Making Sense of \"Anna's\" Posts\r\n<\/p>
Stephen\r\nDeVoy<\/i><\/p>\r\n
\"Anna\", the successful FBI infiltrator of at least a dozen\r\nanarchist events\/movements, left a trail of posts on various IndyMedia\r\noutlets. Interestingly, search engines do not turn up any posts by\r\n\"Anna\" outside of IndyMedia. Evidently, the FBI considers\r\nIndyMedia to be the communications lifeblood of the anarchist movement.<\/p>\r\n
In this article, I will examine the four posts we have uncovered. The\r\nposts contain information that is useful from several standpoints. There\r\nis content that will aid in improving security against future FBI infiltration,\r\ncontent that reveals FBI assumptions about the mindset of anarchists, and\r\ncontent that reveals the FBI's strategy for creating a \"credible\"\r\nactivist out of thin air. This article is a follow up to my previous\r\narticle on Anna and, as in the previous case, it represents my best guesses and\r\nbest inferences. It does not represent a definitive and complete analysis\r\nof \"Anna.\" To the best of my knowledge I have never met Anna and\r\nI did not attend any of the events to which she refers in her posts.<\/p>\r\n
I think it is of value to place Anna's posts into two categories: (1) \r\ncredibility posts<\/b> and (2) mission posts<\/b>. It appears to me that the primary\r\nreason for the credibility posts is to create references intended to support the\r\nnotion that \"Anna\" is a credible activist. Mission posts, on the\r\nother hand, have been made to forward operational goals. Each mission post\r\nis a shot into the dark seeking contacts to use as stepping stones to a mission.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
The credibility posts reveal information about Anna's access to information,\r\ninform us on what the FBI believes to be the mindset of activists, and instructs\r\nus on the airs that an FBI infiltrator are likely to assume as cover. The\r\nmission posts reveal goals of the infiltrator, modus operandi of the\r\ninfiltrator, and cover mechanisms of the infiltrator. For me, the last\r\ncategory (i.e. the mission post category) is more interesting and so I will save\r\nit for last.<\/p>\r\nCredibility Posts\r\n
Chronologically, the first credibility post uncovered is a post on Miami\r\nIndyMedia entitled Philly\r\nBIO Protest Write-UP!. (I am intrigued that only Miami IMC's posts by\r\nAnna were still online. I am especially intrigued given this\r\nvery recent post by the two most active members of Miami IMC, which,\r\ninterestingly, was posted today.) The lead-in to the article reads: \"I\r\nspent a week in Philly with my collective in preparations for the annual BIOTECH\r\nmeetings, held this year in Philly. The Streets rose up! WHAT an Event!\"<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n
Reading \"her\" article, it occurred to me that there is very little\r\nreason to believe that \"Anna\" actually wrote the article. The\r\narticle seems far more detailed than the average IMC article. It is chock\r\nfull of information. Indeed, so much information I am inclined to believe\r\nthat it was written by a team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
What strikes me is the frequent use of emotional outburst with the intent of\r\nattributing to the author a passion for the cause. For example, we have\r\nthe following \"WHAT an Event!\", \"which was an amazing\r\nexperience\", \"How empowering!\", \"Yeah for Hugs!!\",\r\n\"We love you, FNB!\"<\/i>, and so on. These exclamations of\r\nemotion do not flow well with the piece and I have a strong impression that they\r\nwere inserted after review by whatever FBI committee wrote the piece. The\r\nintent appears to be to cast Anna as a true believer filled with passion for the\r\ncause. However, as a real anarchist, this frequent and gratuitous\r\nsprinkling of emotionalisms rings hollow. They set the bells of intuition\r\nringing an alarm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Anna refers to her fellow protesters as \"kids.\" In fact, she\r\nrefers to them as kids no fewer than seven times in one article. When I\r\nwas her age, I did not refer to my peers as \"kids.\" However, I\r\ncan imagine a committee of FBI agents using the term \"kids\" to\r\ndescribe protesters. The same diminutive and general glossing is not\r\napplied to police in the article. In fact, she names more kinds of police\r\nthan I could have come up with in the time it takes me to write an\r\narticle. Here are all of the different kinds of police she mentions in\r\nthis one article: \"security escorts\",\" undercovers\",\r\n\"bike cops\", \"plainclothes\", \"feds\", \"civil\r\naffairs officers\", \"Riot Police\", and \"Philadelphia’s Strike Force\".\r\n\"Anna\" has about as many words for cops as the Inuit have for snow but\r\nher terminology for protesters seems to be constrained to kids, kids, and\r\nkids. The intent of the article seems only as a means to establish\r\n\"Anna\" as an activist. She makes one noteworthy comment at the very\r\nend of the article: \"Hopefully, pictures will be added soon - I need to\r\nget my act together and develop the film!\"<\/i> Most activists\r\nintending to post images in the Internet use digital cameras for that\r\npurpose. Since we know she was working for the FBI, we should assume that\r\nher film was being processed when the article was published. It was being\r\nprocessed by the FBI.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Now, since the FBI must have been processing the film, this is an interesting\r\nmatter to consider. If an activist whose presence causes the alarm bells\r\nof intuition to sound and if that activist is taking photos with a traditional\r\nfilm based camera, one might want to insist that she develop the film\r\nimmediately at one of those \"hour\" film processing places. If\r\nshe's an FBI agent, she just might resist this suggestion for the FBI may need\r\nto be able to certify that they had possession of the film throughout the\r\nprocess should the question of doctoring come up in a trial.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In another post on Miami IMC, Response to first one,\r\nAnna comments to defend the intent of the Black Bloc. Her post seems to\r\nhave one and only one purpose: create the illusion that \"Anna\" is a\r\nreal anarchist. I'm an anarchist and I've never been part of a Black\r\nBloc. I have no problem with the idea of a Black Bloc, but I find it\r\ninteresting that the FBI wishes to create credibility for Anna amongst members\r\nof Black Blocs. This implies that infiltrating Black Blocs was a goal that\r\nthe FBI had set for \"Anna.\" Moreover, I see no reason to believe\r\nthat this statement by Anna is true: \"I will proudly join and fight with\r\nthe bloc, as I have in the past.\"<\/i> Is there any evidence that\r\n\"Anna\" was ever part of a Black Bloc? What the statement hopes\r\nto achieve is to get \"Anna\" into a Black Bloc. Now, since Miami\r\nhas about ZERO Black Bloc's, what the hell is this post doing on Miami IMC and\r\nwhy isn't it posted in, let's say, Boston, NYC, or some other city where Black\r\nBlocks are common? Surely, not many anarchists read Miami IMC.<\/p>\r\n\r\nMission Posts\r\n\r\n
As I stated above, I find the mission posts far more interesting. I\r\nactually learned a few things by reading them. I think we should all take\r\na very close look at what they reveal. Consequently, I will post them here\r\nin their entirety.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
| [Imc-uk-video] Looking for Videographers from USA G8, Georgia \r\n AnnA annadavies99 at yahoo.com \r\n Sun May 8 12:33:20 PDT 2005 \r\n \r\n * Previous message: [Imc-uk-video] Anti-war Protest Footage \r\n * Next message: [Imc-uk-video] video meeting feedback - sat \r\n * Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] \r\n \r\n Greetings! \r\n \r\n I worked on the American Organization Committee, G8 \r\n Planning Committee and G8 Carnival, for the G8 last \r\n year in Georgia. There were a variety of problems, but \r\n we had something. \r\n \r\n I met two Videographers last year, from the UK, who \r\n were workgin on a documentary\/training video\/info \r\n video\/ ?? and shared some drinks with them and partied \r\n one night. They were awesome people and I regret not \r\n getting their contact info. With the G8 is being held \r\n ‘cross the pond, I’m trying to locate those two and \r\n maybe set up a reciprocal event. I’d like to try and \r\n get over there and do some filming of my own, and \r\n hopefully plug into some of the activities. \r\n \r\n If anyone knows who those two guys were, could you \r\n please pass them along this e-mail? I'd love to get in \r\n touch with them again. \r\n \r\n Thanks<\/i><\/td>\r\n | \r\n Comments<\/b><\/p>\r\n The post to the left was posted by \"Anna\" onto the\r\n IMC-UK-VIDEO piper-mail stream. Anna is attempting to establish or\r\n re-establish contact with videographers that she met from the UK. \r\n She hopes to connect with them and use them as hosts for a mission to the\r\n UK where she will, it seems, be working on behalf of the FBI or an\r\n intelligence agency.<\/p>\r\n Now, remember, she may have never met these people. The claim\r\n that she did may be a ruse to establish contact even if she has not met\r\n them. After all, if they were in the US, they would have met a large\r\n number of people and she can easily rely upon this to make these\r\n videographers feel comfortable contacting her.<\/p>\r\n The fact that she wishes to hitch up with videographers is\r\n telling. In my\r\n previous article on Anna, I speculated that Anna may have been using\r\n the production of documentary videos as a cover. This lends more\r\n evidence to that speculation.<\/p>\r\n Also, Anna seems to have access to a lot of equipment. We see\r\n from the previous post that she had access to a camera (probably a good\r\n once since the FBI is her employer). Now we see reason to believe\r\n that she has access to video equipment. From the\r\n affidavit released which uses her as a source, we also know that she\r\n was a frequent text messenger. She\r\n was able to procure a house for her collective. Put in few\r\n words, she had access to all sorts of things the average activist would\r\n love to have. Despite this, there is no explanation for her wealth\r\n and there is no explanation as to how it is that she has the time and the\r\n money to travel so much. The next post by \"Anna\" attempts\r\n to provide a solution to this last point, but it reveals something about\r\n the FBI in the process.<\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n Above we see that Anna wants to go to Europe and videotape demonstrators at\r\nthe G8. She intends to use a group of legitimate videographers as cover\r\nfor her crimes against protestors. How does she plan on getting to\r\nEurope? Well, the FBI has that figured out.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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