Every move you make, I'll be watching you

Remember that song from The Police? Seems that more than your local police are watching you. Read on:

FBI Spied on Tea Parties

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted a clandestine monitoring operation on last week’s Tea Party protests, filming and cataloging the hundreds of thousands of Americans who acted on their First Amendment right to Free Speech.

The FBI operation reportedly began on March 29 with a single-page memo to the organization’s 56 field offices, mandating data collection on American citizens who were planning the demonstrations. The Special Agents in Charge (SACs) were instructed to verify the date, time and location of each TEA Party within their region and supply that information to FBI headquarters in Washington.

A second directive, issued on April 6, instructed the SACs of each field office “to coordinate and conduct, either at the field office level and/or with the appropriate resident agency, covert video surveillance and data collection of the participants of the TEA parties.” Surveillance was to be performed from “discreet fixed or mobile positions” and was to be performed “independently and outside of the purview of local law enforcement.”...

If you have been paying attention, this comes as no surprise to you. There is more, of course, and you can/should read it here.

H/T Lori