Madison, Wis., Feb 10, 2010 / 17:33 pm
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted a “threat assessment” of a pro-life and pro-abortion activists before a planned Wisconsin rally last year, yet later admitted that the groups in no way threatened national security.
Although the DHS has since destroyed its copies of the assessment, a local Wisconsin pro-life leader is criticizing the DHS effort as “an attempt by the Obama administration to silence pro-lifers.”
The “threat assessment” was issued by the DHS in Feb. of 2009 when Pro-Life Wisconsin planned a rally to protest the University of Wisconsin's proposition to build a late-term abortion clinic in Madison.
An internal review of the assessment found, however, that it violated intelligence-gathering guidelines. Since the protest groups on both sides of the abortion debate “posed no threat to homeland security,” collecting and sharing information regarding group participants was a breach of protocol, said a 2009 department memo obtained by the Associated Press.