From Frogs to Immigration, How the Secret Service Kept Tabs on Peaceful Protests

In 2011, no protest was too small.

by JPat Brown July 27, 2016

A version of this story originally appeared on Muckrock.com.

A 2011 FOIA request by Jason Smathers led to the release of a little over a week’s worth of the reports from the Secret Service’s Protective Research Information System Management system (PRISM, but a different PRISM than the one Snowden was talking about) regarding demonstrations.

Though the time period is fairly narrow, the variety of demonstrations is nevertheless impressive, from legalization of marijuana …

to immigration reform …

to AIDS treatment …

to the Iranian government …

and, finally, frog extinction, helpfully labeled under the keywords “Environment/Animal Rights.”

Interestingly enough, the demonstrations apparently didn’t have to involve the POTUS directly. A follow-up request specifically requesting all PRISM briefings mentioning “Anonymous” only yielded one result regarding Occupy Wall Street.

Read the full release here.