Houston, Texas amounted to “substantial non-compliance” with federal rules.
The documents reveal the FBI targeted a direct action
anti-Keystone group called Tar Sands Blockade and monitored its
actions from November 2012 to June 2014. Neither the senior FBI
agent in Houston nor the Justice Department approved the
operation, defying rules outlined by the attorney general.
According to the joint-report published this week, the FBI
“collated inside knowledge about forthcoming protests,
documented the identities of individuals photographing
oil-related infrastructure, scrutinized police intelligence and
cultivated at least one informant.”
Revealed: #FBI Violated Its Own Rules While Spying on #KeystoneXL Opponents. #KXLhttp://t.co/5Wufuu7zQ6
— Earth Island Journal (@earthislandjrnl) May 12, 2015
“Sensitive investigative matters” undertaken within the
bureau require approval ahead of time from both the chief
division counsel and the special agent in charge from the local
field office, according to the report. Both are supposed to
consider any “adverse impact on civil liberties and public
confidence” that may arise in the event the investigation is
made public.
Despite the protocol clearly being in place, neither of the two
top officials in Houston approved targeting the Tar Sands
Blockade group, the documents reveal. Nevertheless, documents
suggest the operation lingered on for 11 months after it was
realized unauthorized surveillance was being carried out. In
addition, according to the report, the Houston office failed to
find sufficient evidence of “extremist activity.”
The FBI explained the operation by acknowledging it must
“take the initiative to secure and protect activities and
entities which may be targeted for terrorism or espionage,”
and documents obtained through FOIA requests revealed that law
enforcement labeled anti-Keystone activists as “environmental
extremists.”
Revealed: FBI violated its own rules while spying on Keystone XL opponents http://t.co/v3QGS0GBVV
— The Guardian (@guardian) May 12, 2015
At the same time, “FBI approval levels required by internal
policy were not initially obtained,” the bureau admitted to
reporters.
“While the FBI approval levels required by internal policy
were not initially obtained, once discovered, corrective action
was taken, non-compliance was remedied and the oversight was
properly reported through the FBI’s internal oversight
mechanism,” representatives explained in a response to the
outlets when grilled for an answer ahead of this week’s
publication.
READ MORE: President Obama vetoes Keystone
pipeline bill
The US House of Representatives passed a measure approving the
construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline earlier this year.
Fans of the effort say thousands of new jobs will be created in
America in order to build the infrastructure that will take crude
tar sands from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack
Obama said in February that he would veto the bill, putting the
future of the project for now on ice.
"The presidential power to veto legislation is one I take
seriously," Obama said in a statement accompanying the veto.
"But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American
people. And because this act of Congress conflicts with
established executive branch procedures and cuts short thorough
consideration of issues that could bear on our national
interest—including our security, safety, and environment—it has
earned my veto."