December 17, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: Intelligence Issues: Santa Cruz Sentinel: Congressman Sam Farr denounces Pentagon spying at UCSC
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December 17, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: Intelligence Issues: Santa Cruz Sentinel: Congressman Sam Farr denounces Pentagon spying at UCSC
Congressman Sam Farr denounces Pentagon spying at UCSC
Congressman Sam Farr said Friday he is "shocked" and "appalled" by television news reports of the Pentagon spying on students at UC Santa Cruz and other college campuses, and promised to grill Defense Department officials when their budget comes up for review. "It must make the military nervous to see so many smart people go into the Peace Corps," he said, referring to the large number of UCSC graduates who choose to serve that way. "If their surveillance was any good, they would know Santa Cruz protests a lot of other foreign governments as well. It's normal to have a demonstration du jour downtown." Congressman Sam Farr of California served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia in the 1960's.
Congressman Sam Farr denounces Pentagon spying at UCSC
Congressman denounces Pentagon spying at UCSC
By Jondi Gumz
Sentinel staff writer
Congressman Sam Farr said Friday he is "shocked" and "appalled" by television news reports of the Pentagon spying on students at UC Santa Cruz and other college campuses, and promised to grill Defense Department officials when their budget comes up for review.
As lawmakers look to cut federal spending, "this ought to be first on the list," Farr said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C. "It's obviously a waste of taxpayer money."
A Democrat from Carmel, Farr faulted Republican colleagues for refusing to question the administration's activities in the name of fighting terrorism.
"I don't think anybody in Congress knew about this until the NBC report," he said. "We're relying on the media."
This week, NBC News aired a series of reports based on a secret 400-page document that listed more than 1,500 "suspicious incidents" over a 10-month period.
The document includes a complicated spreadsheet that includes a column for "Incident Type," with incidents being described as "threat," "suspicious activity" or "anti-DOD vandalism."
Among the incidents researched and described as a threat to U.S. security: an April 5 protest against military recruiters at a UCSC job fair. The noisy sit-in temporarily shut down the job fair and resulted in an injury to a UCSC staffer and the departure of the military recruiters whose presence triggered the protest.
The incident is one of dozens of anti-war protests and counter-recruitment planning meetings listed on the document and posted on the NBC News Web site. Experts interviewed by NBC contended the U.S. military had gone too far to collect information in the wake of the terrorists attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Pentagon officials said Wednesday that Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, had ordered a review of the system for handling such information and on Thursday said guidelines require deleting information on Americans from a counterterrorism database after three months if they pose no threat.
Representatives of Students Against War, which organized the UCSC protest on the surveillance list, denounced the military actions.
"The notion of the Pentagon spying on peaceful protesters is a major threat to the freedoms that they claim to protect," said UCSC junior Jen Low.
Low, along with UCSC students Josh Sonnenfeld and Kot Hordynski, said the campus has one of the largest anti-war movements in the nation. Campus police initially tried to break up the April 5 demonstration at UCSC, which involved more than 200 students, then backed off.
Elsewhere, protests have been met with more force. Students who handed out anti-Bush fliers without permission at Hampton University were threatened with expulsion, and police used Taser guns and pepper spray to break up a protest at a military recruiting center near the University of Pittsburgh.
Farr called the surveillance of anti-war protesters at UCSC outrageous, given the university's reputation as a "bastion of peace activities" since it was founded 40 years ago.
"It must make the military nervous to see so many smart people go into the Peace Corps," he said, referring to the large number of UCSC graduates who choose to serve that way. "If their surveillance was any good, they would know Santa Cruz protests a lot of other foreign governments as well. It's normal to have a demonstration du jour downtown."
UCSC psychology professor Faye Crosby chided both the Pentagon and anti-war protesters.
"True education is the best antidote to terrorism," said Crosby, who chairs the faculty governing body, the Academic Senate. "True education involves pluralism and diversity, including diversity of ideas. UCSC needs to be open to the idea that the military plays an important role in society; and the Pentagon needs to be open to the idea that educational institutions such as UCSC pose a credible threat — but only to ignorance and oppression."
When this story was posted in January 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
| PC establishes awards for top Volunteers Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9. |
| Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now. |
| 'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
| PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
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Story Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Colombia; Politics; Congress; Intelligence Issues
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By Anonymous (fw1.loy1.pa.net - 66.59.105.22) on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:57 am: Edit Post |
where is the complicated spreadshit?