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LOCAL NEWS:
Activists Hold Annual July 4th Protest at NSA
| a Chronicle staff report |
"Justice is the only means of security," said BERN member Max Obuszewski in a prepared statement to the press. "It is an ethical imperative that money wasted on spying and warmaking be diverted to satisfy the basic needs of all people of the world. We are interdependent as one human family."
Four BERN members--Ellen Barfield, Max Obuszewski, Sister Carol Gilbert, O.P. and Sister Ardeth Platte, O.P--were arrested in October 2001 at the time of another BERN protest at the NSA. They were charged with trespass, destruction of government property and conspiracy. These charges were dropped in April 2002, but they were warned by a prosecutor at Fort Meade that new charges would be filed. "The defendants welcome an opportunity to challenge the National Security Agency in court," said Obuszewski. The four intend to take part in the July 4 protest.
BERN activists have been seeking to meet with the NSA's director to discuss the agency's involvement with Star Wars, Echelon (which intercepts communications worldwide), and the Space Command Vision for 2020, which calls for domination of the heavens.
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This story was published on August 7, 2002.
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