Bill of Rights Defense Campaign

Dissent Is Patriotic

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee's e-mail newsletter

April 2007, Vol. 6, No. 3

In this issue:

Features: National security letters and the Inspector General’s Report; Test of Military Commissions Act a Sham; Former U.S. Enemy Combatant Jose Padilla on Trial; REAL ID
New Resources: Lisa Graves on NSLs; Book Review: Illusions of Security; Film Reviews: The Forest for the Trees and USA vs Al-Arian
Grassroots News: Brighton, NY; Mercer County, NJ; Buffalo, NY; Syracuse, NY; Farmer’s Branch, TX; Northampton, MA; Firsthand Account of First-World Detention
Congressional Hearings and Legislation Updates: NSLs; Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; Military Commissions Act; Extraordinary Rendition; Bills to Open Government; House and Senate Pass US Attorney Bill
BORDC Conference Calls Spur Local Action: Conference Call on Detention Centers; Conference Call on National Security Letters
BORDC Briefs: BORDC Welcomes New Administrator

The BORDC needs your help. If your city or town has passed a civil liberties resolution, please help BORDC bring the post-9/11 civil liberties to new communities and states. Please contact info(at)bordc.org if you'd like to start a local BORDC or to help fund a BORDC field organizer. To contribute funds or stock online, go to http://www.bordc.org/donate.php, or mail a check or money order to:

8 Bridge St., Suite A
Northampton, MA 01060

Your purchase of buttons, bumper stickers and booklets also helps. See our catalogue to order materials.

Features

NSLs and the Inspector General’s Report

The FBI's unchecked powers to issue NSLs were a formula for abuse: no judicial oversight and no reports to Congress were required. They could demand the private records of people who are not suspected of any ties to terrorism knowing that permanent gag orders would prevent us from ever finding out.

But growing concerns nationwide about runaway executive powers, including the passage of more than 400 resolutions, prompted members of Congress to insert a requirement for an Inspector General's audit of the FBI's use of NSLs in the 2006 PATRIOT Act reauthorization. The first of these reports, released March 9 and covering the years 2003 through 2005, revealed widespread abuses. Several members of Congress who believed FBI Director Robert Mueller’s assertion in 2005 that he knew of no abuses (He apparently had not looked for any.) were dismayed by the FBI failures, which resulted in widespread violations of Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.

The response to this news has been swift:

Within days of the report’s release, the Rochester (NY) BORDC sprang into action. Read Grassroots News to learn how a resident of Brighton, NY, used the IG findings to support the passage of a Town Council resolution.
Representative Jane Harman, Former Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, resurrected her bill from the 109th Congress to bring FBI national security letter powers into compliance with the Fourth Amendment. The new bill number is H.R. 1739. (See "Congressional Hearings and Legislation Updates" for more information.)
On March 29, BORDC held a national conference call with Lisa Graves, Deputy Director of the Center for National Security Studies, and local BORDCs. Lisa and BORDC Advisory Board member James X. Dempsey, Policy Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, both had testified on NSLs before the House Intelligence Committee the previous day.
BORDC and 46 of our local and regional allies in 14 states joined national organizations in signing a letter to House and Senate leadership spelling out the problems and calling for change. Read the letter here (PDF).

What you can do:

Call your Representative to support H.R. 1739, and call your Senators to suggest that they sponsor a companion bill.
Ask local businesses with access to your private records, such as phone companies, internet service providers, banks, and vendors if they would be willing to challenge NSLs requesting customer information. So far the only two recipients of NSLs who have challenged them have been a library and an internet service provider. Other businesses have complied with tens of thousands of NSLs, and many have profited from violating their customers’ privacy

Test of Military Commissions Act a Sham

The outcome of the Hicks military trial should trouble members of Congress who supported the Military Commissions Act (MCA), which the administration demanded so that it could “bring the terrorists to justice.” In what was billed as the first test of the MCA, Australian David Hicks, who has claimed repeatedly during his more than 5 years of imprisonment that he has been mistreated, agreed not to sue the government for his mistreatment and not to talk to the press for one year. After two of his attorneys were dismissed by the judge, Hicks agreed to plead guilty to the government’s charge of material support for terrorism. Hicks will serve a 9-month sentence in an Adelaide prison.

BORDC is pleased to report that Bisher al-Rawi returned home to the U.K. after five years at Guantánamo. Those familiar with the play Guantánamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom will remember al-Rawi’s story as told by his brother Wahab and his letter to his mother. Read his first statement in Britain here.

On April 2, the Supreme Court announced that it would not review the cases of Guantánamo detainees until the detainees have exhausted the process set forth by the Detainee Treatment Act. The announcement is not a denial of the detainees’ habeas corpus rights—rights that the Supreme Court has upheld several times—but it is a disappointing delay. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and its co-counsel brought the motion. More information can be found on CCR’s web site.

What you can do:
Call for the MCA to be overturned and habeas corpus restored. Find legislation here.

Former Enemy Combatant Jose Padilla on Trial

Jury selection begins this week for the long-awaited Miami trial of Jose Padilla. The administration's shifting justifications for Padilla's 2002 arrest, starting with an alleged Al Qaeda "dirty bomb" plot that wasn't; his designation as a US citizen "enemy combatant" that was later dropped; and the extreme isolation in which he was held while in military custody make this an important trial.

REAL ID

In March, the federal government pushed back the deadline for creating a national identification card from May 2008 to December 2009. This action is an attempt to quiet growing public outrage at the realization that implementing the REAL ID Act costs states billions of dollars. According to the federal plan, May 11, 2013, is the first day upon which access to airplanes and federal buildings could be denied without national identification.

But the announcement of the deadline reprieve by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff has not stopped the grassroots and state legislatures from continuing to roar their disapproval of the costs and threats of establishing a national identification system. Thirty-eight states have begun to consider rejecting REAL ID legislation, which passed Congress as part of a disaster relief and Iraq funding bill in 2005. Maine and Idaho have said they will deny implementation of the Real ID Act. Congress is considering legislation that would repeal the measure.

South Carolina—The South Carolina Senate is refusing to accept REAL ID as an unfunded mandate; it wants the federal government to pay for the standardization of state drivers' licenses. Republican Senator Larry Martin is sponsoring a bill to opt out of REAL ID. He wants Congress to fix it. “I really think that, with South Carolina and some other states that have looked at this and have said, ‘Look, we just can’t do it,’ it really puts the ball back in their courts to do something more reasonable.” Read article here.

New Hampshire—On April 5, the New Hampshire House rejected REAL ID by a vote of 268-8. Governor John Lynch also supports the ban on REAL ID. The bill now goes to the New Hampshire Senate. ''It is probably the worst piece of blackmail to come out of the federal government. This is pure, unadulterated blackmail,'' said. Rep. Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry. Read news report here.

Montana—In early April, Montana legislators overwhelmingly rejected REAL ID with the House unanimously voting to move a bill to the Senate, which refuses to implement REAL ID. The Senate passed HB 287 by a vote of 82 to 18. Governor Brian Schweitzer is expected to sign the bill, which states, "The state of Montana will not participate in the implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005." Read this article.

Oregon—Though Governor Ted Kulongoski promised last year to bring Oregon into compliance with REAL ID, the new Democratic majority in the legislature is shying away from that certainty. Kulongoski’s compliance bill may have seemed a shoe-in early in the session, but grassroots efforts to persuade lawmakers that compliance is too costly, threatens privacy, and creates increased potential for identity theft is making inroads with enough legislators that a delay in passing any legislation this session is looking more promising. Read this story.

New Resources

Lisa Graves Audio and Testimony on National Security Letters

Hear Lisa Graves with BORDC on March 29 and read her testimony to the House Intelligence Committee on March 28 here.

Book Review: Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World, by Maureen Webb

Canadian human rights attorney and author Maureen Webb’s book begins at a rally for Maher Arar, where she and her children first encountered Maher Arar’s wife Monia Mazigh and their two young children. Her story sets forth clearly what happened to Arar during his custody with the CIA and later with his interrogators and torturers in Syria, and how a chance encounter with a “person of interest” led to his so-called “extraordinary rendition.” Throughout the book, Webb masterfully presents the concept of preemption; the laws and policies in the US, Canada, and elsewhere that allow global surveillance, giant data-mining programs, and interrelationships among government data, data aggregators such as ChoicePoint and Lexis-Nexis, and telecommunication and commercial records; the use of “risk assessment” in conjunction with those data; and what it means to our democracy. Recommended. Published in 2007 by City Lights.

Film Review: The Forest for the Trees, by Bernadine Mellis

The Forest for the Trees is the story of the case of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. After a pipe bomb exploded in 1990 under Bari’s car seat, maiming her and injuring Cherney, the FBI ignored logic, leads, and evidence that could have led to the perpetrators and instead charged Bari and Cherney with the crime. In 2004, Mellis filmed, directed, and narrated the vibrant story of Bari, fellow activists, and Mellis' father, Dennis Cunningham, the lead attorney for Bari and Cherney as her Master’s thesis from Temple University. The award-winning, 57-minute documentary is available for purchase or rental from Bullfrog Films.

Film Review: USA vs Al-Arian, by Line Halvorsen

USA vs Al-Arian is a new documentary film about the US government prosecution of Palestinian activist and former university professor Sami Al-Arian. Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen followed the 2005 trial of Al-Arian using archival footage, interviews with Al-Arian, and extensive experiential footage of Al-Arian’s wife and children.

Even after listening to 472,000 of Al-Arian’s and his family’s conversations for ten years, the government was unable to link Al-Arian to Palestinian terrorism. Two jurors interviewed after the trial said they voted not-guilty on eight counts due to the lack of evidence presented in the five-month trial. Al-Arian’s lawyers did not call a single witness, leaving the burden of proof on the government, which failed to prove its case in eight of the 17 counts. The jury was hung on the other counts, which led to what Al-Arian calls continued “persecution.”

“It is a political persecution. It is not a criminal prosecution. And when it is a political persecution, the people have to speak up because these systems—these governments are speaking on their behalf. … In a democracy, the government is doing a persecution, it’s doing it in the name of the people. So, the question becomes then, what is the response of the people?” asks Al-Arian from his cell.

The film is an inside look at a real family facing the political persecution of one of its members and the roller-coaster of anguish they go through—from the elation of Al-Arian being found not guilty to despair because the government continues to imprison him even after he made a plea bargain in order to return to his family. If you weren’t convinced before that the Bush Administration’s brand of justice is requiring innocent people to prove their innocence, this film will convince you that the presumption of innocence is no longer present in the US system of justice—at least not for lightening-rod individuals like Al-Arian.

Film Showings
The film’s first showing in Canada and the US is April 20 at Toronto’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and at the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. The film won the Audience prize at Norway’s Tromsø International Film Festival in January.

Local Action in Support of Al-Arian
On March 25, at Butner Federal Correctional Center in North Carolina where Al-Arian was taken following the onset of his 3-month hunger strike, at least 70 people demonstrated for his release. Al-Arian will be held past his original release date because prosecutors demanded that he testify before a grand jury, which Al-Arian refused because it was not part of his plea agreement. He was found in contempt of court, and will probably not be released and deported until November 2008. Read more here.

Grassroots News

Brighton, NY

Nancy Braiman, from Rochester, NY, was instrumental in the passage of a brand-new resolution by the Town Council of Brighton, NY, on March 28. The Brighton resolution is historic because it includes language that puts the town council on record challenging any national security letter issued to it. Read the resolution here. Congratulations to Nancy and the Rochester Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

Mercer County, NJ

A group of citizens and organizations in central New Jersey formed the Mercer County Coalition for Civil Liberties (MCCCL) in 2004 to focus on the civil liberties infringements of the USA PATRIOTt Act. MCCCL succeeded in having a resolution passed by Mercer County, helping citizens get resolutions passed in two municipalities and in getting a state resolution approved by a State Assembly committee. In 2006 MCCCL members met with US Representatives Scott Garrett and Rush Holt; had several conference calls with the staff of Representative Holt, Senator Lautenberg and Senator Menendez; developed a congressional voting record chart; attended a civil liberties roundtable arranged by Representative Holt; co-sponsored with the ACLU-NJ a public forum in Camden on warrantless searches; drafted a resolution to introduce to the City of Trenton; and organized a new group, Trenton Citizens for Civil Liberties (TCCL), to introduce the resolution. In 2007, MCCCL plans to continue lobbying our US Representatives and Senators. TCCL is organizing a public forum for April and is building support for the civil liberties resolution. More information about MCCCL can be found at www.protectyourrightsnj.org. For further information please contact Allan Willinger at allanwillinger(at)yahoo.com.

Buffalo, NY

Supporters of Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) artist Steve Kurtz (featured in recent art film, Strange Culture) are continuing to raise funds and build public awareness about the government’s weak bioterrorism case against Kurtz for his collection of scientific art projects, discovered at the untimely death of his wife, Hope. Since a trial date has not yet been set, Kurtz has been touring the country with the film, and a schedule is available at: http://www.caedefensefund.org/

Lucia Sommer of CAE wrote to BORDC recently, “The only bright side to these awful times is the many wonderful people we have met and the opportunity to be aware of all the good work people and organizations like the BORDC are doing.”

Upcoming Appearances and Film Showings
April 25 & 28 – Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto
April 27 – Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
April 28 & 29 – Boston Independent Film Festival
April 28, May 4 & 5 – San Francisco Film Festival
April 29, White River Indie Films, White River Junction, VT
June 15 – Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, New York, NY

Syracuse, NY

On March 27, supporters of jailed Muslim doctor Rafil Dhafir called upon former attorney general John Ashcroft to explain what they call the politically motivated targeting of Dr. Dhafir when Ashcroft spoke at Syracuse University. More than 25 residents protested the event, comparing the controversial US Attorney firings and prosecutions of individuals like Dr. Dhafir. “The government targeted Dr. Dhafir to be a trophy in the war on terror, ” said protest organizer Madis Senner. For more information, read Group protests Muslim doctor's jailing during Ashcroft speech and visit the following web sites:

Farmers Branch, TX

This Dallas suburb of 27,000 made national news in 2006 when the city council made English the official language of the community and passed a controversial ordinance requiring all apartment landlords to check citizenship or immigration documents before renting their properties.

The landlord ordinance excluding undocumented persons, has also made the city inhospitable to documented immigrants, especially Latino people and those not fluent in English. Progressive groups in Farmer’s Branch and a high-profile law firm in Dallas quickly assembled to overturn the ordinance by getting petition signatures from five percent of registered voters. A referendum on the issue is set for May 12.

Paul Heller of the local ACLU chapter is pleased with the coalition-building. “We were quite proud of this effort and surprised the council and the ordinance supporters with our work.” But surprise quickly turned to backlash as ordinance supporters began stalking a female Latino leader and intimidating and scaring Latino citizens and residents into displaying campaign yard signs of ordinance-supporting candidates. The Department of Justice is investigating, and a state judge has issued a restraining order. Heller fears the climate will become even nastier over the weeks before the election, though the coalition continues its voter registration effort, hoping for a high turnout.

Visit the following web sites for more information.

Northampton, MA

The Pioneer Valley Coalition Against Secrecy and Torture (PV-CAST) joined national efforts to educate about the Guantánamo Bay prison and showed The Road to Guantánamo video in three different locations. They also met with Northampton Police Chief and protested local police enforcement of federal law that resulted in the deportation of a Colombian immigrant.

Firsthand Account of First-World Detention

Mohamed A. Hafiz, an active member of the Sudanese immigrant community in the US and of the Group Against Torture in Sudan in Washington, DC, wrote about his recent detention at one of the US immigration ‘facilities,’ comparing that experience to his previous detention as a human rights defender in Sudan. He wrote:

“I was not tortured this time by hanging from the ceiling (ceiling fan method of torture), nor deprived of food and sleep, nor slapped repeatedly on the face (telefono method imported from Latin America, thanks to the School of Americas), or burned by cigarette. I was told this was the First World detention, and we do not do things like these. However, the trauma I felt and lived inside the First World detention centers was similar to some extent to that I lived in the Third World Detention!”

While he was in US detention, Mr. Hafiz witnessed firsthand how refugees who are detained for long periods because there is no other country that will accept them become frustrated and severely depressed. As in his case, most of the detainees applied for asylum in the US, yet the US indefinitely detained them.

He spoke about the increased number of suicides and suicidal attempts at the US immigration detention facilities, and compared it to what has been reported in Sudan’s torture centers, known as Ghost Houses.

“It’s a shame the way human rights defenders are being treated as ‘illegal’ aliens in this country while they seek refuge from the torture they left behind,” he sadly wrote in a message shared with BORDC. Hafiz determined to continue his fight to expose First World detention.

Congressional Hearings and Legislation Updates

New Bill to Reform National Security Letters (NSLs)

On March 28, California Representative Jane Harman (D-36) introduced H.R. 1739, legislation curbing the FBI’s use of NSLs, in response to the March 9 Inspector General’s report exposing rampant abuse during 2003-2005. (Reports detailing other years are not yet available.)

In addition to requiring approval of NSLs by a FISA judge or US magistrate judge, H.R. 1739 would also:

require the government to show a connection between the records sought with an NSL and a terrorist or foreign power;
create an expedited electronic filing system for NSL applications;
require the government to destroy information obtained through NSL requests that is no longer needed; and
mandate more robust congressional oversight, requiring semi-annual reports to both the Congressional Intelligence and Judiciary Committees on all NSLs issued, minimization procedures, any court challenges and an explanation of how NSLs have helped investigations and prosecutions.

What You Can Do

H.R. 1739 has been referred to three Senate committees: Judiciary, Intelligence, and Finance. Bills referred to multiple committees can get lost, so grassroots phone calls and visits with representatives are needed to press the importance of placing limitations on the NSL power that the FBI has used as a limitless power. For contact information see: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Reform

On April 19 at 2:30 p.m., the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will hold an open hearing on proposals that would change and revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Hearings on Military Commissions Act

On April 26, the Senate Armed Services Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. to hear testimony on Guantánamo detainees. This hearing could be the prelude to movement on any of the Senate bills addressing the Military Commissions Act, including:

Senator Christopher Dodd’s bill, S. 576, “Restoring the Constitution Act”
Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter’s bill, S. 185, “Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007”

The House Armed Services Committee held its detainee hearing on March 29. An audio transcript of the hearing may be found here. Click on “Audio Transcript Part 2” from the March 29 hearing. Among those giving testimony was Neal Katyal, who successfully argued in 2006 before the Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld—the case that ruled President Bush’s Military Tribunals unconstitutional.

What You Can Do
Contact your Congressional representatives. For contact information see: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

New Bill to Prohibit Extraordinary Rendition

In early March, Massachusetts representative Edward Markey (D-7th) introduced H.R. 1352, the “Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act.” This legislation essentially prohibits extraordinary rendition—the practice of transferring detainees who have not received any court hearing to countries where torture or other inhuman treatment is known to occur.

The bill immediately gained 48 co-sponsors, but it has not moved from its assignment to the Foreign Affairs Committee. Read Rep. Markey's Fact Sheet on Rendition (PDF). Read news article Democrats Renew Arar Fight.

Local Actions on Renditions
Eight protesters were arrested on April 9 as they attempted to deliver their own “arrest warrants” to three pilots who work for Aero Contractors, the North Carolina contractor of jets to the CIA for use in extraordinary rendition. See news report.

Earlier this year, German prosecutors issued arrest warrants for at least three employees of Aero Contractors involved in the case of Khalid El-Masri, a German businessman who reported the CIA detained, beat him, and sent him to Afghanistan in 2004 to be tortured. US courts have refused to hear El-Masri’s case.

North Carolina Stop Torture Now and other grassroots organizations held a press conference and submitted more than 2,500 signatures to the State Attorney General, asking the Attorney General’s office to investigate the air carrier, Aero Contractors. The company is suspected of participating in an extraordinary renditions program, flying terrorism suspects to other countries to be interrogated and possibly tortured. See news article.

The CIA program has roots in other US communities. In Portland, Oregon, former Rutgers professor Michael Munk is appealing the Oregon State Bar’s decision to drop a misconduct investigation against Portland lawyer Scott Caplan, who acted as a registered agent for a company that allegedly owns a “torture taxi.” Munk has asked the bar if it is willing to keep a member who has “knowing participation” in the extraordinary rendition program. Read story here.

Bills to Open Government

During Sunshine Week (March 11-17) two bills were passed in the House, which begin to open the government to citizen scrutiny, reversing the recent trend to cloak government actions, while opening up US residents to government scrutiny.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Amendments H.R. 1309 passed the House on March 14 by a vote of 308-117. (See how your Representative voted here.) This bill would restore the FOIA to its pre-Ashcroft state, returning the government to its policy of uniformly releasing information to the public unless there are security reasons not to release it. In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft directed public agencies to uniformly withhold information requested through FOIA.

A companion bill in the Senate, S 849, the Open Government Act of 2007, has been referred to the Judiciary Committee. Co-sponsors are Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX). Testimony from a Judiciary Committee hearing held on March 14 is available online here.

Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007, H.R. 1255, passed the House on March 14 by a 333-93 vote. This bi-partisan measure re-opens Presidential records to public view. President Bush’s 2001 Executive Order shielded any records a former president wished to conceal. Watch video of March 1 hearing of the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives on the Presidential Records Act.

In the Senate, the amendment's companion bill, S. 886, has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, following passage in the House.

House and Senate Pass US Attorney Bill

Both houses of Congress have now passed legislation limiting the executive branch’s power to make indefinite interim appointments of US attorneys. Both bills passed by overwhelming majorities, indicating a bi-partisan outrage at the recent Department of Justice (DOJ) firings of eight US attorneys, in a possible attempt to squelch investigations into the wrong-doing of political allies, and to punish political opponents.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was to have appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 12, and it was expected that questions about his handling of the US attorneys fiasco would be addressed, but that appearance has been canceled. Gonzales won’t get a chance to defend his actions until a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing April 17. Read article here.

S. 214 passed by a vote of 94 to 2 on March 20. H.R. 580 passed on March 26 by a vote of 329 to 78. A conference committee will likely be named to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills.

BORDC Conference Calls Spur Local Action

Conference Call on Detention Centers

A conference call triggered by the plight of a 9-year-old Canadian boy held with his Iranian parents at the Hutto Detention Facility in Taylor, TX, started a conversation between local organizers, local residents, family members of detainees, and some who had been detained themselves. The call was held on March 19, and included stories of successful organizing from Tim Smith, who has been involved in coalition work to watchdog the Northwest Detention Facility in Tacoma. He was joined by Flavia Alaya and Jeannette Gabriel, who worked to shut down the detention center at the Passaic County Jail in New Jersey. Smith, Alaya and Gabriel shared how they began small by organizing letter-writing campaigns and connecting to the families of those detained. They moved on from there to gathering more allies locally, and even organizing detainees within the detention centers. Some of those on the call have already begun initial meetings to start organizing in their communities.

What You Can Do

Read the notes from the call and listen to an upcoming audio recording of the call here.
Form a group of allies who are committed to work on this in your community.
Contact BORDC for more ideas about how to get started in your community. In the west, email Hope Marston at hmarston(at)bordc.org and in the east, email info(at)bordc.org.

Conference Call on National Security Letters

On March 29, grassroots organizers throughout the US learned more about the FBI's abuses of National Security Letters since those powers were expanded by the PATRIOT Act, and other bills. Lisa Graves, from the Center for National Security Studies, led the discussion.

Graves also joined grassroots activists in strategizing ways that we can continue to press Congress for changes in the law, including reaching out to make allies of local businesses who typically are called on to give information to the government through these NSLs and to engage in letter-writing campaigns—make sure you mail those letters to your Congressional representative! At least one group on the call has begun working on an opinion editorial to be published in their local paper. Listen to a recording and read strategies and notes from the call here.

BORDC Briefs

BORDC Welcomes New Administrator

The BORDC is pleased to announce that Susan Heitker has joined our staff as Administrator. Susan replaces Meredith Gray, who held the position for a year and a half.

From 1998 to 2006, Susan held several positions within the Buckeye Forest Council, most recently serving as Executive Coordinator and coordinating attorneys and scientists in a campaign to stop coal mining under an old-growth forest. At BORDC, Susan will manage the financial and administrative operations, update our web site, supervise interns and volunteers, and serve as the managing editor of this newsletter.

BORDC bids farewell to Meredith Gray, who joined our staff in September 2005. We wish her the best of luck in her endeavors.

Editor: Nancy Talanian, Director
Managing Editor: Susan Heitker, Administrator
Contributing Writers:
Hope Marston, West Region Organizer
Mohamed Elgadi, East Region Organizer
Allan Willinger, Mercer County Coalition for Civil Liberties
Mohamed A. Hafiz, Group Against Torture in Sudan
Paul Heller, American Civil Liberities Union of Texas

Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Inc.
8 Bridge St., Suite A
Northampton, MA 01060

Web: http://www.bordc.org/
Email: info(at)bordc.org
Telephone: 413-582-0110
Fax: 413-582-0116

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