ACLU seeks domestic spy files On Dec. 2, the ACLU and half a dozen other organizations took an important step in the effort to uncover domestic spy operations targeting Arabs, Muslims, and activists: they filed Freedom of Information Act requests in 10 states (including California) and Washington, D.C., asking for Federal Bureau of Investigation files on specific groups and individuals targeted due to their religion, ethnicity, or First Amendment-protected activities. The request also asks for files on joint terrorism task force funding structures and practices that the activists believe "are encouraging rampant and unwarranted spying," according to the ACLU's press release announcing the move.

Joint terrorism task forces are squads of federalized officers working with local police but answering to the FBI and operating in conjunction with the State Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other federal and state agencies.

Over the past three years the FBI has conducted five rounds of "informal interviews" of mainly Arabs and Muslims and questioned them about their political and religious beliefs. Attorneys charge that the feds have targeted those individuals based solely on their faith and race, and not as the result of any criminal investigations into terrorist activities or because of any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

Evidence has also been mounting that joint terrorism task forces have been carrying out widespread domestic surveillance of activists engaged in legal forms of dissent (see "The New COINTELPRO," 10/20/04).

Groups that joined the ACLU in filing the FOIA requests include the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Code Pink, Greenpeace, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and United for Peace and Justice – all of which have requested to see any "spy files" being kept on their organizations.

Last October the local chapter of the ACLU filed suit against the government seeking expedited processing of its FOIA request for documents related to the FBI's interviews of Muslims and individuals of Middle Eastern descent in northern California. (Camille T. Taiara)

Field vote set The City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote Dec. 16 on whether to lease field time in a publicly financed athletic facility to the private Lick-Wilmerding High School.

The deal would generate $14 million over 25 years, but those funds would be controlled by the nonprofit City College Foundation rather than the elected board. Also at issue is how money from a voter-approved bond was earlier this year diverted from a performing arts center and other projects to build the Health and Wellness Facility on the Ocean Avenue campus (see "Field of Schemes?," 9/22/04).

Two trustees – Julio Ramos and Milton Marks III – have criticized the plan. Ramos told the Bay Guardian he thinks the development of the Chinatown and Mission campuses should be the priority, not an athletic facility. Marks is concerned that the foundation isn't accountable to the board.

Chancellor Dr. Philip Day has defended the plan as legal and a good deal for the school district. He told the board during a Dec. 9 study session that if the money exists to "go for it legally, then go for it." Thurs/16, 6 p.m., City College Board of Trustees, City College Business District Office, 33 Gough, S.F. (415) 239-3303. (Joe Donohoe)