Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Let the CIA tell you why you need to be worried about your civil rights - one day only

Mid-Missouri will be graced today with two public talks by Ray McGovern, former CIA Analyst & renowned dissident. Attend either or them in Fulton & Columbia April 1 and hear him speak at Whiteman Air Force Base on Sunday April 6 during an anti-drone demonstration. Here are details... 
--The former intelligence analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) will be speaking at 7:30 p.m., TODAY April 1, in Rm. 204 of Strickland Hall (formerly the General Classroom Buidling on Rollins St.) on the MU Campus. The topic of his talk will be “Is NSA Short for ‘No Such Amendment?’ –Why We Should Care about the Bill of Rights.”  He will discuss civil liberties, whistleblowing, the National Security Administration and other elements of the surveillance state.
 
--McGovern will also speak at Tuesday, April 1 at 4:00 pm in Fulton MO on a similar topic in the Model Courtroom, Lower Level of the Burton Building (enter through building’s back entrance, from parking lot) on the William Woods University campus 
 
--At 2:00 pm, Sunday, April 6,  McGovern will again speak in a “Ground the Drones” peace demonstration at Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Noster MO. The base is one of several US facilities from where drones are targeted to attack various countries.  Brian Terrell, co-coordinator of Creative Voices for Nonviolence, who spent six months in prison for trespassing at the base last year during a drone protest, will also speak.  
 
Meet at 11:50 am for car-pooling from Columbia to Whiteman, in front of the Peace Nook, downtown at 804 E. Broadway.

A CIA analyst for 27 years, Ray McGovern’s duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the Daily Brief for then-President George H.W. Bush. He briefed one on one to President Ronald Reagan’s most senior national security advisers from 1981-85. McGovern received the CIA Intelligence Commendation Medal but returned the award years later on moral grounds. He helped form Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) in January 2003, to expose the way intelligence was being falsified to justify the war in Iraq.  

Additionally, he helped form the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (named after McGovern’s colleague at the CIA). McGovern and several other former intelligence officials went to Russia in October to honor Edward Snowden with the Sam Adams Award.

The mid-Missouri segment of his three-state tour is sponsored by MU Peace Studies, William Woods University’s Department of Legal Studies, Peaceworks, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Veterans for Peace and the full Mid-Missouri Peace Coalition. For info, contact 573-499-4585 or 573-875-0539. 

Hopefully, you’ll be able to attend any or a few of the events. My apologies if this is the first (quite late) word you’ve seen of the events. 

In solidarity, for peace with dignity and justice,
Jeff Stack
Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation
573-449-4585