The FBI has responded to a FOIA that I had submitted for records pertaining to the Aspen Institute and released a small, 20-page file on the group. Those hoping for dirt on the Koch Brothers will be disappointed, the records deal with two separate protests directed against the organization. One lead by the US Labor Party and its minions in the National Caucus of Labor Committees (both of which were vehicles for the personal ambition of Lyndon LaRouche) which are described by in the FBI file as being “ a violent-oriented Marxist revolutionary organization, which aims to replace democracy in the U.S., with a Communist form of government,” and a smaller protest directed against the Aspen Institute in 2000.
The first protest was directed by the USLP and its NCLC wing against an Aspen Institute conference that was hosted at the Wye Plantation in Queenstown, MD in February 1979. The conference was an American-British affair supported by US State Department, which the files shows, provided security, titled, “Issues of Governance in Public Broadcasting.” The meeting featured senior figures in British and American public television. The investigation began after a member of the USPL or NCLC was caught trying to pass themselves off as a member of the Hudson Institute with orders to “pull together a dossier on the US Labor Party.” After some comparing of notes by those he contacted and those the USPL member claimed ordered his work, it was revealed that this individual was not a member of the Hudson Institute. The file is not clear, but it appears at this time that the FBI was involved. The FBI assembled a Teletype on the matter, but appears to have taken no further action.
The second protest monitored was the 8/19/2000 protest against the Aspen Institute during their 50th anniversary celebrations. There is frankly very little of interest here except the fact law enforcement seemed shocked that the protesters were shocked to be on the receiving end of polite, respectful law enforcement behavior and that the Direct Action Network was targeted by the FBI.
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