Nonprofit Organizations and Counterterrorism Measures

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

read in full

Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

read in full

Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

read in full

Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

read in full

more news

New York Police Watched Nonprofits before 2004 GOP Convention

A March 25 story in the New York Times revealed that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) conducted a covert surveillance program in 14 states, Canada and Europe that collected information on groups planning lawful protests or events at the 2004 Republican National Convention. The information became public as a result of two lawsuits brought against the city by seven of the 1,806 people arrested during the convention. However, the city has asked a federal court to keep detailed records of this surveillance secret, fearing they will be "misinterpreted." The vast scope of the surveillance has become public knowledge at the same time that Congress is investigating Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) abuse of Patriot Act powers to collect information.

read in full

Double Standard: Chiquita Banana Fined, Not Shut Down, for Transactions with Designated Terrorists

In a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on March 14 Chiquita Brands International agreed to pay a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a dangerous region of Colombia. The payments, made between 1997 and 2004, continued despite the company's knowledge that they were illegal. The company was allowed to continue profitable production during the investigation. The U.S. government's action is inconsistent with standards and procedure used against charities, which have had their assets seized and frozen while investigations are pending.

read in full

Terror Watch List Misuse: Everyday Accounts

Mar 28, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Banks use the watch list of suspected terrorists maintained by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to assist in identifying potential financial transaction violations, such as when a Muslim charity wants to use its services for overseas transfers to send humanitarian aid. Now the wide spread use of the OFAC list is being exposed. For example many Americans are being denied jobs and various services because their names are similar to others who are designated.

read in full

NYC Police Spying On Groups Before Convention

Mar 26, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The New York Times reported that the New York City Police Department's Intelligence Division sent undercover detectives around the city and country collecting information on activists planning on demonstrating at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Surveillance was not only conducted on groups that planned on disrupting the convention, but rather broadly on political activists throughout the country. Yet, the lawyers for the city say these documents should remain secret, in light of the civil lawsuits pending from the more than 1,000 arrests made during the convention.

read in full

"Dissent is not Terrorism"

Mar 22, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

This article titled "Dissent is not Terrorism" from TomPaine chronicles the government spying on the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a pacifist Quaker organization. The article describes the government's documentation of peaceful protests planned by AFSC as terrorist in nature, revealed in documents released through a FOIA request. OMB Watch has followed this trend of the government spying on peaceful nonprofit organizations throughout the country.

read in full

Report Finds Underreporting and Abuse of USA PATRIOT Act Powers

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported on March 9 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been systematically underreporting National Security Letter (NSL) requests and has repeatedly violated federal law and agency policies in collecting personal information. The report unleashed a firestorm on the Hill, with calls for reform of the USA PATRIOT Act.

read in full

Senate Votes Down Effort to Expand Definition of Material Support

The Senate bill designed to implement recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, S. 4, had almost 200 amendments and took over two months to complete. One amendment, introduced by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), could have potentially weakened humanitarian work of U.S. charities overseas but was defeated as part of a package of amendments that did not pass.

read in full

Senate Amendment on Material Support Defeated

Mar 9, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

While the outcome of S.4, the Senate bill to implement 9/11 recommendations, continues to be murky, one important amendment was defeated today in a vote of 49-46. This package of amendments offered by Senator Cornyn (R-TX) S.AMDT.312 included a measure that would have further expanded the definition of material support. Written so broadly, it could have made it a crime for individuals, including Americans and US aid and relief organizations to give charitable assistance to a family member or anyone who might live next door to a suspected terrorist.

read in full

Patriot Act Drives Banking Problems for U.S. Muslim Charity

During a September 2006 raid of the Michigan office of Life for Relief and Development (Life), the federal authorities seized computers and organizational records, but told the press the investigation did not relate to terrorism, and that the charity could still operate as before the raid. Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) returned most of the computers shortly after the raid, they kept the documents and files of the organization. When Life later requested the financial documents and receipts to be returned, to enable the organization to file the appropriate tax returns, the FBI attempted to charge Life over $100,000 for “copying fees.”

read in full

Justice Department Refers Kinder USA's Harassment Complaint against FBI to FBI

For nearly three years, according to Kinder USA, the U.S. relief organization based in Dallas, TX, has endured harassment and surveillance of its board, staff and volunteers by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office in Dallas. In December 2006, Board Chair Dr. Laila Al-Marayati sent a letter to the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (IG) detailing the problem and asking for an independent investigation.

read in full