[act-ma] 04/24/14: That time the FBI labeled my dissertation research a threat to national security: Scholarly inquiry, political dissent, & the freedom of information

[Paul Malachi Penchalapadu]

That time the FBI labeled my dissertation research a threat to national
security: Scholarly inquiry, political dissent, & the freedom of information

Thursday, April 24 at 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Next Week
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Room Number: 1019
This event is free, open to the public, and will have FREE ITALIAN FOOD!

A conversation at Harvard Law School with academic and activist Ryan
Shapiro on the Freedom of Information Act, the policing of dissent on the
streets and in the classroom, and the ongoing crisis of secrecy.

A recent article about Ryan Shapiro’s work opened by declaring, “Depending
on whom you ask, Ryan Shapiro is either the country’s ‘FOIA superhero’ or a
‘threat to national security.’” Shapiro is a longtime animal rights and
social justice activist and now also a PhD candidate in MIT’s Program in
History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, & Society (HASTS).
Shapiro’s research focuses on the political functioning of national
security and the policing of dissent. To this end, he currently has over
700 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in motion with the FBI,
making him the FBI’s “most prolific” FOIA requestor. Shapiro also has
numerous FOIA requests in motion with the CIA, DIA, and NSA, as well as a
host of ongoing lawsuits against these agencies for failure to comply with
his FOIA requests. The FBI is now even arguing in court that Shapiro’s
dissertation FOIA research on FBI campaigns against animal rights and
environmental protesters is itself a threat to national security. Shapiro’s
work has been covered by sources as varied as Democracy Now!, Mother Jones,
Salon, the Huffington Post, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, BBC
World Service, Al Jazeera America, PolicyMic, The Afro American,
GreenIsTheNewRed, FireDogLake, Vice News, the Wall Street Journal, the
International Business Times, The Daily Mail, and Fox Nation. Shapiro is
also a plaintiff in Blum v. Holder, the federal lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

Sponsored by the Harvard Law School Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
http://www3.law.harvard.edu/orgs/saldf/