As stated in an article about documents leaked to and by the Intercept about militarized security firm TigerSwan surveilling DAPL protesters, the firm reportedly worked with law enforcement in five different states in order to monitor protesters. The Intercept article said that the documents were prepared by the firm's operatives in Texas, South and north dakota, Iowa and Illinois from September 2016 until as recently as this month. According to the S article linked above, TigerSwan was hired by Energy Transfers Partners, the Texas-based company that is constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) that the Standing Rock Sioux tribe protested against.
TigerSwan coordinated with intelligence authorities
The leaked documents revealed daily summaries from surveilling the pipeline protesters, the information protesters a.k.a water-protectors shared on social media and the planning of other protests to come. They also show that the firm even went as far as to infiltrate the camp sites posing as protesters. TigerSwan did not comment about the information obtained and the Texas-based pipeline company refused to provide details when the Intercept asked for them.
Even more, the firm also stayed in communication and shared intelligence with Session's Justice Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the FBI, Homeland Security, Marshals and state police who the documents referred to as the "Intel Group".
The North Dakota Attorney General's office was also involved and when the Intercept reached out to them, they also refused to comment on the details. The documents revealed that the firm kept a "persons of interest" list, with photographs and license plate numbers. If that wasn't enough, TigerSwan also reportedly infiltrated social media where they distributed content from a campaign they created designed to be critical of the protesters.
Trump-era aggression against protesters
During the Trump campaign, similar content created by Russian state media that was critical of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton also flooded social media much like the militarized Security firm did. TigerSwan's efforts to do this show that they had no limits as to what tactics they would employ against -- as the mentioned Blasting News article referred to the movement that they compare to "jihadists." And while this is a more concentrated commitment and confirmation of a militarized force that uses tactics to go after its own citizens, there are already signs of this kind of effort taking place with criticism from President Trump against all who oppose him, especially protesters. With an empowered and militarized operation like TigerSwan, there's no doubt that it won't end with the DAPL protests.
