Washington — Washington - Federal lawmakers are scrutinizing the Homeland Security Department's role in efforts by Maryland State Police to spy on peace activists and death penalty protesters, raising concerns that the operations were supported with federal dollars.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, asked the department yesterday for a "full accounting" of actions by the state police and of any federal funding it provided to the law enforcement agency. In a letter to Michael Chertoff, the department secretary, Thompson questioned whether the covert operations violated constitutional safeguards.
The state police have come under fire for surveillance conducted on protest groups in 2005 and 2006 during the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Documents detailing those activities were released last week by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had filed a lawsuit seeking the information. The state General Assembly is also planning hearings on the matter.
"These allegations are extremely troublesome and bring to light past domestic covert operations, which were found to be not only unconstitutional but also damaging to the rule of law and America's democratic principles," Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, wrote in his letter. He added that funding of the state police actions with federal taxpayer dollars would constitute "a waste of valuable resources, both human and financial."
Members of the Maryland delegation including Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the House majority leader, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, expressed support for the congressional scrutiny.
"I was shocked that the state of Maryland ... would have that kind of activity going on," Cummings said. "And it makes me wonder how all of this came about. Is this truly in the name of homeland security? We must always protect our homeland, but we must also at the same time protect our constitutional rights."
The ACLU and civil liberties activists have warned for years that the Homeland Security Department's efforts after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to give local law enforcement agencies a national security role could encourage unwarranted investigations of private citizens. ACLU officials have said the Maryland case is reminiscent of the FBI's infiltration of civil rights and anti-war groups decades ago.
