Making Sense of "Anna's" Posts
Stephen
DeVoy
"Anna", the successful FBI infiltrator of at least a dozen
anarchist events/movements, left a trail of posts on various IndyMedia
outlets. Interestingly, search engines do not turn up any posts by
"Anna" outside of IndyMedia. Evidently, the FBI considers
IndyMedia to be the communications lifeblood of the anarchist movement.
In this article, I will examine the four posts we have uncovered. The
posts contain information that is useful from several standpoints. There
is content that will aid in improving security against future FBI infiltration,
content that reveals FBI assumptions about the mindset of anarchists, and
content that reveals the FBI's strategy for creating a "credible"
activist out of thin air. This article is a follow up to my previous
article on Anna and, as in the previous case, it represents my best guesses and
best inferences. It does not represent a definitive and complete analysis
of "Anna." To the best of my knowledge I have never met Anna and
I did not attend any of the events to which she refers in her posts.
I think it is of value to place Anna's posts into two categories: (1)
credibility posts and (2) mission posts. It appears to me that the primary
reason for the credibility posts is to create references intended to support the
notion that "Anna" is a credible activist. Mission posts, on the
other hand, have been made to forward operational goals. Each mission post
is a shot into the dark seeking contacts to use as stepping stones to a mission.
The credibility posts reveal information about Anna's access to information,
inform us on what the FBI believes to be the mindset of activists, and instructs
us on the airs that an FBI infiltrator are likely to assume as cover. The
mission posts reveal goals of the infiltrator, modus operandi of the
infiltrator, and cover mechanisms of the infiltrator. For me, the last
category (i.e. the mission post category) is more interesting and so I will save
it for last.
Credibility Posts
Chronologically, the first credibility post uncovered is a post on Miami
IndyMedia entitled Philly
BIO Protest Write-UP!. (I am intrigued that only Miami IMC's posts by
Anna were still online. I am especially intrigued given this
very recent post by the two most active members of Miami IMC, which,
interestingly, was posted today.) The lead-in to the article reads: "I
spent a week in Philly with my collective in preparations for the annual BIOTECH
meetings, held this year in Philly. The Streets rose up! WHAT an Event!"
Reading "her" article, it occurred to me that there is very little
reason to believe that "Anna" actually wrote the article. The
article seems far more detailed than the average IMC article. It is chock
full of information. Indeed, so much information I am inclined to believe
that it was written by a team.
What strikes me is the frequent use of emotional outburst with the intent of
attributing to the author a passion for the cause. For example, we have
the following "WHAT an Event!", "which was an amazing
experience", "How empowering!", "Yeah for Hugs!!",
"We love you, FNB!", and so on. These exclamations of
emotion do not flow well with the piece and I have a strong impression that they
were inserted after review by whatever FBI committee wrote the piece. The
intent appears to be to cast Anna as a true believer filled with passion for the
cause. However, as a real anarchist, this frequent and gratuitous
sprinkling of emotionalisms rings hollow. They set the bells of intuition
ringing an alarm.
Anna refers to her fellow protesters as "kids." In fact, she
refers to them as kids no fewer than seven times in one article. When I
was her age, I did not refer to my peers as "kids." However, I
can imagine a committee of FBI agents using the term "kids" to
describe protesters. The same diminutive and general glossing is not
applied to police in the article. In fact, she names more kinds of police
than I could have come up with in the time it takes me to write an
article. Here are all of the different kinds of police she mentions in
this one article: "security escorts"," undercovers",
"bike cops", "plainclothes", "feds", "civil
affairs officers", "Riot Police", and "Philadelphia’s Strike Force".
"Anna" has about as many words for cops as the Inuit have for snow but
her terminology for protesters seems to be constrained to kids, kids, and
kids. The intent of the article seems only as a means to establish
"Anna" as an activist. She makes one noteworthy comment at the very
end of the article: "Hopefully, pictures will be added soon - I need to
get my act together and develop the film!" Most activists
intending to post images in the Internet use digital cameras for that
purpose. Since we know she was working for the FBI, we should assume that
her film was being processed when the article was published. It was being
processed by the FBI.
Now, since the FBI must have been processing the film, this is an interesting
matter to consider. If an activist whose presence causes the alarm bells
of intuition to sound and if that activist is taking photos with a traditional
film based camera, one might want to insist that she develop the film
immediately at one of those "hour" film processing places. If
she's an FBI agent, she just might resist this suggestion for the FBI may need
to be able to certify that they had possession of the film throughout the
process should the question of doctoring come up in a trial.
In another post on Miami IMC, Response to first one,
Anna comments to defend the intent of the Black Bloc. Her post seems to
have one and only one purpose: create the illusion that "Anna" is a
real anarchist. I'm an anarchist and I've never been part of a Black
Bloc. I have no problem with the idea of a Black Bloc, but I find it
interesting that the FBI wishes to create credibility for Anna amongst members
of Black Blocs. This implies that infiltrating Black Blocs was a goal that
the FBI had set for "Anna." Moreover, I see no reason to believe
that this statement by Anna is true: "I will proudly join and fight with
the bloc, as I have in the past." Is there any evidence that
"Anna" was ever part of a Black Bloc? What the statement hopes
to achieve is to get "Anna" into a Black Bloc. Now, since Miami
has about ZERO Black Bloc's, what the hell is this post doing on Miami IMC and
why isn't it posted in, let's say, Boston, NYC, or some other city where Black
Blocks are common? Surely, not many anarchists read Miami IMC.
Mission Posts
As I stated above, I find the mission posts far more interesting. I
actually learned a few things by reading them. I think we should all take
a very close look at what they reveal. Consequently, I will post them here
in their entirety.
[Imc-uk-video] Looking for Videographers from USA G8, Georgia
AnnA annadavies99 at yahoo.com
Sun May 8 12:33:20 PDT 2005
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Greetings!
I worked on the American Organization Committee, G8
Planning Committee and G8 Carnival, for the G8 last
year in Georgia. There were a variety of problems, but
we had something.
I met two Videographers last year, from the UK, who
were workgin on a documentary/training video/info
video/ ?? and shared some drinks with them and partied
one night. They were awesome people and I regret not
getting their contact info. With the G8 is being held
‘cross the pond, I’m trying to locate those two and
maybe set up a reciprocal event. I’d like to try and
get over there and do some filming of my own, and
hopefully plug into some of the activities.
If anyone knows who those two guys were, could you
please pass them along this e-mail? I'd love to get in
touch with them again.
Thanks |
Comments
The post to the left was posted by "Anna" onto the
IMC-UK-VIDEO piper-mail stream. Anna is attempting to establish or
re-establish contact with videographers that she met from the UK.
She hopes to connect with them and use them as hosts for a mission to the
UK where she will, it seems, be working on behalf of the FBI or an
intelligence agency.
Now, remember, she may have never met these people. The claim
that she did may be a ruse to establish contact even if she has not met
them. After all, if they were in the US, they would have met a large
number of people and she can easily rely upon this to make these
videographers feel comfortable contacting her.
The fact that she wishes to hitch up with videographers is
telling. In my
previous article on Anna, I speculated that Anna may have been using
the production of documentary videos as a cover. This lends more
evidence to that speculation.
Also, Anna seems to have access to a lot of equipment. We see
from the previous post that she had access to a camera (probably a good
once since the FBI is her employer). Now we see reason to believe
that she has access to video equipment. From the
affidavit released which uses her as a source, we also know that she
was a frequent text messenger. She
was able to procure a house for her collective. Put in few
words, she had access to all sorts of things the average activist would
love to have. Despite this, there is no explanation for her wealth
and there is no explanation as to how it is that she has the time and the
money to travel so much. The next post by "Anna" attempts
to provide a solution to this last point, but it reveals something about
the FBI in the process. |
Above we see that Anna wants to go to Europe and videotape demonstrators at
the G8. She intends to use a group of legitimate videographers as cover
for her crimes against protestors. How does she plan on getting to
Europe? Well, the FBI has that figured out.
[Imc-g8-2005] 'Cross the Pond
AnnA annadavies99 at yahoo.com
Mon May 9 12:06:00 PDT 2005
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Greetings from America!
My name is AnnA and I've been quite heavily involved
with actions over here. I'm tryign to finance my way
to Scotland for the G8. I was a part of the outreach
and organizing DA committee last year when America had
the G8.
I subscribed to the UK INdymedia VIdeo List a few days
ago. I would like to participate in the G8 in a
variety of ways. I'd like to do some filming
specifically on British and European protest tactics
and organizing strategies for my Amerikan
counterparts, as well as direct participation in DA.
One of my collective partners was planning on coming
to the protest as well, but is currently undergoing
some heavy shit in her personal life.
Is there a way I can plug into some events, do some
filming and have a good time? ;) What would be the
best time to arrive? I fly courier, so I have to try
and be as flexible as possible. Also, is there housing
set up?
Best of Luck to you! If you need anything from us,
give a hollar! :)
Resist,
AnnA |
Comments
Anna, once again, tries to reach out to unsuspecting activists in
Europe, hoping to use them as cover for her mission to destroy the lives
of anarchists. Anna attempts to make herself seem like a normal cash
starved activist by stating "I'm trying to finance my way to Scotland
for the G8." The "trying" part implies that it is a
difficult thing for her to do. However, later she states "I fly courier, so I have to try
and be as flexible as possible." The words "I fly
courier" as opposed to "I am planning on flying courier"
mean that she flies often and does so using courier. It is something
she has done, does, and will be doing. This, my friends, is what we
call "a cover." Her cover is that "Anna is a
courier."
Lets think about the brilliance of this cover. First of all, it
explains how a woman with no job and lots of time on her hands can get
around on a global scale. It
also explains why no one can pick her up at the airport or meet her when
she deplanes. After all, couriers, like FBI agents, fly on
someone else's dime and they need to meet with someone immediately after
getting off the plane. That means that you can't just show up, meet
them, and go off to your ground transportation. The fake activist
flying as a courier has a built on excuse about why she needs to meet with
someone just after getting off of the plane (her FBI handlers).
Since she must be "flexible", she probably can't tell you ahead
of time to meet her at the airport. This conveniently prevents you
from seeing her arrive. She'll call you when she get there (and
after she's finished being debriefed by her FBI handler).
What does she want to videotape in Europe? Well, here's what she
says: "I'd like to do some filming specifically on British and European protest tactics
and organizing strategies for my Amerikan counterparts, as well as direct participation in DA."
This is all very interesting. She intends to videotape Europeans
for the US Government. Why? She also wants to videotape her
"Amerikan counterparts." That would be nice, wouldn't
it? You can't even protest in Europe without the American Stasi
following you to Europe to film you. Even worse, this agent
provocateur wants to participate in direct action in Europe. Sounds
like she's intending to provoke the arrests of her American
counterparts. Nice woman! |
From the above, it looks like this blows the FBI's "courier" cover
once and for all. It also should give you pause about responding to
requests by unknown activists, even foreign activists, for direct support that
includes allowing them to blend in with you. You just might be the target
of exploitation by an intelligence agency. Of course, you could turn
around and google the activist's name, but then you would find their
"credibility" posts. In sum, this means you should not rely on
information posted online to determine that someone is a real activist.
You need real flesh and blood people that you know and trust to vouch for the
person before you even consider taking an unknown under you wing.
For me, the most compelling reasons to have suspected that Anna was an
infiltrator are, in conjunction (separately, none of these would mean much):
- Anna had too much time on her hands.
- Anna always found the means to go anywhere and everywhere she wanted to.
- Anna always had all of the equipment she needed to film and videograph.
- Anna attended far too many major anarchist events to be a normal activist.
- Anna must have been unavailable frequently before and after events.
- Anna must have been unwilling to take off much of her gear (after all, her
gear contained listening and monitoring devices).
- Anna, from "her" writings, must have seemed very naive.
We need to be more careful. The FBI has invested a lot of time and
money in setting us up to be used as an excuse for their increasing repression.
I hid it reflexively for two reasons. One was DeVoy's long history of accusing people, which doesn't always pan out to anything. Two, some time ago, DeVoy stated that posts with his name on it were fake. So, I see DeVoy accusing someone, which hasn't happened in a while, and I hit the "hide" buttons. I have researched the issue, and the original is now up again. (I was only marginally aware of the ELF stuff going on in Sacto.)