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NCCB Responds to FBI Database on Pro-Life Advocates The existence of the database was revealed in a report on the Pro-Life Infonet outlining details of this previously rumored but heretofore unconfirmed secret project run by the FBI under the auspices of the Justice Departments criminal division. The database is called VAAPCON, which stands for Violence Against Abortion Providers Conspiracy; its sometimes also referred to as VAAP. David Early, a spokesman for the Conference of Catholic Bishops said that neither he nor the groups general counsel, Mark Chopko, knew anything about the secret database or the inclusion of their organization in it. "If such a database does exist, the attorney general and the FBI have some explaining to do," Early quoted Chopko. "We were under the impression that the FBI had ended its surveillance of religious organizations in the 1960s. So obviously we were not aware of it and are anxious to learn more," Early added. Indeed, not only does the file on the Bishops'group exist in the criminal database, but there also is information on the late Cardinal John OConners role in the pro-life movement, as well as information on other groups with no known ties to criminal types or illegal activities. The idea behind VAAPCON, according to sources at the FBI and the Justice Department, was to develop a federal database which the FBI and other law enforcement agencies could use to monitor criminal elements in the pro-life movement wrongly suspected of committing terrorist-type crimes, including murder, bombings, arson and harassment. Although some within the FBI objected to the scope of the database ordered by the Justice Department shortly after the passage of the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrance Act of 1994, or FACE, these objections were overruled by senior Justice Department lawyers. "It wasnt the inclusion of suspected criminals or the infusion of old files on such activities that we objected to," a senior FBI agent told Insight. "It was the collection of political and personal information on people such as the cardinal that many of us found objectionable. It should not be in the database or passed over to Justice for general reading this is obviously political in nature and something we work hard to avoid." In answers delivered to pro-life Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC) in early spring concerning reports that the government has targeted individuals and groups involved in the pro-life movement, the FBI said it only tracks those people or groups known to be or suspected of being involved in criminal activities. "The FBI initiates FACE investigations based upon the receipt of information indicating that a potential criminal violation has occurred which meets the ... threshold" of the law which, essentially, prohibits any interference or threat or harm to people seeking abortions or those providing such services, the Bureau stated in written answers to the congressman. "For information, when an investigation is initiated by the FBI, an investigative file is opened and all information obtained throughout the investigative period is maintained therein. The FBI does not maintain non-investigative files on individuals or organizations involved in anti-abortion activities," the Bureau further stated. Then how to explain, based on documents from the Justice Dpeartment, that there exists many files on non-violent groups such as the Conference of Bishops and other organizations -- and prominent people like Cardinal OConner -- in the forefront of the pro-life movement with no known ties to criminal actions? Besides political and biographical information on such people and groups, the FBI also appears to have included extensive telephone, credit card, financial and even lobbying records on people and groups. In one case, involving the National Right to Life Committee an extensive investigative file dates back to 1978. Though there does not appear to be a direct attack on religious or First Amendment freedoms, the FBI task force has used "intrusive" means to obtain information once normally associated with terrorist groups or other subversives. Calls for comment from the FBI, the Justice Department, and the White House were not returned. Larry Klayman, chairman and general counsel of Judicial Watch, who obtained the initial set of VAAPCON documents under a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request, vowed to get to the bottom of what appears to be a politically-motivated database. Given the FBIs written answers to Congress that it only tracks and maintains information on known or suspected criminals, Rep. Taylor and others also plan on pursuing the Insight exclusive and, if necessary, hold hearings.
This Page last updated: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 2109 people have visited this page
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