Defending Rights & Dissent (DRAD) is a national NFPO advocacy organization in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, dedicated to defending civil liberties, exposing government repression, and protecting the right of

political dissent Political dissent is a dissatisfaction with or opposition to the policies of a governing body. Expressions of dissent may take forms from vocal disagreement to civil disobedience to the use of violence. and campaigning against the prosecution of national security whistleblowers.

History

NCA-HUAC

In 1960, the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee (NCA-HUAC) formed as a group opposing the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

(HUAC).

Frank Wilkinson Frank Wilkinson (August 16, 1914 – January 2, 2006) was an American civil liberties activist who served as Executive Director of the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation and the First Amendment Foundation (both predecessors to the ...

founded NCA-HUAC after he came under HUAC suspicion. In his capacity working for the Los Angeles City Housing Authority on a public housing project, Wilkinson was asked by opposing lawyer Felix McGinnis to disclose which organizations he had previously been associated with. This was a thinly veiled attempt to determine whether Wilkinson belonged to the

Communist Party of the United States of America The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

(CPUSA) or one of CPUSA’s many

front groups A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gr ...

. When subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, Wilkinson again refused to answer questions regarding his organizational involvement "as a matter of conscience and personal responsibility." Wilkinson was cited for contempt of Congress and consequently sent to

jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

, where he served a year-long sentence. NCA-HUAC, under Wilkinson’s leadership, began its advocacy against

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

in 1960. The organization was an outgrowth of the Southern California Civil Liberties Union (a unit of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

) and the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms. Unlike other civil liberties organizations, NCA-HUAC retained a single-minded focus on opposing HUAC. As an organizing tactic, NCA-HUAC created networks of local affiliates located across the United States. NCA-HUAC theorized that national groups alone could not turn the tide against HUAC; targeted local lobbying in individual congressional districts would be necessary. NCAHUAC FBI file

From the outset, NCA-HUAC was a target of

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

covert action and surveillance. In 1957, HUAC produced a report alleging that activist groups opposed to HUAC had been infiltrated by communists. Assistant FBI Director Fred J. Baumgardner believed that HUAC was a "buffer target” bulwarking the FBI against communist subversion. The FBI believed that communists were engaged in a secret war to destroy HUAC called "Operation Abolition.” Based on this belief, the FBI took steps to surveil and discredit critics of HUAC, including NCA-HUAC. FBI Director

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

personally ordered an expedited investigation of NCA-HUAC as part of

COINTELPRO COINTELPRO (a syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert and illegal projects conducted between 1956 and 1971 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltr ...

. An FBI memo included directives to "expose, discredit, or disrupt” NCA-HUAC. The FBI conducted covert actions (then called "counterintelligence operations”) against NCA-HUAC. The ostensible purpose of investigation and covert action was to decide whether NCA-HUAC should be required to register as a communist front organization under the

Internal Security Act of 1950 The Internal Security Act of 1950, (Public Law 81-831), also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, the McCarran Act after its principal sponsor Sen. Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), or the Concentration Camp Law, is a United States f ...

. However, the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

repeatedly declined the FBI’s request to require NCA-HUAC to register as a communist front organization. Eventually, J. Walter Yeagley at the Department of Justice instructed the FBI to stop submitting reports requesting that NCA-HUAC be required to register. The FBI routinely forwarded derogatory information about NCA-HUAC to HUAC and their allies. On at least twenty different occasions, the FBI forwarded HUAC material about NCA-HUAC, including information gathered from FBI informants. HUAC then forwarded its supporters dossiers on people connecting to NCA-HUAC, including material intended to be used to prepare for debates against NCA-HUAC members. The FBI obtained pre-publication copies of a pamphlet slated to be released by a member of NCA-HUAC entitled "HUAC: Bulwark of Segregation.” The FBI produced a chapter-by-chapter summary of the unpublished pamphlet to be distributed to field offices. Not all of the FBI’s information campaign against NCA-HUAC was conducted in-house. A "sizeable number” of records from the FBI Crime Records Division were leaked to media contacts, including reporters at the ''

Los Angeles Examiner The ''Los Angeles Examiner'' was a newspaper founded in 1903 by William Randolph Hearst in Los Angeles. The afternoon '' Los Angeles Herald-Express'' and the morning ''Los Angeles Examiner'', both of which had been publishing in the city since t ...

'' and the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

publication ''Firing Line''. HUAC submitted press releases based on FBI files to the newswire United Press International. When Wilkinson embarked on an NCA-HUAC speaking tour, he faced further FBI surveillance and covert action. The FBI ordered field agents to spy on Wilkinson’s speaking engagements, which they secretly photographed and videotaped. At

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

in 1962, the FBI planted an audience member, who asked Wilkinson whether he was a communist. In another instance, the FBI stationed a "friendly newspaperman” at the entrance to the church where Wilkinson was speaking to ask for audience members’ names and addresses. This was an attempt to dissuade the public from attending the event. The FBI further attempted to interfere with the NCA-HUAC speaking tour by mailing newspaper clippings portraying NCA-HUAC in a negative light to venues planning to host Wilkinson. In several cases, this tactic led to the cancellation of planned speaking engagements. Ahead of Wilkinson’s media appearances, news stations received FBI-drafted questions about Wilkinson’s alleged communist ties. These questions were sometimes posed to Wilksonson on air. The FBI also recruited counterdemonstrators, including members of the American Nazi Party. In addition to interfering with Wilkinson’s speaking tour, the FBI also interfered with fundraising, creating problems for NCA-HUAC as a donor-dependent

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

. The FBI called on the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to raid a Democratic Party fundraiser because one of the candidates present was a sponsor of NCAHUAC."Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans - Church Committee Final Report, Book III." ''U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations''. United States Senate. April 23, 1976. In January 1966, the office of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights was broken into. This

black bag operation Black bag operations or black bag jobs are covert or clandestine entries into structures to obtain information for human intelligence operations. Some of the tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with black bag operations are lock p ...

was authorized by FBI Assistant Director

William C. Sullivan William Cornelius Sullivan (May 12, 1912 – November 9, 1977) was an assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who was in charge of the agency's domestic intelligence operations from 1961 to 1971. Sullivan was forced out of the ...

and undertaken for the purpose of photographing the lists of donors to the organization. NCA-HUAC also lobbied Congress. Here too, the FBI surveilled the organization and undertook covert actions disparaging the organization. Critics of HUAC in Congress were surveilled, and informants reported back to the FBI which congresspeople attended NCA-HUAC sponsored events. This amounted to an FBI effort to interfere with constitutionally-protected political advocacy. Information about the extent of FBI interference in the operations of NCA-HUAC came to light when the organization filed

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

(FOIA) requests following an armed break-in in 1969. When the news broke of burglaries associated with the Watergate scandal, members of NCA-HUAC grew suspicious that the break-in at their office was connected to the FBI. On the basis of advice from Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, NCA-HUAC asked the FBI about the break-in. The FBI response led Wilkinson to begin filing FOIA requests inquiring about FBI surveillance and covert action against his organization. The FOIA inquiry started a legal battle to retrieve over 132,000 pages of FBI material collected about Wilkinson and NCA-HUAC. The

Church Committee The Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) was a US Senate select committee in 1975 that investigated abuses by the Central Intelligence ...

investigation later found additional evidence of FBI misconduct in its actions against NCA-HUAC.

NCARL

NCA-HUAC changed its name to National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCARL) in the late 1960s, in order to expand the purview of the organization to include opposition to the

criminalization of dissent Protest policing or public order policing is part of a state’s response to political dissent and social movements. Police maintenance of public order during protest is an essential component of liberal democracy, with military response to protes ...

in criminal code reform, civil liberties abuses in counterterrorism, and mass surveillance. In 1985, a sister non-profit organization, the First Amendment Foundation was created to accept tax deductible donations. The First Amendment Foundation published books and reports by NCARL. When HUAC was abolished in 1975, Representative Robert F. Drinan commented that:

No account of the demise of the House Un-American Activities Committee would be complete without a notation of the extraordinary work done by the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation.

After HUAC was disbanded, NCARL continued to advocate for the eradication of anti-subversive legislation across the federal government, including through the

McCarran-Walter Act The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (), also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, codified under Title 8 of the United States Code (), governs immigration to and citizenship in the United States. It came into effect on June 27, 1952. The l ...

, the Seditious Conspiracy statute, and the

Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3rd session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of ...

. Representatives in NCARL testified in front of Congress multiple times in the 1970s and 1980s on issues relating to First Amendment freedoms and whistleblower prosecutions. In 1977, NCARL Washington Coordinator Esther Herst delivered testimony raising concerns that the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA, , ) is a Law of the United States, United States federal law that establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil. A few years later, Herst testified against provisions of the Criminal Code Reform Act of 1979 that criminalized pre-crime behaviors and endangered dissent that could be construed under the bill as interfering with the processes of government. Herst also testified at other hearings in the same year about dangers to whistleblowers posed by further revisions to the federal criminal code. She raised the concern that certain provisions in the reform bill would allow the New York Times and Washington Post to be prosecuted for publishing the

Pentagon Papers The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States in the Vietnam War, United States' political and militar ...

. Paul Hoffman, the vice chairperson of NCARL and the lead attorney in NCARL's lawsuit against the FBI, testified in hearings relating to the

(FOIA) that the FBI had improperly administered NCARL's FOIA requests in order to "obscure the true nature and extent of the FBI's counterintelligence actions against NCARL.” NCARL alleged that the FBI acted improperly by defaming and discrediting the organization rather than entering into public debate on the merits of the issues at stake. In the 1980s and early 1990s, NCARL had program priorities of ending FBI investigations that threatened First Amendment rights and prohibiting CIA covert action. NCARL advocated for statutory control over the FBI to prevent the agency from undertaking investigations that infringed upon First Amendment-protected activity. The NCARL

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

, circulated among law school faculty, contributed to the introduction of the FBI First Amendment Act in 1988. Although the bill was not enacted, provisions from the bill were later included as the Edwards Amendment in the 1994 Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act. It also published a report on CIA covert operations and participated in the CIA Off Campus campaign. Throughout the 1990s, NCARL and its sister organization, the First Amendment Foundation, worked under the auspices of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF) to oppose what they saw as the suspension of

due process Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual p ...

and revival of McCarthy-era law to profile Muslims and Arab Americans. NCARL also opposed the expansion of FBI authorities under the

Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), , was introduced to the United States Congress in April 1995 as a Senate Bill (). The bill was passed with broad bipartisan support by Congress in response to the bombings of th ...

. After 9/11, NCARL continued to oppose the profiling of Muslims, overbroad designations of terrorist organizations, use of secret evidence in trial proceedings, use of torture, and the suspension of the right of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

for Guantanamo Bay detainees.

DDF

In 2007, NCARL was folded into its sister organization First Amendment Foundation, which then changed its name again, to the Defending Dissent Foundation. DDF identifies itself as a member of several

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

s of U.S. advocacy groups:

Alliance for Justice An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

, Charity and Security Network, Cybersecurity Working Group, D.C. Bill of Rights Committee, Free Expression Network, Liberty Coalition, OpentheGovernment.org, Rights Working Group, and

United for Peace and Justice United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

BORDC

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) began in Northampton, MA in the immediate aftermath of the passage of the PATRIOT Act. Attendees at a Women's Congress for Peace gathering concerned with PATRIOT Act attacks on the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Fourth Amendment decided to form an advocacy organization opposing the PATRIOT Act on the local level. BORDC conducted local education, hosted debates about federal policy, and advocated for a city council resolution condemning the PATRIOT Act and instructing law enforcement to avoid infringing upon civil liberties. As a result of this activism, the City of

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

unanimously passed a city council resolution establishing a "civil liberties safe zone.” Following this success, BORDC became a national organization. On the national stage, BORDC coordinated networks of local groups and provided resources for local activism against the PATRIOT Act. By August 2005, 396 local governments had enacted resolutions. By 2007, eight states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Vermont) and the District of Columbia had passed state-wide resolutions. According to DRAD, when BORDC became a national organization, it expanded its purview to include advocacy against the expansion of NSA, FBI, CIA, DEA, DHS, and DOJ surveillance authorities. In 2008, BORDC ran the People's Campaign for the Constitution. As part of the campaign, BORDC ran a paid advertisement in the ''New York Times'' entitled "A Declaration for Our Times,” which was signed by over six hundred people from across the country. Written in the same format as the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

, the document was designed to draw attention to the Bush administration's secret wiretapping of American citizens, detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and other policies which, in the view of BORDC, "establish tyranny through false promises of greater security.” Through the 2010s, BORDC continued its strategy of pushing local governments to pass resolutions limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal intelligence agencies. In 2011, BORDC successfully pushed Northampton City Council to unanimously pass a resolution withdrawing local enforcement from cooperation with the

Secure Communities Secure Communities is a data-sharing program that relies on coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.ICE. Secure Communities: A Comprehensive Plan to Identify and Remove Criminal Aliens (Strategic Plan). July 21, 200 ...

program, a controversial information sharing initiative used by federal officers conducting immigration enforcement.

DRAD

In 2015, the Defending Dissent Foundation merged with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee to form Defending Rights & Dissent (DRAD). DRAD describes their work as encompassing grassroots organizing, watchdog monitoring, coalition work, and legislative advocacy. According to their website, they defend constitutional rights and confront expansions of the national security state. In recent years, DRAD released a report cataloging FBI surveillance of Black activists, Muslims, protestors at the Republican National Convention,

peace activists This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work wi ...

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...

protestors, and

Abolish ICE Abolish ICE is a political movement that seeks the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The movement gained mainstream traction in June 2018 following controversy of the Trump administration family separation policy. ...

protestors. As summarized in ''The Intercept'', the report concluded that the FBI exhibited political bias in its intelligence operations. DRAD criticized the use of

sting operations In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role ...

and agents provocateur and recommended changing the standards for opening FBI assessments, a preliminary form of investigation. DRAD advocates for protections for national security

whistleblowers Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

. In particular, DRAD opposes the use of the 1917 Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers. The organization has supported bills amending the Espionage Act to better protect journalists and require the government to prove that whistleblowers acted with an intent to harm national security. In 2021, DRAD issued a statement of support for drone whistleblower

Daniel Hale Daniel Everette Hale (born August 1, 1987) is an American whistleblower and former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence analyst who sent classified information about drone warfare to the press. Hale served in the United States Air Force ...

. The statement was signed by over fifty journalists and nonprofit organizations. In 2022, DRAD's foundation partners included the

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...

Charitable Fund, CS Fund/Warsh-Mott Legacy, Stewart R. Mott Foundation, Victor & Lorraine Honig Fund (Common Counsel Foundation), and Tikva Grassroots Empowerment Fund.

Leadership

NCA-HUAC

Members of the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee included: * Honorary Chairmen: James Imbrie,

Alexander Meiklejohn Alexander Meiklejohn (; 3 February 1872 – 17 December 1964) was an English-born American philosopher, university administrator, educational reformer, and free-speech advocate, best known as president of Amherst College. Background Alexand ...

, Clarence Pickett * Chairman Emeritus:

Aubrey Willis Williams Aubrey Willis Williams (August 23, 1890 – March 5, 1965) was an American social and civil rights activist who headed the National Youth Administration during the New Deal. Biography Aubrey Williams was born in Springville, Alabama, on August ...

* Chairman: Harvey O'Connor * Vice Chairman:

Dorothy Marshall Dorothy Marshall may refer to: * Dorothy Marshall (chemist) * Dorothy Marshall (historian) * Dorothy Marshall (archaeologist) {{hndis, Marshall, Dorothy ...

, Sylvia Crane, Charles Jackson, Harry Bernard, Reverence Edward L. Peat * Southern Regional Committee: Carl Braden, John Lewis, Reverend C. T. Vivian, Reverence Wyatt T. Walker * Secretary: Professor Walter S. Vince * Treasurer: Robert W. Kenny * Executive Director:

DRAD

In 2022, DRAD's Board of Directors included: * President: Sascha Meinrath * President Emeritus:

Woody Kaplan The Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C. It describes itself as "protecting the equal rights of nonreligious Americans." The Secular Coalition has chapters in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, composed of lo ...

* Clerk: Suraj K. Sazawal * Treasurer: Donald Goldhamer * Vice-Presidents: Emily Berman, Mike Rufo, Fadi Saba * Members: Shannon Al-Wakeel,

Timuel Black Timuel Dixon Black Jr. (December 7, 1918 – October 13, 2021) was an American educator, civil rights activist, historian and author. A native of Alabama, Black was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and studied the city's African-American history. He ...

, Shahid Buttar, Patrick Eddington, Arun Gupta,

Victor S. Navasky Victor Saul Navasky (July 5, 1932 – January 23, 2023) was an American journalist, editor, and author. From 1978 to 1995, he edited the liberal weekly magazine ''The Nation''. From 1995 to 2005, he was the magazine's publisher and editorial dir ...

Azadeh Shahshahani Azadeh N. Shahshahani is an American human rights attorney based in Atlanta. She is the legal and advocacy director for Project South. She previously served as president of the National Lawyers Guild and director of the National Security/Immigran ...

In 2022, DRAD's staff included: * Sue Udry, Executive Director * Chip Gibbons, Policy Director * Cody Bloomfield, Communications Director * Michael Marmol, Administrative Associate

Works

DRAD created two podcasts: the ''Still Spying Podcast'' and Primary Sources. According to the ''Still Spying Podcast'' website, the series examines "the failure to reform the FBI, the FBI's own war on Black dissent, the FBI's dual role as both law enforcement and intelligence, and how the issue of political surveillance fits into larger discussions about policing." The Primary Sources website describes the purpose of the podcast as "explor ngthe challenges faced by whistleblowers, journalists, and other truthtellers who expose abuses committed in the name of 'national security'." On Primary Sources, DRAD Policy Director Chip Gibbons interviewed

Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931June 16, 2023) was an American political activist, economist, and United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, he precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released th ...

, James Goodale, Thomas Drake,

John Kiriakou John Chris Kiriakou ( ; born August 9, 1964) is an American whistleblower, author, journalist and former intelligence officer. Kiriakou is a columnist with Reader Supported News and co-host of ''Political Misfits'' on Sputnik Radio. He was jailed ...

Michael German Michael German is a retired American FBI agent, scholar, and writer. He is a fellow in the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security program. Life During his 16-year career as a Special Agent in the FBI, German spent many mon ...

Coleen Rowley Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is an American former FBI special agent and whistleblower. Rowley is well known for testifying as to concerns regarding the FBI ignoring information of a suspected terrorist during 9/11, which led to a two- ...

, Jeffrey Sterling, Lisa Ling, Terry Albury, and

Jesselyn Radack Jesselyn Radack (born December 12, 1970) is an American national security and human rights attorney known for her defense of whistleblowers, journalists, and hacktivists. She has defended more people charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 than ...

, along with several other guests. In 2019, DRAD released the report ''Still Spying on Dissent: The Enduring Problem of FBI First Amendment Abuse''. The report cataloged FBI targeting of political dissent in its assessments, investigations, and surveillance activities. Previously, DRAD released a joint report with the

Center for Constitutional Rights The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR; formerly Law Center for Constitutional Rights) is an American progressive non-profit legal advocacy organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1966 by lawyers William Kunstler, Arthur Kin ...

entitled ''

Ag-Gag Ag-gag laws (agricultural gag) are anti-whistleblower laws that apply within the animal agriculture industry. Popularized by Mark Bittman in an April 2011 ''The New York Times'' column (but used long before then by advocates), the term ''ag-gag ...

Across America: Corporate-Backed Attacks on Activists and Whistleblowers'', about the criminalization of investigation into the agricultural industry. DRAD also publishes ''Dissent NewsWire'' and a monthly newsletter.

References

External links

*
Pacific Radio Archives
NCA-HUAC
Guidestar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Defending Rights and Dissent Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States Organizations established in 1960 Political organizations based in the United States Government watchdog groups in the United States

History

NCA-HUAC

NCARL

DDF

BORDC

DRAD

Leadership

NCA-HUAC

DRAD

Works

References

Further reading

External links