[PEN-L:209] FBI manipulation-Squillacote case

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Date: Wednesday, September 23, 1998 11:35 PM
Subject: FBI manipulation-Squillacote case


>
>Time is short. The trial is only two weeks away on Oct. 7th.
>
>Be careful to include the full text below.
>
>NOTE: There have already been some good replies and additional
>information shared on the background of this case, much of
>which will come out during the trial.
>
>Arrangements can be made for mental health professionals,
>especially representatives of organizations to see a copy of
>the original BAP document.
>
>--------------------------------- CUT ----------------------------
>
>Psychological Warfare Alert
>
>FBI used unlawfully intercepted Psychotherapist/Patient Conversations to
>manipulate patient into "Spy Crimes."
>
> The October 1997 arrest of Theresa Squillacote for espionage crimes has
>been revealed to be based on the FBI's manipulation of Ms. Squillacote's
>emotional issues and treatment for severe depression and post trauma
>stress. In early 1996, using a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
>Act warrant, the FBI began 24 hour round the clock surveillance of Ms.
>Squillacote, her husband Kurt Stand and their two small children. This
>included , without legal authority, FBI taped conversations between Ms.
>Squillacote and her husband talking to her doctors, close relatives and
>friends about her illness, including calls for emergency psychiatric
>medical assistance. This surveillance started after their names were
>ID'ed in former East German Stasi files from the early 90's. While, the
>FBI uncovered no evidence of criminal conduct, past or present, they did
>discover that she was in the midst of a profound bout of Clinical
>Depression, a problem that had plagued her family for many years
>(including her eldest sister who committed suicide some 8 years
>earlier).
>
> Using these wire taps and other psychological sources, the FBI
>developed a Behavioral Analysis Profile (BAP) which outlined her
>perceived emotional problems and weaknesses and recommended specifically
>how to construct an effective "sting" operation, custom made to exploit
>these vulnerabilities. (The defense has a copy of this document.) For
>example, the FBI noted that it needed to execute the operation quickly,
>to "exploit the vulnerable state" she was then in due to a break-up of a
>personal, "highly dependent" relationship with a German man. The FBI
>also worked to specifically execute this trap before she left her
>government position, as she was then contemplating. The gist of the
>"sting" operation involved sending a purported South African emissary to
>her, ostensibly as a follow-up to a political analysis she had sent a
>South African official and author the year before. The undercover agent
>(UCA) was instructed to play upon her low self-esteem and weak sense of
>identity by complimenting her efforts and making her to understand that
>she was uniquely gifted. By further playing upon her sympathies for a
>socially progressive government in South Africa, and upon her innate
>fears of abandonment, the UCA cajoled her into providing government
>documents, ultimately leading to the arrest of her and her husband.
>
> This psychologically manipulative FBI "sting" raises issues for all of
>us. Psychotherapist/patient privilege should never be violated, least of
>all by a government agency intent on building a crime where none existed
>before. If, in the post Cold War environment the "cold warriors" of the
>National Security establishment must resort to such dirty tricks to
>continue to justify their existence, what boundaries will they ever come
>to respect? This profound invasion of privacy threatens all of us. If we
>tolerate exploiting the most vulnerable amongst us, then ultimately none
>of us are safe.
>
>    Prepared by:  Metro DC Committee of Correspondence
>       P.O. Box #11109, Washington, DC 20008-0309
>
>What can you do?  (Please freely copy this post and send it on.)
>
>1. Please copy and repast this letter on all lists and to whomever you
>think should hear about it.
>2. Protest to your Congressional Representatives and the U.S. Dept. of
>Justice.
>3. Send donations to help their two children to the:  Stand Childrens
>Family Trust Acct. No. 209357355 Crestar Bank, 1700 Elton Rd., Silver
>Spring, MD 20903
>4. Contribute to their defense: Fund for the Fourth Amendment P.O. Box
>5685, Washington, DC 20016 (For more information on FISA and the case
>check: http://www.igc.org/criddiough/ks.htm)
>
>---------------- END ---------------------
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>Walter D. Teague, LCSW-C, LICSW
>Clinical Social Worker in Maryland and DC
>Tel. 301-439-6755 Fax 301-439-2436
>