Hundreds of pages of documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the Department of Homeland Security monitored political opposition to the See Something, Say Something campaign, as well as tracking Infowars stories and user comments on a myriad of other issues while categorizing the website as "Right Wing Terrorism".
Having initially requested copies of records in August 2011, "regarding any political profiling documents that specify what groups are monitored under fusion centers all over the country and which kinds of people are profiled," Brian D. Hill of USWGO.com finally received the documents recently after a year of back and forth communication with the agency during which he narrowed down his request to include search results which included DHS discussion of a handful of websites, including Infowars.com.
The documents contain email communications as well as intelligence reports circulated between different offices of the Department of Homeland Security as well as the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). In most cases, the identities of individuals both sending and receiving the messages have been redacted.
A report dated January 24, 2011, marked "for official use only" and produced by the Amtrak Intelligence Team is entitled Opposition to "See Something, Say Something".
The report notes how Infowars.com launched a campaign in opposition to the DHS program, which encourages citizens to report "suspicious activity" to the authorities, including via television screens at Wal-Mart stores which play a message from DHS chief Janet Napolitano.
The document notes how Infowars "claims" the campaign was based on the "V for Victory" symbol of French resistance to Nazi occupation in WWII, while implying that the movie V For Vendetta, as well as an incident in 2006 where Clay Duke spray painted a 'V' on the wall during a school board meeting in Panama City, Florida before shooting at board members, were motivations behind the campaign.
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