Is Military Creeping into Domestic Spying and Enforcement?
By Robert Block and Gary Feilds Wall Street Journal March 9, 2004 In a little-noticed side effect of the war on terrorism, the military is edging toward a sensitive area that has been off-limits to it historically: domestic intelligence gathering and law enforcement. Several recent incidents involving the military have raised concern among student and civil-rights groups. One was a visit last month by an Army intelligence agent to an official and students at the University of Texas law school in Austin. The agent demanded a videotape of a recent academic conference at the school so that he could identify what he described as “three Middle Eastern men” who had made “suspicious” remarks to Army lawyers at the seminar, according to the official, Susana Aleman, the dean of student affairs. The Army, while not disputing that the visit took place, declined to comment, saying the incident is under investigation. Last year, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the nation’s primary source of globa
