The FBI has a long and documented history of surveilling, targeting, and committing horrific acts of violence against activists, particularly Black / New Afrikan activists and, in the last two decades, Muslim activists. The FBI runs a "Boston field office," located in Chelsea MA. Agents from the FBI's Boston field office participated in ADL-sponsored "counterterrorism" training trips to Israel in 2008 as well as in 2010 ("Cambridge Officials Discuss Counter-Terrorism Strategies," Published Jan 4 2011 in the Cambridge Chronicle, article since removed from website).
For more information on policing in Massachusetts, see entry on Boston Police.
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In 2010, Noreen Gleason, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the Boston field office of the FBI, participated in a “counterterrorism seminar” in Israel, as part of an all-expenses-paid delegation of US law enforcement to Israel sponsored by the New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (source: "Cambridge Officials Discuss Counter-Terrorism Strategies," Published Jan 4 2011 in the Cambridge Chronicle, article since removed from website). Boston FBI Assistant Special Agent Mark Morelli participated in a similar ADL-sponsored trip to Israel in 2008. The New England Chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sponsors annual all-expenses-paid delegations to Israel for high-ranking New England police, ICE, FBI, and other security officials, where these officials meet with Israeli military, police, and intelligence agencies, with whom they train and exchange tactics including surveillance, racial profiling, crowd control, and the containment of protests.
In 2015, Boston Police and FBI agents from Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force dressed in plainclothes surrounded Usaamah Rahim in a parking lot in the Boston neighborhood Roslindale and shot him dead. SWAT teams and FBI agents invaded the house of Rahim's relative, David Wright, with flash bang grenades, surrounding Wright with military assault rifles and interrogating him for more than ten hours in his home before arresting him. According to Rahim's mother, they were targeted and profiled "for being African American and for being Muslim." (Mass Action Against Police Brutality Streamcast: The Usaamah Rahim Case Free David Wright! 9/11/2020. See in particular the testimony beginning at 31:00.) Rahim's murder is just one of many examples of collaboration between the Boston Police Department and the FBI.
The Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) is one of two 'intelligence fusion centers' in Massachusetts organized by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for coordinated surveillance and information sharing between local, state, federal, and private police and security agencies. According to the description of BRIC on the Boston Police Department Bureau of Intelligence and Analysis website, in addition to local police agencies, "Boston Emergency Medical Services, Boston Fire Department, Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence & Analysis, and Federal Bureau of Investigations Boston Field Office are also assigned to the Center." BRIC is listed by the Department of Homeland Security as one of 80 officially recognized intelligence fusions centers across the country.
In June of 2001, Brookline police broke up a peaceful and permitted rally protesting an event called the Israel Day of Celebration. Brookline police arrested Amer Jubran, a leading organizer of the protest, and accused him of "assault with a dangerous weapon" (his shod foot). (Source: "Kicking and Screaming," by Kristen Lombardi, Boston Phoenix, August 2-9, 2001) Freedom of Information Act requests submitted following Amer's trial produced a fax cover sheet documenting the communication of records between the Brookline Police and the FBI office in Springfield, MA in July of 2003. These documents, and the case surrounding them, revealed a pattern of information sharing between local and federal police agencies targeting Palestinian activists for their political speech.
MIT Media Lab invited FBI agent Edward H. You to speak at the Lab's 2017 "Disobedience Award" ceremony. You works in the FBI's bioweapons unit ("Biological Countermeasures Unit"). As reported by MIT News, You suggested in his remarks at the ceremony that recruiting "biohackers" to work for the FBI would be a wonderful act of "defiance": "Ed You, a supervisory special agent in the FBI's Biological Countermeasures Unit, [said that] he thinks the agency would benefit from bringing biohackers to the table as well. 'What a fantastic act of defiance that would be. Members of the hacker community can come up with solutions for the FBI, and it's important for everyone to push their comfort level.' "
The FBI is listed as a full member of the Greater Boston Police Council, a "law enforcement council" (LEC) set up in the 1970s to link regional police forces and share resources for policing anti-war protests. LECs in Massachusetts have played a central role in militarizing police by organizing SWAT teams and purchasing military equipment such as Lenco Bearcats and other armored vehicles.
General Dynamics Mission Systems has made tens of millions of dollars to date through contracts with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Google supported the FBI, the CIA, and other intelligence agencies to create "Intellipedia, a network aimed at helping [Intelligence] agents share intelligence." Google supplied "servers for storing and searching internal documents" which the CIA, the FBI, and other intelligence agencies used "to create their own mini-Googles on intranets made up entirely of government data," allowing for streamlined and efficient information sharing across these and other agencies.
Harvard Kennedy School maintains multiple ties with the FBI, including:
Harvard Kennedy School also hosted former FBI director James Comey for a conversation with Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center's Co-Director (and former US Pentagon Chief of Staff) Eric Rosenbach in 2020. The conversation was open to all Harvard students.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) - Seattle Division presented to Harvard Law School students at HLS's 2022 OPIA Virtual Networking Reception.
Harvard University hosted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - Resource Planning Office at its 2021 Business & Consulting Career Fair.
Northeastern University offers up the Kostas Research Institute for "private and as-needed secure convening venue for researchers, industry practitioners, and government agencies," and notes that "The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and Counterintelligence Working Group" has utilized the Institute for this purpose.
Lenco is sole supplier of armored vehicles to the FBI.
McKinsey has worked closely with multiple US federal agencies, including the FBI.
Tufts University hosted the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to present to Tufts students at its 2019 general career fair.