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PEN USA’s First Amendment Action Committee is deeply disturbed with the continuing incursions of the U.S. Secret Service, which in several instances has ventured beyond its mandate to protect officials and has instead engaged in political intimidation.

In at least three cases, the Secret Service has used it mandate to protect the President and others to target individuals who have peacefully expressed their political views, a practice with dangerous implications for both free expression and effective democracy. In another case, the Secret Service subpoenaed Calyx Internet Access over publication of personal information about GOP convention delegates on a website, a practice that the American Civil Liberties Union has derided as an infringement on the freedom of speech of political dissidents.

In April of this year, the Secret Service interviewed an unidentified 15-year-old Prosser High School WA) student regarding some anti-war drawings he created in art class. The drawing in question was created using pen and ink, and portrayed a man wielding a rifle who appeared to be wearing Middle-Eastern styled clothing. The man in the drawing was holding an oversized depiction pf President Bush’s head on a stick. According to Kevin Cravens, a friend of the boy’s family, the sketch was part of an assignment to keep a notebook of drawings. The boy explained to Cravens that the oversized head was intended to depict an effigy, and that the picture’s caption called for an end to the war in Iraq. The student was neither arrested nor suspended, but he was apparently “disciplined.” School officials refused to reveal the punishment. Kevin Cravens, a friend of the boy’s family said: “If this 15-year-old kid in Prosser is perceived as a threat to the president, then we are living in 1984.”

In another case, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist was visited by the Secret Service because of a political cartoon he created. Michael Ramirez’s cartoon depicted George W. Bush standing in front of sign that said “Iraq,” while a fatigue-clad man labeled “politics” pointed a gun at his head. According to Ramirez, the cartoon was modeled after a famous Vietnam-War era photograph depicting a Vietnamese General shooting a suspected member of the Vietcong. It was intended to represent Mr. Bush as a victim of political assassination over the issue of Iraq. Rep. Christopher Cox, a California Republican, has called for an apology, stating that the usage of “federal power to attempt to influence the work of an editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times reflects profoundly poor judgment.”

At the beginning of this month, a 19-year old man was visited by two Secret Service agents because of an image he had taped to his vehicle. The picture, a black-and-white cartoon depiction of George W. Bush, had the caption “King George—Off With His head.” The man was interviewed for over an hour about the picture, which is easily accessible off the internet, and asked if he had terrorist affiliations or a fascination with assassinations.

Following the Republican National Convention, the Secret Service issued a subpoena to Calyx Internet Access—the probe is directed at possible criminal violations of a law that prohibits voter intimidation. Federal authorities have subpoenaed Calyx seeking to learn the Internet address of the person who created a spreadsheet on Aug. 18 that contained the names of about 1,600 delegates, along with their home addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses and the hotels at which they are staying in New York City. First Amendment organizations and activists, including the American Civil Liberties union, have cried foul, lamenting that this is an obvious incursion into the realm of free speech and legitimate political dissidence. Matt Toups, a systems administrator for the site, said the Secret Service and the U.S. attorney’s office, which requested the grand jury subpoena, are trying “to put heat on people who are involved in dissent.” He argued that the posting was useful as protestors “should know more about who the delegates are so they can engage in picketing or letter writing.”

The preceding examples are chilling depiction of the politization of the Secret Service, which is intended to protect the President’s life, not his image. These individuals were obviously expressing their political opinions peacefully, and it is preposterous to assume that every American critical of Mr. Bush is intent on murdering him. The Secret Service cannot be used for the purposes of political intimidation. This is an unwarranted, undemocratic practice that will have dire consequences if left untrammeled.

Stephen Rohde, Vice President of PEN USA’s Freedom to Write program and a First Amendment lawyer said, “There is a deeply disturbing theme that runs through all these cases: a powerful arm of government is coming down on people who are questioning those in public office. There is a legitimate role for the Secret Service to play, but part of it is not to intimidate people who are exercising their First Amendment rights. Visits from security officers of the government would intimidate the best of us. They mark other places and other times when people were not safe from those in power. That should not be happening in America.”