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http://citizensvoice.com/news/state-homeland-security-monitoring-surprises-local-activists-1.1017812
State Homeland Security monitoring surprises local activists
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS (STAFF WRITER)
Published: September 18, 2010
The state Office of Homeland Security made all Pennsylvania Intelligence Bulletins public on its website Thursday, and members of a local organization critical of Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling were appalled to find out their group was frequently mentioned by name.
Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday he had just learned the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s Office of Homeland Security had been receiving intelligence bulletins from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, an American and Israeli nonprofit corporation. Rendell apologized to the groups listed in the bulletin and said he is canceling the contract with the Institute.
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition is mentioned liberally throughout those for August and September, listing upcoming events and quoting from Web forums.
GDAC co-founder Dr. Thomas Jiunta originally accepted Rendell’s apology, but now says it’s not good enough. He said the group is talking to lawyers about the possibility of a suit.
“To think our government is using our tax money to spy on us is absurd. It makes me mad. I think it’s slanderous,” he said. “That has a lot of people concerned. If they want to take a trip out of the country, are they going to be on a no-fly list?”
A paragraph from the July 30 bulletin is an example of why they’re upset. It states, “The escalating conflict over natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania may define local fault lines and potentially increase area environmentalist activity or eco-terrorism. GDAC communications have cited Northeastern Pennsylvania counties, specifically Wyoming, Lackawanna and Luzerne, as being in real ‘need of our help’ and as facing a ‘drastic situation.'”
“I’m freaked out,” GDAC member Audrey Simpson of Shavertown said when she heard of the bulletins.
“It does freak me out, too. It’s really freaky, the whole thing,” Jiunta agreed.
“I think the ironic thing is, who’s actually harming our infrastructure and our water supplies? It’s the gas companies. They’ve got it all wrong,” he said. “Our organization is about helping people and preserving the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
Some of the information in the bulletins is questionable. The one for Aug. 30 states branches of the Swiss banking giant UBS AG – including one in Plains Township – could be targeted by anti-mountaintop coal removal activists Rainforest Action Network for protests or illegal actions “including trespassing, lock-downs and vandalism.” UBS AG was allegedly involved in financing mountaintop coal removal mining in West Virginia.
However, the Plains branch of UBS AG was sold in September 2009 and is now the Stifel Nicolaus financial services firm, according to the branch’s manager, who did not want to be named.
In an e-mail, Homeland Security Director James F. Powers Jr. said, “When the Plains Branch of UBS AG was sold in September 2009, the assets/liabilities may or may not have been paid at the time of sale.”
Since the stockholders are the only ones privy to the sale details, Powers said, it is unknown whether any outstanding loans that may have funded mountaintop coal removal methods were paid or transferred to the new owner.
He said the bulletins were provided for “situational awareness.”
“(We) rely on the local owner/operator’s knowledge to determine any mitigating actions based on their security system, etc. I don’t think anyone, regardless of their analytical expertise, would say with any certainty, that the site is 100% secure when these groups openly cite their intent,” Powers stated.
“We never know what our adversaries are thinking. But we know, or should know, the weaknesses of our security plans,” he concluded, “And Hope will never be a Security Strategy.”
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072