Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability (PPSA)
  • Issues
  • Solutions
  • SCORECARD
    • Congressional Scorecard Rubric
  • News
  • About
  • TAKE ACTION
    • Section 702 Reform
    • PRESS Act
    • DONATE
  • Issues
  • Solutions
  • SCORECARD
    • Congressional Scorecard Rubric
  • News
  • About
  • TAKE ACTION
    • Section 702 Reform
    • PRESS Act
    • DONATE

 NEWS & UPDATES

Jordan Subpoenas FBI on Infiltration of “Radical Traditional Catholics”

4/13/2023

 
Picture
​Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, fired off a subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday asking for a full response to a whistleblower’s leaked report that the FBI planned to monitor Catholic organizations dedicated to the Latin mass as breeding grounds for terrorists. He asked for more detail on a plan to insert undercover agents to develop sources within the Church to investigate such “Radical Traditional Catholics,” or in FBI parlance, RTCs.
 
It all began when former Special Agent Kyle Seraphin revealed a memo showing that the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia office was infiltrating Catholic parishes, acting on agents’ suspicion that those who prefer traditional Latin masses are connected to white supremacy. “The document assesses with ‘high confidence’ the FBI can mitigate the threat of Radical-Traditionalist Catholics by recruiting sources within the Catholic Church,” Seraphin wrote at the time.
 
Embarrassed by this story, the FBI rescinded the memo and blamed it on bad decision-making in the Richmond field office for the document’s “creation and dissemination.” Members of the House Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government were not satisfied. How did this idea get started? Who approved it?
 
The FBI, after trying to ignore these questions, produced an 18-page response in March that Jordan on Monday called “partial” and “substandard.”
 
Jordan’s subpoena demands responses to his queries without redactions, asking for details on the report that “at least one undercover employee, sought to use local religious organizations as ‘new avenues for tripwire and source development.’”
 
The FBI has a history of insensitivity to the free exercise of religion and the privacy of religious institutions. The bureau famously targeted worshippers in a mosque in Southern California in 2006-2007 without any probable cause the government is willing to discuss. The FBI paid an informant to infiltrate the mosque and plant listening devices.
 
No Islamic terrorists were found.
 
We’ll report on further developments as the FBI is tasked to produce a more forthcoming explanation of its targeting of “RTCs.”

Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    2022 Year In Review
    2023 Year In Review
    2024 Year In Review
    Analysis
    Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    Call To Action
    Congress
    Congressional Hearings
    Congressional Unmasking
    Court Appeals
    Court Hearings
    Court Rulings
    Digital Privacy
    Domestic Surveillance
    Facial Recognition
    FISA
    FISA Reform
    FOIA Requests
    Foreign Surveillance
    Fourth Amendment
    Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act
    Government Surveillance
    Government Surveillance Reform Act (GSRA)
    Insights
    In The Media
    Lawsuits
    Legal
    Legislation
    Letters To Congress
    NDO Fairness Act
    News
    Opinion
    Podcast
    PPSA Amicus Briefs
    Private Data Brokers
    Protect Liberty Act (PLEWSA)
    Saving Privacy Act
    SCOTUS
    SCOTUS Rulings
    Section 702
    Spyware
    Stingrays
    Surveillance Issues
    Surveillance Technology
    The GSRA
    The SAFE Act
    Warrantless Searches
    Watching The Watchers

    RSS Feed

FOLLOW PPSA: 
© COPYRIGHT 2024. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | PRIVACY STATEMENT
Photo from coffee-rank