Domestic surveillance …

Christian Century, March 8, 2003 by Carl Davidson

JAMES WALL and John Dart prompt faith communities to respond to the burgeoning domestic surveillance industry authorized by the U.S. Patriot Act ("Eyes on you," Jan. 11, and News, Jan. 25). Nonviolent, transparent religious advocacy ministries may become likely targets for security bureaucrats who collect trivial data and paychecks. It happened before when COINTELPRO sought to neutralize Quaker and other "dissenting" organizations by strategies of infiltration and disruption that compromised their integrity. Under J. Edgar Hoover, with his paranoid ideology, A. J. Muste, Norman Thomas, Bayard Rustin and countless other activists were harassed and intimidated for decades.

Once we yield to Big Brother apparatus, rights of free expression, association and redress are irretrievable. The Pentagon's entry into domestic surveillance with the "Total Awareness Information" system warrants opposition, along with the Regional Community Policing Institute (RCPI) localized networks. Wall's sequel should be "Eyes on them"--a call to vigilantly protect vulnerable rights of religious liberty.

Carl Davidson
Marshall, Mich.