A couple of stories about writers receiving visits from the Secret Service have been getting a lot of attention in the blogosphere, and a lot of people have been wondering if they're real or fake.
The first case involves fanfic writer Annie Sewell-Jennings who posted an entry on her blog in which she satirically prayed that Bush would die. A couple of weeks later, according to her,
"the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case." There's a thread going about this in the
Hoax Message Board, and Annie
posted a follow-up here.
The second case involves an anonymous romance novelist (who refers to herself as Dilyn) who claims that her house was raised by agents from the FBI simply because she checked out some books from the library about Cambodia and the use of land mines there as part of some research she was doing for a novel. An interview with Dilyn appeared in a recent issue of
Romance Writers Report, which isn't online, but the text of the interview has been copied and
can be read here (scroll down to find the post).
Are these cases real? Well, in each case you only have the word of a single person to go on, and since I've never heard of these people before (and 'Dilyn' is even choosing to remain anonymous) I wouldn't place absolute blind faith in what they say. However, what they're saying doesn't seem that outlandish to me either. I know that cases like this have happened before and have been investigated and verified by the media. So I'd vote that the cases are real. But like I said, there's not much evidence here besides their word and your own gut instinct.
Comments
The Secret Service call it a "concerned citizen report," and given how important presidential security it, they must investigate each and every one, even if it's obvious that it's all bullshit. They're extremely polite, and make it clear they're just going through the motions, unless, of course, they think there's something to it, and even then, they're probably very polite.
So the woman's got a file with the Secret Service now. Big deal. So do thousands of other people. And her's most likely says something to the effect of "somebody file a bogus report on her, nothing to it." Does anybody really think that will ever cause her the slightest bit of grief?
In the end, the key thing to remember is that this is a very routine thing that happens, literally, thousands of times a year. Everything about her account rings true for a routine "concerned citizen report," but even if it's real, who cares? It's no different than your neighbor reporting a woman screaming in your house, only to find out she's having great sex with you. A bit embarassing, and you'll end up with "a file" with the local police department, but nobody cares.
"Yes, I need to report that there's someone strange in my yard, and I'm home alone with a baby...so I don't want to go outside and talk to them. Can you send someone out?" My husband says I shouldn't do it, because it's a waste of police power...I say I can do whatever the hell I want, because where the heck is all the police power when I'm driving thru the 30mph zones in the neighborhood while the suburb parents are racing thru [child-filled streets] at 50??
"An old Muslim man living in the US writes a letter to his son who is living in France:
- Dear Son, I hope all is well with you, but I need to ask for your help. I am very old and I can
The Secret Service has to humorlessly track down everything anyone could consider a threat, it's not optional for them, but they're not looking to make something out of nothing (and more work for themselves), they're hoping to cross you off the list.
A library red flag for the FBI? Especially for something as tangential as land mines in Cambodia? Sounds like Patriot Act paranoia. I know of no mechanism in place to make such a thing happen, though I suppose you can never entirely rule out some nutbar librarian calling the FBI on his or her own hook.
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