NSA Spying on Quakers and Nuns

BALTIMORE -- Following reports that Baltimore peace groups
have been targets of illegal spying, the American Civil Liberties Union
of Maryland today filed public information requests with federal and
state authorities. The ACLU said it is concerned that the disturbing
national trend of government surveillance of political and religious
groups may also be happening here in the "Free State."

"It is
fundamentally un-American for the government to invade the privacy of
peaceful political and religious groups under the guise of fighting
terrorism," said Susan Goering, Executive Director of the ACLU of
Maryland. "Such illegal surveillance by the Bush administration and law
enforcement agencies abuses our trust and threatens our freedom."

Among the groups the NSA has been listening in on is the American Friends Service Committee
-- i.e., Quakers. According to AFSC's mission statement, "The American
Friends Service Committee is a practical expression of the faith of the
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Committed to the principles of
nonviolence and justice, it seeks in its work and witness to draw on
the transforming power of love, human and divine."