SurveillanceThe FBI violated its own rules in surveillance of anti-Keystone XL pipeline activists

More than eighty pages of internal FBI documents dated from November 2012 to June 2014, obtained by the Guardian and Earth Island Journal after a request under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that the FBI breached its own investigation rules when it spied on protesters opposing the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The rules, detailed in the agency’s Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, dictate that special care should be taken over sensitive investigations such as those targeting elected officials, journalists, and political organizations. FBI work on “sensitive investigative matters” requires prior approval of the chief division counsel (CDC) and the special agent in charge (SAC), both of whom are supposed to consider the severity of the threat and the consequences of “adverse impact on civil liberties and public confidence” should the investigation be made public.

Agents in the FBI’s Houston field office failed to get approval before they cultivated informants and opened files on pipeline protesters — a violation of guidelines designed to prevent the agency from becoming excessively involved in sensitive political issues.

The Keystone XL pipeline was devised to transport tar sands oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf coast. Three phases of the project are in operation, and the fourth is awaiting approval from the Obama administration.

Environmental groups have spent years opposing the pipeline; some have held nonviolent civil disobedience protests, which have been monitored by federal law enforcement agencies. One FBI memo describes the rationale for investigating protest groups in the Houston area by touting the economic advantages of the pipeline while labeling its opponents “environmental extremists.” “Many of these extremists believe the debates over pollution, protection of wildlife, safety, and property rights have been overshadowed by the promise of jobs and cheaper oil prices,” the FBI document reads. “The Keystone pipeline, as part of the oil and natural gas industry, is vital to the security and economy of the United States.”

The FBI investigation, which included at least one informant, targeted Tar Sands Blockade, a direct action group that was at the time protesting in southern Texas. Ron Seifert, an organizer with the group said dozens of campaigners were arrested in Texas for protest-related activity, but not one of them was accused of violent crime or property destruction. The group focused its campaigns in the Houston neighborhood of Manchester, where the Valero Energy Corporation has a large refinery capable of processing heavy crude oil.

The FBI acknowledged that it did not obtain proper approval before opening its investigation on pipeline protesters, but the investigation continued for eleven months. “While the FBI approval levels required by internal policy were not initially obtained, once discovered, corrective action was taken, non-compliance was remedied, and the oversight was properly reported through the FBI’s internal oversight mechanism,” according to an agency statement. The FBI also noted that the investigation was warranted because it had to “take the initiative to secure and protect activities and entities which may be targeted for terrorism or espionage.”

FBI documents suggest that the Houston investigation was one branch of a wider set of investigations into pipeline protesters around the country. Mike German, a former FBI agent and now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, said the FBI opened its investigation on protesters under a category known as an “assessment.” Assessments were introduced as part of an expansion of FBI powers after 9/11 to allow agents to open investigations into individuals or groups, even if they have no reason to believe a crime has been committed. TheGuardian notes that the Houston branch opened its investigation on pipeline protesters in early 2013, several months after a high-level strategy meeting between the agency and TransCanada, the company building the pipeline. “It is clearly troubling that these documents suggest the FBI interprets its national security mandate as protecting private industry from political criticism,” German said.