Up to 10 FBI-controlled informants People embedded in an anti-pipeline resistance camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation during the 2016 mass protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. New details about federal law enforcement oversight of indigenous environmental movements have been released as part of a legal battle. North Dakota and the federal government are at odds over who will pay for security in a pipeline dispute. To date, only one other federal informant has been identified in the camp.
The FBI also regularly sends plainclothes agents to the camps, one former official told Grist in an interview. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Conducted an undercover investigation of drug enforcement officers According to one of the depositions, many pipeline opponents left the Prairie Knights Casino on the reservation where they had rented rooms.
The operation was part of a broader surveillance strategy by various state, local and federal agencies that included drones, social media surveillance and radio wiretapping, according to lawyers and law enforcement interviews. The FBI's infiltration fits into the region's longer history. In the 1970s, the FBI infiltrated the highest levels of the American Indian Movement (AIM).
The Indigenous-led uprising against Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access oil pipeline brought together thousands of people seeking to protect water, climate, and Indigenous sovereignty. For seven months, protesters have been protesting to stop pipeline construction, facing militarized law enforcement and being bombarded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water hoses in sub-zero weather. Sometimes it happened.
After the pipeline was completed and the protesters left, North Dakota sued the federal government for more than $38 million. The costs are what the state claims it has spent on police and other emergency responders, damage to property and the environment. At the heart of North Dakota's grievances is the presence of anti-pipeline camps on federal property managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The state said the Army Corps failed to enforce trespass laws on its land, allowed the camp to grow to up to 8,000 people, and took part in illegal activities and caused property damage during protests. It claims to have served as a „safe haven“ for people.
Lawyers removed officials leading multiple law enforcement agencies during the protests to prove that the federal government had failed to provide sufficient assistance. The depositions provide unusually detailed information about how federal security agencies intervene in climate change and indigenous movements.
Until the lawsuit, there was only one known federal informant at the camp. Heath Harmon was working as an FBI informant when he became romantically involved with water protector Red Fawn Farris.Judge after all Farris sentenced to nearly five years in prison He was jailed after his gun went off when he was tackled by police during a protest. The gun belonged to Harmon.
Manape Ramea, a member of the Bdewakantowan Isanti and Ihanktowan bands and a Winnebago Ho-Chunk who spent months at the camp, said he anticipated the presence of FBI agents because of the agency's history. Camp guards chased out several suspected intruders. „We had been hurt before by relatives, so we were already cynical,“ he explained.
“The culture of paranoia and fear created around informants and infiltration is extremely harmful to social movements, because these movements against indigenous peoples are usually based on kinship networks and forms of interpersonal relationships. ,” said Nick Estes, a historian and member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. Tribe, who has spent time at the Standing Rock resistance camp and has been extensively investigated by the FBI for infiltration of the AIM movement. Beyond his relationship with Faris, Harmon had close family relationships with community leaders and participated in important ceremonies. Estes said infiltration „turns relatives against relatives.“
Less widely known than the FBI sting operations are the BIA sting operations. The BIA serves as the primary police force on Standing Rock and other reservations.Between NoDAPL The BIA had „several“ narcotics agents operating undercover at the Prairie Knights Casino, according to a deposition from Darren Cruzan, a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and then-director of the BIA's Bureau of Justice. That's what it means. .
the not uncommon For use by BIA undercover investigator During a drug bust. But the information that Standing Rock's undercover agents gathered went beyond drugs. “This was part of an effort to gather information about what is happening within the boundaries of the reservation and whether there are plans to move camps or add more camps,” Cruzan said. .
A spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who oversees the BIA, also declined to comment.
according to Jacob O'Connell's DepositionThe FBI, which was in charge of the western half of North Dakota during the Standing Rock protests, announced NoDAPL in the weeks before the protests drew international media attention and thousands of people took part. He was infiltrating the movement. By August 16, 2016, the FBI had assigned at least one of her „confidential sources“ to gather information. Ultimately, the FBI gathered between five and 10 informants at the protest camp. „It's probably closer to 10 people,“ Bob Perry, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis field office, which oversees operations in the Dakotas, said in a separate deposition. The number of his FBI informants at Standing Rock was north dakota monitor.
Perry said FBI agents told the recruits what to collect and what not to collect, saying, „We don't want to know about constitutionally protected activities.“ Perry added: „We're basically going to give them a list of 'violence, potential for violence, criminal activity.' At one point, it was also health and safety. Because, you know, we had informants in place who could report on it and they were in a position to report on it. ”
The FBI also secretly sent agents to the camp, according to a deposition from U.S. Marshal Paul Ward. Mr O'Connell denied the allegations. „Until now, undercover agents have never been used.'' However, he acknowledged that he and other agents regularly visit the camp. During the first months of the protests, O'Connell himself arrived at camp just after dawn most days, wearing outdoor clothing from REI or Dick's Sporting Goods. „Because I was in civilian clothes, I was able to sneak around and do what I needed to do,“ he said. O'Connell chatted with everyone he met. Sometimes he would hand over his card, but he didn't always identify himself as his FBI. „If people didn't ask, I wouldn't have told them,“ he said.
He said two of the officers he worked with avoided confrontations with protesters, and Ward's deposition shows that the two were able to get into the camp without the knowledge of local police and asked federal questions about the safety of entering the camp. He said it indicated he had expressed his concerns to the sheriff. O'Connell said in his deposition that despite its efforts, the FBI was unable to discover broader criminal activity beyond personal drug use and „misdemeanor-type activity.“
Like Ward, the U.S. Marshals Service declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. An FBI spokesperson said the news organization does not comment on litigation.
Infiltration was not the only activity carried out by federal law enforcement. Customs and Border Protection responded to the protests with an MQ-9 Reaper drone, best known for remote airstrikes in Iraq and Afghanistan, which flew over the encampment by Aug. 22, known as the „Big Pipe Feed.“ provided video footage. The drone flew nearly 281 hours over six months and cost authorities $1.5 million. Customs and Border Protection declined a request for comment, citing the lawsuit.
The biggest beneficiary of federal law enforcement spending was Energy Transfer Partners. In fact, the company donated her $15 million to North Dakota to help pay for the state's parallel efforts to quell the unrest. During the protests, the company's private security contractors tiger swan, Coordinated with local law enforcement We will pass on information that we have collected independently. undercover investigator and eavesdropping operation.
Energy Transfer Partners also tried to influence the FBI. But it was the FBI that initiated the relationship with the company. O'Connell said in his affidavit that within a day or two of beginning his investigation into the move, he showed up at Energy Transfer Partners' offices and immediately met with Executive Vice President Joey Mahmoud. He said that he had contacted him.
At one point, Mahmoud pointed to the FBI as an indigenous activist and actor. dallas goldtooth„He is the leader of the organization that is committing this violent act,“ the lawyer said in an email.
Through the protests, federal law enforcement officials pushed for more resources to crack down on anti-pipeline protests. Mr. Perry wanted a drone that could zoom in on faces and license plates, and Mr. O'Connell claimed on the stand that he believed the FBI should investigate crowdsourcing funding that may have ties to North Korea. . Both requests were denied.
O'Connell is more concerned about China and Russia than North Korea, and made it clear that it's not just state actors who are concerned. „If someone like George Soros or some other wealthy activist is trying to disrupt things in my area, I want to know what's going on,“ he said. He explained by referring to the millionaire philanthropist. theorize Control progressive causes.
For federal law enforcement officials working on the ground at Standing Rock, there was no reason why the federal government could not use all the resources at its disposal to combat this indigenous uprising.
„That stuff should have been crushed immediately,“ O'Connell said.