United States District Court Southern District of New York Amnesty International
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA; GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN; GLOBAL RIGHTS; HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH; INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION; THE DECLARATION OF NATION MAGAZINE; PEN AMERICAN CENTER; NAOMI KLEIN SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION; WASHINGTON OFFICE ON LATIN AMERICA; DANIEL N. ARSHACK; DAVID NEVIN; SCOTT MCKAY; and SYLVIA ROYCE, Plaintiffs, Case No. 08 Civ. 6259 (JGK) v. ECF CASE JOHN M. McCONNELL, in his official capacity as Director of National Intelligence; LT. GEN. KEITH B. ALEXANDER, in his official capacity as Director of the National Security Agency and Chief of the Central Security Service; and MICHAEL B. MUKASEY, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the United States, Defendants. DECLARATION OF NAOMI KLEIN I, Naomi Klein, declare: 1. I am a resident of Toronto, Canada, over the age of 18, and a citizen of the United States as well as Canada. I have personal knowledge of the facts stated in this declaration. 2. I am a journalist and syndicated columnist who contributes regularly to The Nation Magazine (“The Nation”) as well as other publications. In addition, I have authored three books, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Metropolitan Books 2007), No Logo (Picador 2000), and Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the 1 GlobalizationDebate (Picador 2A04. In2004,my reportingfrom Iraq for Harper'sMagazine won the JamesAronson Award for SocialJustice Journalism. In that sameyear I alsoreleased The Take,afeature docurnentary about Argentina's occupied factories that I co-producedwith directorAvi Lewis.This film was an official selectionof the VeniceBiennale and won the Best DocumentaryJury Prize at the AmericanFilm Institute'sFilm Festivalin Los Angeles. I am a former MilibandFellow at the LondonSchool of Economicsand I hold an honoraryDoctor of Civil Laws from the Universityof King's College,Nova Scotia, 3. I havewritten dozensof articlesfor TheNation. Among the articlesI have written for the magazineare Bringing Najaf to New York,Sept. 13, 2004 (aboutpublic debate in the U.S. relatingto the war in Iraq); TheThreat of Hopetn Latin Americq,Nov.2, 2005(about the rising strengthof indigenousmovements in SouthAmerica); and Mutiny in Manila,Aug. 14, 2003 (abouthow governmentsare using the war on terrorto targetpeaceful protesters). Over the last few years,I havewritten articlesabout, amoflg other topics, social movements, indigenous rights,the warsin Afghanistanand Iraq, torture, surveillance in China,and the courseand irnpact of globalization.I havewritten articlesfrom Argentina,China, Sri Lanka,South Africa, Mexico, and lraq. 4. My reportingis basedlargely on directconversations with peoplewho live or work in the placesI write about. Many of theseconversations are in-person;as an investigative reporter,I travel frequentlyto the placesI write about. Often,however, these conversations are conductedby telephoneor e-mail. Throughtelephone and e-mail communications, I develop sources,gather information, and check facts. WhenI reportedon an increasein Mexican military activity in Chiapas,Mexico, for example,my U.S.-basedresearch assistant and I made frequenttelephone calls to Mexico in orderto collectaccurate and upto-date infomation about what wastaking place on the ground.Based in part on thesetelephone calls ande-mails, I ultimatelypublished Zapatista Code Red, Dec, 20, 2007. 5. I understandthat the FISA AmendmentsAct allowsthe U.S. governmentto acquiremy internationalcommunications without a warrantso long asthe surveillanceis directedat peopleoutside the UnitedStates. My understandingis thatthe new law permitsthe govemmentto acquiremy intemationalcommunications even if thereis no reasonto believethat I or thepeople with whom I communicateare engaged in criminalactivity or espionage.I also understandthat the law permitsthe governmerrtto engagein "dragnet"surveillance - thatis, to conductsurveillance that is directednot at specificindividuals or telephonenumbers or e-mail addressesbut at specificregions or countries. 6. I believethat at leastsome of my internationalcommunications are likely to be collectedby the governmentunder the new law. Becauseof the natureof my work, I communicatefrequently with foreignpolitical activistsand political groupsthat areoutspoken in their criticismof the U.S. governmentand its alliesaround the world andthat engagein social protestto effectchange. For example,I communicatewith advocatesfor indigenousrights in Argentina. I alsocommunicate with indigenousgoups in Colombiathatare working for agrarianreform. Thesegroups, though opposed to the FARC guenillasthat arefighting against the U.S.-backednational government, have been outspoken in their criticismof U.S.policies and in particularof its tradepolicies and its provisionof military assistanceto the Colombian govemment. 7. My ability to gatherinformation from political activistsand others in countries like Mexico, Colombia,Ecuador, and the Phiiippinesoften dependson my ability to assurethe peoplewith whom I speakthat I will be ableto keepthe contentof ow conversations,and in somecases their identities,confidential. Some of thepeople I speakto believethat the exposure of their political activitieswould makethem vulnerable to retaliationby their own governmerus, Othersfear that exposurewould makethem vulnerable to violenceby non-stateactors. These fearsare not speculative.Many of the peoplewith whomI speaklive in countriesthat have criminalizedpeaceful social protest and dissent. Some have been persecuted, imprisoned, and evenphysically attacked for their political activitiesin the past. 8. Someof my sourceswill declineto shareinformation with me if they believethat their communicationsare being monitored by the UnitedStates. In some tt.V fearthat the "urm United Statesitself will retaliateagainst them for their political activities- for example,by placingthem on "watchlists" andrefusing thern visas should they try to visit the United States, More often,though, they fearthat the UnitedStates will shareinformation about them with their own govemments,and that their own goverrlmentswill retaliateagainst them as a resuit. M*y of my sourceslive underrepressive goverrments that the United Statessupports economically andmilitarily. 9. The new surveillancelaw compromisesmy ability to gatherinformation and thereforecompromises my ability to do my job. As a resultof the new law, somepeople who otherwisewould haveshared information with me will declineto do so. Somepotitical activists may evensee me asan extensionof the U.S.govemment's intelligence community, since any informationthey sharewith me canbe collected,tetained, andanalyzed by the U.S. govemrnent. BecauseI do not wantto placemy sourcesat risk, the new law will alsoforce me to take measuresto ensurothat my sensitivecomrnunications remain confidential. For example,I will haveto travelto gatherinfcrrmation that I previouslymight have gathered by telephoneor e-mail. I t' I declareunder penalty of perjur"/rmder'the laws'of the United Statesand of thEDishict of Columbiathat the foregoingis true and correet Executedat Washington,D.C., on September'l[-,ZOOA. .