America, Freedom of Speech, Terrorism, Domestic or Foreign

While I, like most of America, deplore the bombings at the Boston Marathon and the sending of ricin-laden letters to The President and Senator Wicker of Mississippi, the flood of news articles on the bombings and the ricin-laden letters, inadvertently shed a little light on our nation’s tradition of freedom of speech.   Several articles on the pressure cooker bombs made reference to The Anarchist’s Cookbook, a 1971 publication as having directions for the making pressure cooker bombs.  While I have not read the book so I cannot confirm that it is a source of information on producing ricin, the FBI (here) noted that a copy of The Anarchist’s Cookbook tabbed to a page that included, “How to Prepare Ricin” was found in the search of the room of Roger Bergendorff, later convicted of manufacturing ricin.  This piqued my interest as I recall reading news reports of the book in the early 1970’s and was surprised that it had survived the years if that information was included.

So, how is it that a book that included bomb-making and chemical weapons was never banned?  Believe it or not, freedom of speech!  The book, its author, William Powell, it’s publisher, Lyle Stuart, and the hapless gentleman who wrote the book’s preface, were all thoroughly investigated by the FBI and considered for arrest on several charges (see declassified FBI papers on the book).  The FBI, however, does not make determinations of law and asked the office of the Attorney General of the United States (under Nixon!) for an opinion on the legality of the writing, publication, and delivery through the US mail, of the book.  The Assistant Attorney General, Internal Security Division, Robert C. Mardian (page 124 of the FBI papers) determined that there was nothing illegal about the book.  Specifically he wrote in a memo on July 14, 1971:

On the basis of this review we have concluded that the book does not urge “forcible resistance to any law of the United States” as required to constitute a violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1717.  It does not incite “arson, murder, or assassination” as required under 18 U.S.C. Section 1461.  We cannot establish intent, necessary under 18 U.S.C. Section 231, i.e., teaching or demonstrating the use, application or making of firearms, explosives or incendiary device “knowing or having reason to know or intending that the same will be unlawfully employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder which may in any way obstruct, delay, or adversely affect commerce or the performance of any Federal protected function.

In addition in our opinion there is insufficient evidence … that the author or anyone else used the book as a guideline while traveling in interstate commerce with the intent either to incite a riot, or to organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on a riot, or to commit any act of violence in furtherance of a riot in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 2101.  Nor does the material contained in The Cookbook constitute an “advertisement” placed in a publication to promote the use of wire or oral intercepting device, as prohibited by 18 U.S.C. Section 841-842, covering the importation, manufacturing,  distribution, and storage of explosives materials, have not been violated, inasmuch as the author does not offer to manufacture the explosive device himself although he does submit for consideration recipes for nearly every type of explosive mentioned in the statute.

For these reasons we have concluded that no further action is in order at this time with reference to The Anarchist Cookbook itself or its author.

Wikipedia reports that The Anarchist’s Cookbook was dropped from publication in 1991 but an FBI memo noted that a disk was available as late as 1999 (page 135 of the declassified FBI papers).  I wonder whether William Powell and Lyle Stuart would have gotten a pass given the various laws passed by congress after 9/11.  Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, signed by President Obama in 2011 and affirming many provisions initially signed into law by President Bush, might be construed as authority to detain the author and publisher today for directly supporting hostilities by Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or other forces engaged in hostilities against the United States.  See page 266 of Public Law 112-81 (here).  Well, Lyle Stuart's company was purchased in 1999 and William Powell is still among the free.  Perhaps the new laws are not as broad as one would think.

So what does this say?  We are the United States.  We guarantee our citizens freedom of speech.  While we sometimes stumble in or laws (think of indefinite detention of US Citizens), our culture believes in individual freedoms, like freedom of speech, and our legal experts, our courts, and our police operate within strict confines and respect those rights.  We apparently allow publication of books like The Anarchist's Cookbook under the guise of free speech.  I don't know if my belief in free speech would extend to publication of such a book but even Nixon's office of The Attorney General gave it a pass when it was published.  While I might not be opposed to blocking the book's publication, I would not like to see the author or publisher indefinitely detained.

As we seek more security in the days ahead, there will likely be more calls for legislation to prevent such incidents as the Boston bombings, etc.  Hopefully we will all step back and think of the implications before making any new law.