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DHS Is Quietly Tying Antifa to Foreign Powers (The Nation)
According to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report obtained exclusively by The Nation, DHS intelligence officials are targeting American activists they consider antifa and attempting to tie the activists to a foreign power.
The intelligence report includes several Americans’ personal information, including Social Security numbers, home addresses, and social media accounts. While the law generally prohibits intelligence agencies from spying on US citizens, many of those protections do not apply if the individual is believed to be acting as an agent of a foreign power. By linking the activists and a foreign power, the DHS is attempting to circumvent these legal guarantees.
“They targeted Americans like they’re Al Qaeda,” a former senior DHS intelligence officer with knowledge of the operations told The Nation. “They essentially were violating people’s rights like this was the ’60s…the type of shit the Church and Pike committee[s] had to address.”
The DHS appears to define antifa broadly, to encompass various left-wing tendencies: “[A]ntifa is driven by a mixed range of far-left political ideologies, including anti-capitalism, communism, socialism, and anarchism.” In two cases, evidence of antifa affiliation was limited to photos taken in front of an antifa flag. As the intelligence report itself notes, “ANTIFA claims no official leadership,” raising questions about whether antifa even exists in any sort of operational capacity.
The intelligence report includes several Americans’ personal information, including Social Security numbers, home addresses, and social media accounts. While the law generally prohibits intelligence agencies from spying on US citizens, many of those protections do not apply if the individual is believed to be acting as an agent of a foreign power. By linking the activists and a foreign power, the DHS is attempting to circumvent these legal guarantees.
“They targeted Americans like they’re Al Qaeda,” a former senior DHS intelligence officer with knowledge of the operations told The Nation. “They essentially were violating people’s rights like this was the ’60s…the type of shit the Church and Pike committee[s] had to address.”
The DHS appears to define antifa broadly, to encompass various left-wing tendencies: “[A]ntifa is driven by a mixed range of far-left political ideologies, including anti-capitalism, communism, socialism, and anarchism.” In two cases, evidence of antifa affiliation was limited to photos taken in front of an antifa flag. As the intelligence report itself notes, “ANTIFA claims no official leadership,” raising questions about whether antifa even exists in any sort of operational capacity.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/dhs-antifa-syria/
This article was just posted late this afternoon. We knew this was where Trump and Barr were going: They want to be able to detain and charge anyone protesting who isn't pro-Trump as Antifa, which they deem a terrorist organization.
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