The Council on American-Islamic RelationsCAIR, ACLU Ask Congress to Probe
Surveillance of Calif. Muslims (LA Times)
A report that mosques in Los Angeles and San Diego are under federal
surveillance has resurrected fears in the Muslim community about government
monitoring and led two civil rights groups Wednesday to call for congressional
hearings.
The request for public hearings followed a newspaper article last week that
cited FBI and Defense Department files pertaining to surveillance of mosques
and Muslims in Southern California.
Corey Saylor, Washington spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said the article in the San Diego Union-Tribune "has again raised
concerns that our community is being watched."
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Concerns of Surveillance Spark Calls for Hearings
A report that mosques in Los Angeles and San Diego are under federal
surveillance has resurrected fears in the Muslim community about government
monitoring and led two civil rights groups Wednesday to call for congressional
hearings.
The request for public hearings followed a newspaper article last week that
cited FBI and Defense Department files pertaining to surveillance of mosques
and Muslims in Southern California.
Corey Saylor, Washington spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said the article in the San Diego Union-Tribune "has again raised
concerns that our community is being watched."
"We've heard about this in the past, but this article appears to be the first
confirmation that surveillance is taking place," Saylor said. "Has faith moved
from a personal choice to probable cause?"
Council chapters in Anaheim and San Diego joined the American Civil Liberties
Union and Islamic Shura Council of Southern California in asking the U.S. House
and Senate judiciary committees and the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform for hearings. In a letter to the committee chairmen and
ranking minority members, the groups said hearings are needed to determine the
extent of the surveillance and whether people are being monitored because they
are Muslim.
Information about the alleged spying surfaced in a case about classified files
concerning terrorism that the newspaper said were stolen from a secure office
used by military and civilian law enforcement officials at Camp Pendleton.
Ed Buice, Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman in Washington, said an
investigation was underway to determine "whether individuals connected to the
military may have been involved in illegal activities."
"I appreciate that the groups asking for congressional hearings want to know
more about where all the dots are and how they all connect," Buice said. "But
there is still much work to be done in this case, and we cannot discuss the
details of the ongoing investigation."
An FBI spokesman in San Diego would not confirm that an investigation was
ongoing and said the agency regularly reaches out to Muslims through town
meetings.
The civil rights groups also want the hearings to determine if the U.S.
military has engaged in domestic surveillance in violation of federal law. The
Islamic Center of San Diego, where two of the 9/11 hijackers worshiped in early
2000, was the only mosque mentioned in the San Diego Union-Tribune article. The
report did not specify which other mosques in Los Angeles and San Diego were
allegedly under surveillance. But Saylor said it would not be surprising if
mosques in Orange County were also monitored.
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, members of the Islamic Center of Irvine and
other local mosques have complained about FBI agents questioning them about
imams' sermons and how often they attend services. In 2006, J. Stephen Tidwell,
then-FBI assistant director in Los Angeles, met at the Irvine mosque with about
200 people who questioned him about government monitoring.
The meeting was prompted by media reports that the FBI was monitoring Muslim
students at UC Irvine and USC. Tidwell denied that monitoring was taking place,
telling the audience that "we still play by the rules."
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