April 29, 1971
Page 12701
NOW IS NO TIME TO WEAKEN THE FBI
Mr. CURTIS. Mr. President, today there is turmoil in our country in many places. There is an uneasiness in Washington because there are those who threaten to disrupt the entire Government.
Now is no time to weaken the position of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI has a long record of serving the country well. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD an editorial from the Omaha WorldHerald of April 23, 1971.
There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
THE EARTH DAY SCARE
A subtle and effective way to disparage the FBI is to keep referring to its activities on Earth Day last year, when agents monitored some of the antipollution observances.
To keep drumming on the FBI's interest in Earth Day gatherings is to foster the impression that the bureau has turned paranoid and sees every birdwatcher as a bomb thrower.
This impression – that the FBI regards the environmental movement as a threat to national security – is devastating to the agency's reputation. Unfortunately, it is the impression one might receive if exposed only to the thinner accounts of the incidents.
A somewhat more detailed examination, including a reading of the FBI report on Earth Day in Washington, helps put the Great FBI Scare into different perspective.
One of the Earth Day organizers in Washington was a man who has been publicly identified as a Communist party functionary, the FBI report said. His activities on behalf of an organization called the Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis had led to a number of arrests.
Another "environmentalist" involved in Earth Day planning was identified as a former SDSer. One of the speakers was a Navy man then being court-martialed for seditious conduct. Pete Seeger, folksinger who frequently supports leftist causes, also was on the program.
And Rennie Davis was there – Rennie Davis of the Chicago Conspiracy.
Davis told the ecological gathering that the Conspiracy was joining with such forces as Women's Lib, black militants and environmentalists to fight to end the Vietnam war. He said he opposed all pollution except "light up a joint and get stoned."
"One way to fight for ecology is to go to New Haven on May 1 to stop Bobby Seale's trial," Davis said. Seale, a Black Panther leader, was scheduled for trial in New Haven on murder charges.
This is a sample of some of the participation that led the FBI to keep tabs on 1970 Earth Day in Washington. Considering the inflammatory potential provided by some of the planners and speakers, there is nothing sinister about the FBI surveillance that we can see.
But there is something that seems sinister about the demonstrated intent of radical groups and individuals to get involved in the environmental movement.
Perhaps the highly publicized concern of Democratic presidential aspirant such as Sen. Muskie would more effectively be directed toward seeing that the movement for a cleaner America does not become a Trojan horse for advocates of political pollution.
There are many who would like to make the popularity of ecological interest a vehicle for the advancement of The Revolution. It seems that the FBI sees this more clearly than the politicians who complain so much about the agency's intelligence gathering.
Speaking of Sen. Muskie, here is a footnote on his part in Earth Day and the Great FBI Scare:
Muskie has raised a lot of dust about the fact that he was "subject to FBI surveillance" during his participation in the event last spring. Listening to the furor Muskie has touched off, one would believe he was the FBI's No. 1 target for snooping on that occasion.
For the record, here is what the FBI's Earth Day watcher had to say about Muskie, out of a report of approximately 3,000 words:
"Shortly after 8 p.m., Sen. Edmund Muskie, D-Maine, arrived and gave a short antipollution speech."
Some of us taxpayers don't mind if the FBI throws in one innocuous sentence on Ed Muskie, as long as the agency continues to keep a close watch on the likes of Rennie Davis.