Beware of Users of Secret Little Lists

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While Boyle said there was no list, he readily admitted the department maintains "intelligence files" of people "who meet criteria set out in federal regulations," which sounds suspiciously like a list with additional details.

Boyle wouldn’t say if Krayeske, who was campaign manager for the Green Party’s candidate for governor last year, met those federal criteria or was in the department’s file. As a campaign manager for a minor candidate receiving little attention, Krayeske was loud, in your face and, some would say, obnoxious, in the interests of his man. None of this, however, constituted subversive activity.

If being obnoxious and in your face in a campaign meets federal criteria, the cops should have also been given photos of Nancy Johnson before the parade.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with intelligence organizations maintaining files of potential terrorists, assassins, spies, saboteurs and other assorted evildoers. It’s how they determine who merits being placed in a file and, more critically, how they use these files.

In his long reign of terror as head of the FBI, the late J. Edgar Hoover had his own not-so-little list of everybody who was anybody and used the information to blackmail presidents, civil rights leaders and others inimical to his way of life.

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Since 9/11, Connecticut and 36 other states have established their versions of the federal Department of Homeland Security. The state agency’s intelligence arm is the Connecticut Intelligence Center, which operates out of the FBI office in New Haven and includes federal, state and local law enforcers working together "to develop leads and solve cases," according to the department’s Web site.

The Intelligence Center has a 24/7 telephone tip line and publishes weekly intelligence bulletins for police departments and other agencies concerned with security. Even if the Intelligence Center staff is as sharp as the CIA — no sarcasm intended — it unfortunately has little control over how its shared intelligence is used.

And that lack of control may explain how Hartford cops, not all of them finely honed intelligence operatives, concluded a photographer, riding up to a parade on his bicycle, posed a threat to the governor of Connecticut.

"We observed the accused suddenly ride his mountain bike at a high rate of speed to the parade route," Nancy Mulroy, police department spokeswoman, explained. "It’s unfortunate, but in today’s world, post 9/11, security is a very serious matter and we err on the side of caution. If someone is behaving in an erratic fashion, they can expect the attention of law enforcement."

Indeed, if we learned nothing else from 9/11, it is to be ever watchful lest suspected terrorists pedal their mountain bikes "at a high rate of speed" alongside a parade.