"'m a former Peace Corps volunteer, an Eagle Scout, a church member, a youth baseball coach and a father. I also happen to be the director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of windmills and solar panels and is one of the largest environmental groups in Maryland. So imagine my shock when I received a letter from the state police last month informing me that I was one of 53 Maryland activists on a terrorist watch list being discontinued because there was "no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime."" Author Mike Tidwell, founder of the Chesapeake Climate Action Committee, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Congo Kinshasa.
Mike Tidwell writes: I was spied on by the state police
Viewpoint: I was spied on by the state police
By Mike Tidwell
November 23, 2008
I'm not sure what's more shocking, the news that the Maryland State Police wrongfully maintained an intelligence file on me for months as a "suspected terrorist" or that despite my surveillance, officers might not recognize me if I walked into police headquarters tomorrow.
I'm a former Peace Corps volunteer, an Eagle Scout, a church member, a youth baseball coach and a father. I also happen to be the director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of windmills and solar panels and is one of the largest environmental groups in Maryland. So imagine my shock when I received a letter from the state police last month informing me that I was one of 53 Maryland activists on a terrorist watch list being discontinued because there was "no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime."
Matters turned downright Soviet on Oct. 14, when I called the police to request a full copy of my file. A spokeswoman told me that I could come to police headquarters to inspect the materials but that I couldn't make photocopies or bring an attorney along. The police would destroy the entire file after I read it.
And bring valid photo identification, she said. As if they didn't know me.
Yielding to public pressure, the police finally gave me a printed copy of my file on Oct. 29, but it raised more questions than it answered. Based on the page numbering, seven pages of what appeared to be a 12-page file had been withheld without full explanation. In the five pages that I did receive, at least half the words were redacted - blacked out with a marker. The first page bore these words: "Crime: Terrorism, environmental extremists."
The file makes reference to a morning speech given in Bethesda by then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. on Nov. 17, 2005. A small audience of invited guests and journalists attended inside a classroom at Walt Whitman High School.
Mr. Ehrlich wasn't doing enough to fight global warming, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network believed, and several of our staff members arrived outside the school for a peaceful demonstration, during which we held up signs that said things such as, "It's Getting Hot in Here, Gov!" Our staffers also invited high school students to hold up protest signs during the governor's speech.
No one was arrested at the event, and no local, state or federal laws were broken. The media reported nothing unusual. Yet Mr. Ehrlich's security team apparently considered our activities "aggressive protesting" and contacted the Maryland State Police's Homeland Security and Investigation Bureau. The result was the eventual creation of intelligence files for at least four of our organization's staff members.
My file was started right after the Ehrlich speech even though I wasn't present at the protest. I've never been to Walt Whitman High School. Strangely, there's no record of any intelligence-gathering related to me after the file was created. The records - what I have of them - include only my name, photo, job title, the fact that I have no "SMTs" (scars, marks or tattoos), the declaration that no charges have been brought against me, and a description of the protest at Mr. Ehrlich's speech. The police say that they've released everything relevant to my case to me, but I have my doubts.
Since July, they have made numerous public statements about the spying controversy that have later proved to be untrue. They initially said, for example, that the surveillance program was limited to anti-death-penalty activists. But we now know that peace, immigration and environmental activists were also spied on. We also know, contrary to police statements, that the spying program continued into 2007.
Last week, several people on the state's terrorism watch list, including me, released our files to the media at a press conference in Baltimore.
This whole spying episode has been a tragic distraction. The real threat of terror in Maryland is the prospect of up to 23 feet of sea-level rise as the Greenland ice sheet continues to implode from rapid global warming. The violent activity behind this threat is our astonishing over-reliance on fossil fuels, especially coal, to power our economy while suicidally saturating the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. The ground zero site of the World Trade Center will be underwater from sea-level rise if we don't switch quickly to 100 mpg cars and clean electricity from wind power.
But you can't have strong and lasting environmental protections without a strong democracy. I never thought I'd find myself in this position. I've worked hard for many years to promote clean, renewable energy. But these days I find myself working just as hard to keep the government clean.
Mike Tidwell is the director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the author of "Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast." His e-mail is mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org.
