Federal Spying Campaign Targets Leftist Activists in Minnesota

The investigation, detailed by Wired, centers on the prosecution of the 'Minnesota 15,' a group of activists from Direct Action Minnesota and Black Cat Workers. These individuals face federal conspiracy charges for resisting Operation Metro Surge, a controversial ICE crackdown in Minneapolis. The city has recently seen violent confrontations between federal agents and civilians, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and the non-fatal shooting of Julio César Sosa-Celis.

Evidence from court records links these prosecutions to two specific initiatives: Operation Puppet Master and Project Whipple Shield. These efforts, authorized under National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), utilized more than 120 Homeland Security Investigations agents. At least 11 undercover operatives infiltrated private activist meetings and encrypted communications. Mike German, a retired FBI agent, noted that the scale of the surveillance—which dwarfs historical CIA efforts against anti-war movements—signals a return to the intelligence strategies used by J. Edgar Hoover to suppress political dissent during the 1960s.