Military spy outted in Olympia, WA antiwar/SDS/IWW groups

http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/jul/military-spy-outted-olympia-wa-antiwarsdsiww-groups

Spy for the US Military Exposed: Spent Last Two Years Spying on Activists

(TC-IMC) “John Jacob” was an activist well liked by many in Tacoma and Olympia, WA. He was active in the anti-war and anarchist communities in both towns. He did extensive work with the group Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) which blocks military shipments to and from Iraq and Afghanistan through Northwest ports.

He went to numerous Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) events and actions, was interested in starting a chapter or Movement for a Democratic Society, worked closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War, but spent most of his time with anarchists. Aside from attending meetings, events and actions organized by activists, he spent much personal and leisure time with other anarchists in the area.

But some recent records requests done through the City of Olympia, asking the City for any information on anarchists/anarchism/anarchy, SDS and the radical union Industrial Workers of the World, surfaced an email from a John J Towery II from Fort Lewis Force Protection with a daily force protection update for Fort Lewis. Interested in this email and the name attached to it, several activists did some research that eventually confirmed the identity of “John Jacob” as John J Towery II.

Two anarchists met with John Towery after this information was confirmed. By his own admission, John Towery spent the past two years spying on anarchists, Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans, SDSers and anti-war activists in Tacoma, Olympia and the Pacific Northwest. He admitted that he reported to an intelligence network that included county sheriffs from Pierce, Thurston and other WA counties, municipal police agencies from Tacoma, Olympia, Seattle and elsewhere, WA State Police, the US Army, FBI, Homeland Security, Joint Terrorism Task Force, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency among other agencies.

John Towery further admitted he passed information on to the above listed network of authorities about the activities of anarchists and PMR activists. He admitted that the Tacoma Police placed a hidden camera on a utility pole across the street from the anarchist social space Pitchpipe Infoshop for surveillance purposes. John Towery mentioned that the Olympia and Tacoma police were both planning on raiding the Pitchpipe Infoshop and an activist house in Olympia and he claimed that they had repeatedly approached him for any information that would give them a green light to raid the houses. He also claimed to have knowledge of other informants that were sent to spy on Port Militarization Resistance and anarchists in Olympia, but refused to reveal their identities.

In his role as an administrator of the PMR listserve, John Towery had the email addresses of all subscribers, and the names of most persons involved with the organization. He had an intimate knowledge of how organizations in the activist community operated, how and when actions were planned and the beliefs, politics and personal matters of many activists.

The records requests that leaked out John Towery’s name also leaked out information that Thomas Glapion from the 305th SFS/S2 based out of McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey was investigating activities of SDS, PMR and “other left wing anti war groups”. Other agencies involved with intelligence gathering and surveillance of Olympia SDS in particular and Olympia activists in general include the Coast Guard (where there is an informant spying on activists according to one record) and US Capitol Police.

Attorney Larry Hildes of the National Lawyers Guild has made numerous attempts to get information from the military and federal agencies for court cases and civil suits connected to the port protests, only to run into the repeated refusal of Brian Kipnis from the US Attorney’s Office in Seattle to give this information to Hildes and other defense attorneys. Kipnis explicitly told the US Army not to give information to Hildes and others. Kipnis is also the same lawyer that prosecuted Lt. Ehren Watada and was involved with a number of Guantanamo cases. This information is perhaps the beginning of a larger network of surveillance across the nation.

Press contacts:

Brendan Maslauskas Dunn
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Port Militarization Resistance
(360) 878-1879
maslauskas84 [at] gmail.com

Drew Hendricks
PMR Intelligence Network for Observers
(360) 870-3127
drewhend98513 [at] yahoo.com

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note – the Port Militarization Resistance peace group held many calm rallies and events. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM2tNL_roBY This is a video of one of the most violent assaults by police towards the group, as they lined streets during a convoy of military vehicles onto a ship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfhUaUuG1sM