The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently released more documents highlighting government surveillance of antiwar organizations. As information on the scope of the Pentagon's Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database continues to accumulate, the ACLU has requested a congressional investigation into this use of counterterrorism resources for surveillance of nonviolent domestic organizations. A Nov. 21 ACLU press release describes new documents that again prove counterterrorism resources were used to monitor American groups opposed to the war in Iraq and military recruitment. The information came in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the ACLU filed earlier this year because of evidence that the Pentagon was conducting surveillance of peaceful antiwar organizations, including Quakers and student groups. The new documents consist of nine reports that describe planned demonstrations at military recruitment sites as "threats" and outline events that took place at protests, such as reading the names of the dead. Veterans for Peace was one of the groups cited in the new documents. Their executive director, Michael T. McPhearson, told the New York Times that he was not surprised his group was monitored and plans to continue to use the Internet to plan protests. One TALON entry on the group states, "Veterans for Peace is a peaceful organization, but there is potential future protest could become violent." Other groups mentioned in the newly released documents include the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition and the War Resisters League, which advocates nonviolence. In light of these new findings, the ACLU has called on Congress to hold formal hearings on the TALON database. Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, said, "Congress must shed light on this effort to spy on veterans and Quakers. We are pleased that new leaders have signaled a desire to get serious about congressional oversight." The ACLU wants Congress to find out how the Pentagon gathered the information, whether it was shared with other agencies, and use of TALON for FBI surveillance of antiwar, religious, animal rights and environmental groups. According to a CQ Today article (subscription required), at least two Senate committees have shown interest in examining the issue, and all oversight committees have been briefed by the Pentagon. Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for incoming Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), said the panel is aware of the issue and will continue to watch the Pentagon’s activities. Morigi said, "Looking ahead, you can expect that the committee will continue to monitor and provide greater oversight of TALON, the NSA program, DoD activities, FBI intelligence gathering and any other domestic collection program." Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), both to be chairs of oversight committees, have also expressed concern over the problems with the material in the database. The CQ report also indicates that officials acknowledged some information gathered by TALON should not have been collected. In January 2006, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England required all DoD intelligence and counterintelligence employees to have new training on the policies for "collection, retention, dissemination and use of information related to U.S. persons." TALON was reviewed for any material that should not be there. "That review turned up 186 out of 13,000 reports that 'did not meet the criteria or intent of the TALON program,' said a Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Patrick Ryder." Daniel J. Baur, director of the office that runs TALON, told the New York Times that changes were made earlier this year to prevent collection of information on protest groups. "Mr. Baur said that those operating the database had misinterpreted their mandate and that what was intended as an antiterrorist database became, in some respects, a catch-all for leads on possible disruptions and threats against military installations in the United States, including protests against the military presence in Iraq."