News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMinesecuritybigbrotherspying — Viewing Item


Fbi docs call kerry tactical conservative among antiwar veterans

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/West/03/27/kerry.documents/

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/West/03/27/kerry.documents/

Historian: Kerry FBI files stolen
From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN



(CNN) -- FBI documents about FBI surveillance of John Kerry in the early 1970s have been stolen, according to their owner, a historian who lives near San Francisco, California.

Gerald Nicosia, who spent more than a decade collecting the information, said three of 14 boxes of documents plus a number of loose folders containing hundreds of pages were stolen from his home Thursday afternoon.

Nicosia reported the theft Friday to the Twin Cities Police Department, which covers Larkspur and Corte Madera in Marin County, where he lives. The police report found no sign of forced entry.

"It was a very clean burglary. They didn't break any glass. They didn't take anything like cameras sitting by. It was a very professional job," Nicosia said.

"Was it a thrill-seeker who wanted a piece of history? It could be," Nicosia said. "You'd think there was a very strong political motivation for taking those files. The odds are in favor of that."

Nicosia, author of "Home At War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans Movement," had obtained about 20,000 pages of FBI documents through Freedom of Information Act requests.

The documents center on FBI surveillance of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), which Kerry represented as national spokesman. In April 1971, the decorated veteran testified in televised hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and led a large protest of veterans in the capital.

Nicosia estimated that 20 percent of his documents are missing.

"It's heartbreaking, after 11 years trying to get them," he said.

Kerry's antiwar efforts drew the attention of President Nixon, as revealed in recordings of White House conversations obtained by CNN from the National Archives, and of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, as the documents revealed.

"I hadn't gotten a chance to review them all. I am sure there were some things about John Kerry that weren't known," Nicosia said. "These files would also cast a bad light on the ... Republican Party. This surveillance happened under the Nixon White House and Nixon FBI."

Nicosia showed about 50 pages of the documents to CNN last week.

The FBI followed Kerry as he traveled the country, speaking out against the war and raising money for the cause. Kerry, a Navy lieutenant, was honorably discharged upon his return from Vietnam with three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.

Kerry, who obtained his personal FBI files years ago, knew of the surveillance, but the VVAW files obtained by Nicosia detail more extensive surveillance than the senator from Massachusetts might have realized.

"It is almost surreal to learn the extent to which I was followed by the FBI," Kerry said in a written statement earlier this week. "The experience of having been spied on for the act of engaging in peaceful patriotic protest makes you respect civil rights and the Constitution even more."

Kerry was seen as a tactical "conservative" among the antiwar veterans, the FBI documents say. The 27-year-old typically opposed demonstrations that would lead to arrests.

"A review of the subject's file reveals nothing whatsoever to link the subject with any violent type activity," said a May 1972 FBI memo about Kerry provided by his campaign.

The memo recommended that the surveillance end because Kerry had quit VVAW and was launching a political career.



denver-police
Agencies live tracking with mobile phones { December 10 2005 }
Americans want bush to get warrant to eavesdrop
Biloxi miss students watched web cam
Broad wiretap powers
Bush approved purely domestic easedropping { April 6 2006 }
Bush renames domestic spying to terror surveillance { January 25 2006 }
Bush secretly allowed nsa domestic spying { December 15 2005 }
Cameras dc { February 13 2002 }
Cia role inside usa greater
Denver police spying journalists { February 4 2003 }
Domestic spying { November 16 2002 }
Fbi docs call kerry tactical conservative among antiwar veterans
Fbi domestic eavesdropping ability unprecedented { August 30 2007 }
Fbi inches toward spy role { December 1 2003 }
Fbi scritinizes antiwar rallies { November 23 2003 }
Fbi spied on kerry in 70s report says
Fbi spies on religious organizations
Fbi tracked kerry in vietnam vets group { March 23 2004 }
Feeble attorney general forced to authorize wiretapping { August 17 2007 }
Iraqis monitored { November 17 2002 }
Judge allows gps tracking data { February 18 2004 }
Judge rules against fbi stealing telecom records { September 7 2007 }
Judge rules against unconstitutional nsa wiretaps { August 18 2006 }
Miami police secretly watching hiphop celebs { March 10 2004 }
Most suspects of nsa surveillance cleared { February 5 2006 }
Navy uses blimps spying { August 7 2003 }
Newyork more wiretaps than anywhere else
Nsa seeking phone records before 911
Nsa whisteblower to testify before congress { January 5 2006 }
Nypd surveillance rules { September 26 2002 }
Pentagon intelligence agency gathers domestic intelligence
Pentagon seek to expand intelligence collecting { December 19 2004 }
Pentagon viewing american bank records { December 2007 }
Pilotless plane civilian airspace
Police may seach parked cars
Police spying organizations { November 29 2002 }
Police step up anti war monitoring { November 16 2003 }
Police use gps tracking { May 12 2003 }
Pressure building in US for increased surveillance
Republican senator angry at cheney on nsa eavesdropping { June 7 2006 }
Secret pentagon letters used for domestic spying { October 14 2007 }
Smart cards track commuters { September 25 2003 }
Sprint mci att helped nsa wiretapping
Spy imagery agency takes new role inside united states { September 26 2004 }
Surveillance court caves { November 22 2002 }
Surveillance industrial complex emerges { August 11 2004 }
Surveillance wins backers after bush defends program
Unveal surveillance
Us steps up surveillance { March 24 2003 }

Files Listed: 49



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple