FBI targets animal rights groups to inform on fellow activists

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

For years, those who have spoken out about various freedom-crushing laws and policies coming from the Federal and State government were called conspiracy theorists when they suggested that these laws would eventually be applied to average law-abiding citizens.

Day by day, however, it is made increasingly clear that such concern is no mere theory. It is now painfully obvious that law-abiding citizens are the main target, while the shadowy, CIA-funded Al-Qaeda takes a back seat (when it is not needed to stir up support for more draconian legislation or regime change, that is).

This was a fact that Dallas Rising, program director for “Animal Rights Coalition” recently learned when her Minneapolis-based organization was visited by two FBI agents. Rising was taken aback when the two agents walked into the storefront office, flipped open their badges, and announced that they were with the FBI.

When the agent, who identified himself as Steve Molesky, asked Rising if he and his partner could speak to her, she told them no and then called her boss to confirm that the position of the group was to having nothing to do with the FBI. Once this was confirmed, she asked the agents to leave.

But the agent told her she didn’t need to talk to them, they had something to say to her.

According to Rising, “He said, ‘I understand why you would be reluctant to talk to me and I get that, and we, as the FBI, have close relationships with animal enterprises . . . but we don’t just work for those big companies, we work for all the people.”

Molesky attempted to assure Rising multiple times that the FBI didn’t “want to stifle anyone’s First Amendment rights.” He also stated that he wanted to work with her as a “liaison.”

Elizabeth Pauling, Molesky’s partner and FBI analyst, stated that this meant if anyone were to contact Rising regarding information or evidence regarding animal welfare violations, she would tell the FBI about the establishment being reported and the FBI would subsequently urge the USDA to investigate.

Rising, correctly sensing a trap, asked if “liaison” were not just another word for “informant”? According to Rising, Molesky said that it wasn’t the same, the difference being that “if Jack and Jill come to you with information, what a liaison would do is let the FBI know where that farm is, while an informant would let the FBI know who Jack and Jill are.” That way, he said, “your concerns are addressed and nobody needs to break the law.”

Interestingly enough, the visit by the FBI agents to the Minneapolis Animal Rights Coalition comes on the heels of two other very bizarre encounters with alleged animal rights “activists” who were encouraging and attempting to use both violent and illegal tactics. Rising stated that about a week before, an individual called the office saying that he was aware of a farm in Wisconsin that was abusing animals. He told her he wanted to “get in there” using Animal Liberation Front tactics and that he wanted the help of the Animal Rights Coalition to do so.

Just a few days before that, a new “activist” had attended an activist training session and began asking other attendees how they felt about blowing up buildings and killing people. In both cases, the individuals were clearly told that the Animal Rights Coalition did not engage in and were not interested in any illegal activity.

And it’s a good thing they were told. Both of these incidents are tell-tale signs of FBI-agent provocateur-style entrapment and the infiltration of legitimate groups with government agents. Much like the infiltration of peaceful protestors by the Black Bloc, these individuals have no other purpose than to associate themselves with a group, encourage others to agree (not necessarily participate) to illegal activity, and to sink the entire group when this behavior is inevitably “discovered.”

It is very likely that these agents will be “reaching out” to other groups and organizations in the near future. In fact, it is almost a guarantee that they already have and that many organizations have accepted the offer. Nevertheless, any activist should be aware that changing a word or a name does not change the act. Calling an informant a “liaison” does not make the person any less of an informant.

As Will Potter of GreenIsTheNewRed writes, “In other words, activists should know that there is no such thing as providing the FBI with innocuous information. Drawing a distinction between a ‘liaison’ and an ‘informant’ is clever, but keep in mind that this is the same FBI that says undercover investigators can be prosecuted as terrorists.”

Potter also correctly observes:

The FBI has a long history of using informants to surveil, harass, disrupt, and entrap political activists. As I’ve documented at length on this website, the heavy-handed tactics of the COINTELPRO era have not disappeared – they have been repackaged as counter-terrorism efforts. This may take the form of threatening activists in hopes they will become informants (as I experienced personally), or attempting to infiltrate vegan potlucks. In the case of Eric McDavid, an undercover FBI informant named “Anna” repeatedly attempted to coerce him and others into illegal activity. He refused, and yet was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison on conspiracy charges.

So is this emphasis on “liaisons” a reflection of a kinder, gentler FBI? Not likely.

Keep in mind that these types of incidents are occurring shortly after the introduction and passage of various “Ag Gag” bills, which criminalize the videotaping or audio recording of animal cruelty taking place in “animal production facilities.” This new crime is now dubbed “animal interference.”

One such bill has already passed in Iowa with similar bills being introduced in several other states such as Utah, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, and New York.

Read other articles by Brandon Turbeville here. 

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Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Mullins, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions. Turbeville has published over one hundred articles dealing with a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville is available for podcast, radio, and TV interviews. Please contact us at activistpost (at) gmail.com.