[Ppnews] FBI informant also said to be provocateur

[Political Prisoner News]

FBI confidential informant also said to be provocateur




06/08/2006 @ 12:00 pm

Filed by Jennifer Van Bergen

According to activists from Des Moines, 
Philadelphia, Miami, Sacramento, and other 
locations, a young woman named "Anna" allegedly 
infiltrated peace and justice rallies and 
anarchist meetings, and even attempted to join 
protests against the Democratic National 
Committee (DNC) ahead of the DNC's national 
convention last year as a paid FBI confidential 
"informant." Activists say that she has tried to 
provoke conflict at various advocacy events and 
violent incidents with police to get people 
arrested. In other words, Anna is not just an 
informant, she may be a provocateur.

Although she is known among activist groups as 
either Anna Davies or Anna Davidson, others know 
her as Grai Damiani. She focuses her efforts largely on "anarchist" groups.

The McDavid Case

In January 2006, Eric McDavid, Lauren Weiner, and 
Zachary Jenson were arrested in California and 
charged with knowingly conspiring to use fire or 
explosives to damage property. Their arrest was 
the direct result of work by Anna, who was 
"deeply embedded within the subjects' cell," according to FBI documents.

The FBI affidavit in support of 
<http://static.kovr.viacomlocalnetworks.com/~kovr/affidavit.pdf>the 
complaint against the three defendants states 
that they planned on their own to engage in 
"direct action" – which the FBI agent equated 
with criminal activity – apparently without 
Anna's input or guidance. The direct action 
involved bombing one or several locations in California.

However, McDavid's attorney, Mark Reichel, states 
that Anna was always pushing McDavid to do 
something criminal, taught the three how to make 
the bombs, supervised their activities, and 
repeatedly threatened to leave them if they didn't start doing "something."

McDavid allegedly wanted to target banks, 
commercial trucks, mountaintop removal projects 
in West Virginia, Communist party office, and the 
U.S. Forest Service Institute of Forest Genetics 
in California, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit, which was written by FBI Special 
Agent Nasson Walker, shows that the agency has 
identified the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) as "a 
recognized eco-terrorist group," which Walker 
states has been involved in over $100 million 
dollars worth of damage since 1997. Walker 
further notes that: "Environmental extremists 
under the ELF banner have been known to use arson 
and/or explosives to damage or destroy or attempt 
to damage or destroy government, commercial, and 
residential facilities." Walker also states that 
"ELF adherents share a strong philosophical 
connection to the anarchist movement," which he 
notes "seeks to end the current system of 
government, economy and replace them with systems 
characterized by a lack of 
authoritarian/hierarchical relationships." Walker 
states that all three of the defendants are anarchists.

The FBI claims that Anna has "provided 
information that has been utilized in at least 
twelve separate anarchist cases" and that her 
"information has proved accurate and reliable."

But just who is Anna and what makes her reliable?

Organization of American States (OAS) Protests

In June of last year, according to witnesses, 
Anna showed up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for an 
anti-OAS protest which drew approximately 1200 
people. Wearing a shirt with a red cross on it 
and carrying a bag with the same logo, she 
appeared on the day the protests began and 
identified herself as a "medic" from California.

One protester who had become ill during the event 
was treated by Anna. "She was pushy," said 
Barbara Collins, a retired Miami resident who 
says Anna gave her Gatorade with water and then 
left. "She gave me that drink that made me sick, 
but later on she didn't seem that interested in 
treating me. She wanted to get back to the 
others." Collins was subsequently hospitalized for heat stroke.

Linda Belgrave, a sociology professor at 
University of Miami, who assisted Collins that 
day, had to go find Anna again when Barbara got 
worse. According to Belgrave, Anna told her she 
was "busy." Belgrave did not see Anna attending 
to any other person in need of medical attention. 
She was simply "hanging out" with the "kids."

Indeed, Anna was busy, according to other protesters at the OAS rally.

During the march to the rally where Collins fell 
ill, one Miami resident, who asked that her name 
not be used, heard people talking about doing a 
sit-in. Since the coalition had decided against 
sit-ins and had negotiated carefully with the 
police about routes and activities, she warned 
people individually not to participate in the 
sit-in. Most did not, but Ray Del Papa from Ft. 
Lauderdale subsequently saw Anna directing young 
people to sit down on the street directly in 
front of a line of police in riot gear. In 
describing what he saw, Del Papa motions with his 
arms to show how Anna instructed individuals to 
sit here and there. Del Papa felt that it was a 
"set-up," a "trap, similar to what the police did 
during the protests against the Free Trade 
Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) in Miami in 2003."

The fences penned the protesters in completely 
except where the riot police were, which was 
exactly where Anna instructed the young people to 
do their sit-in, according to Del Papa.

"She knew they could get their heads bashed in," 
notes Mark Reichel, based on conversations with 
the activists. "If you saw their faces as well, 
you would understand that these people were not lying."

Under the Attorney General's Guidelines, the FBI 
and prosecutors are required to keep secret the 
identity of a confidential informant. However, 
Anna was 
<http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/332735.shtml>seemingly 
"outed" last year by activists who recognized 
what they saw as disruptive and provocative 
tactics and posted pictures of her on the internet.

The allegations were later confirmed by Reichel, 
who identified the unnamed FBI confidential 
source cited in the January 2006 complaint 
affidavit for the McDavid case as Anna.

Reichel also viewed hundreds of hours of 
surveillance tapes of Anna and McDavid and his 
cohorts. He notes that Anna's forte is 
identifying "radical" young men and women and 
"getting them" to fall in love with her.

The FBI will not discuss Anna's status or the 
specifics of her training or operations but 
denies that informants are trained to provoke. In 
response to RAW STORY's queries about Anna, FBI 
media representative Karen Ernst said that 
"Sources are admonished not to provoke criminal activity,"

"Sources operated by the FBI are closely 
monitored and the information received from them 
is corroborated through other investigative techniques."

Additionally, Ernst explains that the FBI 
corroborates information obtained from an 
informant "before charges are brought" against an 
individual. "Charges are brought when the 
totality of the evidence is sufficient for either 
a criminal complaint or indictment. Information 
from a source would never be the only evidence 
used to bring charges; other evidence would 
include recordings, surveillance video, results 
of witness testimony, etc.," adds Ernst.

Despite being outed, Anna continues to infiltrate 
groups and presently is living in a collective 
home with some young people in Iowa, according to Reichel.

Criminal Activity Plus Salary

According to the "Attorney General's Guidelines 
Regarding the Use of Confidential Informants" 
(<http://www.usdoj.gov/olp/dojguidelines.pdf>AG 
Guidelines), a "Confidential Informant" or "CI" 
is "any individual who provides useful and 
credible information to [the FBI] regarding 
felonious criminal activities, and from whom the 
[FBI] expects or intends to obtain additional 
useful and credible information regarding such activities in the future."

The FBI conducts a "suitability determination" 
for each informant, which includes consideration 
of the candidate's age, affiliations, 
motivations, reliability, truthfulness, and criminal and drug history.

Every informant receives and must acknowledge her 
understanding of a written set of instructions, 
which are reviewed by an agent with the CI. The 
CI is not allowed to engage in criminal activity 
without authorization. A CI who is authorized to 
engage in "Tier 1 Otherwise Illegal Activity" – 
which includes involvement with violent 
activities by other persons, corrupt conduct by 
officials, and trafficking of controlled 
substances – becomes a "High Level Confidential Informant."

Given Anna's involvement in the McDavid case, 
where she was involved in allegedly planning 
violent activities, she became a High Level CI.

According to Ernst, all sources are operated in 
accordance with the Attorney General's 
Guidelines. Sources are required to meet on a 
regular basis with an agent who provides them guidance and instructions.

Yet in 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201825.html>a 
scathing report released by the Department of 
Justice in September of last year, DOJ inspector 
general, Glenn A. Fine, found "that FBI agents 
violated procedures in 87 percent of the cases, 
including some in which informants allegedly 
engaged in illegal activity without proper oversight or permission."

As for Anna, she receives about $37,500 a year, 
plus expenses, for her work. In the McDavid case, 
for example, in addition to her salary, the FBI 
paid for Anna to rent a house in California, paid 
for helicopter surveillance at her behest, and 
ostensibly also paid for the audio and video 
surveillance rigged in the rental house.

Are there other Annas?

Although the FBI states that it does not target 
lawful activity or activity protected by the 
First Amendment, in Florida alone, groups 
advocating against the invasion of Iraq, the 
PATRIOT Act, the OAS, and the FTAA have all been 
infiltrated, according to participants -- who 
cannot prove that the suspicious persons were 
infiltrators or informants. But 
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10454316>documents 
released last year show that a 
counter-recruitment meeting at the Quaker House 
in Lake Worth, Florida was infiltrated by the 
Department of Defense. And the revelations about 
Anna, who participated in at least two of the 
major protests in Florida, further confirm activists' fears.

While officials have claimed that anarchists 
advocate violence, Fred Frost, President of the 
Florida AFL-CIO, stated in 2004 at public 
hearings after the FTAA demonstrations that 
anarchists "may look different from you and me, 
but they are some of the nicest, most peaceful 
people I've ever met, helping everyone – I have a 
great deal of respect for them."

None of the above-mentioned peace and justice 
groups advocates violence; all advocate using 
peaceful and lawful means of expression.


#

Jennifer Van Bergen is a freelance journalist 
with a law degree. Her book "The Twilight of 
Democracy: The Bush Plan for America" is 
available on Amazon. Her book "Archetypes for 
Writers: Using the Power of Your Subconscious" 
will be out next year. She can be reached at 
<mailto:jvbxyz at earthlink.net>jvbxyz at earthlink.net.


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