Proven: The Pentagon has spied on US Gay Organizations

Pentagon Papers Show It Spied on Gay Groups
by Peter Cassels
EDGE National News Editor
Thursday Apr 13, 2006


WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Defense Department has released long-awaited documents confirming that it spied on college groups opposed to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law banning lesbians, gays and bisexuals from serving openly in the military.

The documents confirm domestic surveillance of protests at New York University and the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz. The government's reports were released April 3 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in February by the advocacy organization Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

The Defense Department in a February letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee acknowledged that it had "inappropriately" collected information on protestors.

"The Department of Defense has now confirmed the existence of a surveillance program monitoring LGBT groups," SLDN Executive Director Dixon Osburn said in a statement April 11. "Pentagon leaders have also acknowledged inappropriately collecting some of the information in [its] database. That information should be destroyed and no similar surveillance should be authorized in the future. Free expression is not a threat to our national security."

According to the SLDN, the recently released Pentagon reports may not be a complete list of groups monitored. The Defense Department has indicated that it continues to search for other documents related to SLDN's Freedom of Information Act request, the advocacy organization reports.

Visit www.sldn.org for more information.