The documents, obtained by the ACLU through a Maryland Public Information Act lawsuit, also show that the name of at least one local activist was entered into a federally funded database designed to share information between state, local and federal law enforcement about suspected drug traffickers and terrorists.

The entries in the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database for Max Obuszewski list his "Primary Crime" as "Terrorism -- Anti Govern(ment)," and his "Secondary Crime" as "Terrorism -- Anti-War Protesters."

The officers used false names -- referred to in the documents as "covert identities" -- and opened e-mail accounts under them that they used to receive messages from the groups.

"This is not supposed to happen in America," Maryland ACLU attorney David Rocah told United Press International. He called the surveillance -- which the documents show lasted from at least March 2005 to May 2006 -- "Kafkaesque insanity."

"In a free society, which relies on the engagement of citizens in debate and protest and political activity to maintain that freedom ... you should be able to attend a meeting about an issue you care about without having to worry that government spies are entering your name into a database used to track alleged terrorists and drug traffickers," he said.

Forty-six pages of documents, in the form of intelligence reports and printouts from the HIDTA database, show that several undercover officers from the state police's Homeland Security and Intelligence Division attended meetings of three organizations -- the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, a peace group; the Coalition to End the Death Penalty; and the Committee to Save Vernon Evans, a convicted murderer who was at that time slated for execution.

The documents record a total of at least 288 hours surveillance over the 14-month period. The undercover officers attended at least 20 organizing meetings held at community halls and churches, and a dozen anti-death-penalty protests, including several at the Maryland state SuperMax jail in Baltimore.

Maryland State Police chief Col. Terrence Sheridan said in a statement that the agency "does not inappropriately curtail the expression or demonstration of the civil liberties of protesters or organizations acting lawfully."

The officers did not report any violent or illegal activity, or any planning for it, although there are references to a proposed sit-in at the offices of Baltimore County State's Attorney Sandra O'Connor. Indeed, organizers are repeatedly reported as stressing the importance of demonstrations being peaceful and orderly.

"There were about 75-80 protesters at the rally," reads a typical report of one anti-death-penalty event at the SuperMax jail, "and none participated in any type of civil disobedience or illegal acts -- protesters were even careful to move out of the way for Division of Correction employees who were going into the parking lot for work."

Nonetheless, information about the protesters and their activities was sent to seven different agencies, including the National Security Agency and an un-named military intelligence official.

"Americans have the right to peaceably assemble with others of a like mind and speak out about what they believe in," said Rocah.

"For state agencies to spend hundreds of hours entering information about lawful and peaceful political activities into a criminal database is beyond unconscionable -- it is waste of taxpayer dollars that does nothing to make us safer from actual terrorists or drug dealers."

The process leading to the disclosure of the reports began with the 2003 arrest for trespass and disorderly conduct of Obuszewski and another individual during a protest outside NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md. At their trial, documents released by the prosecution revealed that the protesters had been under surveillance by an entity referred to as the Baltimore Intelligence Unit.

The Maryland ACLU filed requests under the state's Public Information Act with several agencies and then sued the state police earlier this year.

"No illegal actions by State Police have ever been taken against any citizens or groups who have exercised their right to free speech and assembly in a lawful manner," said Sheridan in his statement.

But Rocah says that the surveillance at the very least breached federal regulations governing the use of the HIDTA database. The regulations state that agencies "shall not collect or maintain criminal intelligence information about the political, religious or social views, associations, or activities of any individual or any group �� unless such information directly relates to criminal conduct or activity."

"There is almost nothing in these reports that is not about 'political, religious or social views,'" Rocah said.

On at least two occasions, the entries in the database conclude with a request that the case be closed, but subsequent entries make clear it was not.

"These documents raise more questions than they answer," said Rocah. "Why did this happen? And more importantly, how was it allowed to go on for 14 months?"

Rocah said he would be filing further Public Information Law requests and going to back to the Baltimore City Police, who told the ACLU that they had no responsive records to an earlier request but who, according to the reports released Thursday, received information from the surveillance and had covert officers at at least one of the demonstrations.

"As surprised and shocked as I was (by the documents), I would be even more surprised if they reveal the full extent of this surveillance. We are going to keep pushing to find out more."

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