In response to the “Freedom of Information Act”, the Department of Defense has admitted to conducting surveillance of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and anti-war protests at universities across the country. The DOD documents suggest that the surveillance may have been part of an undercover Pentagon operation targeting domestic terrorist activity.

“Surveillance of private citizens must stop,” said C. Dixon Osburn, the executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “It is the suppression of our constitutional rights, and not the practice of them, that undermines our national security. It is patently absurd that this administration has linked sexual orientation with terrorism.” "Americans are guaranteed a fundamental right to free speech and free expression, and our country's leaders should never be allowed to undermine those freedoms."

According to the agency documents, e-mails sent by various student groups were intercepted and monitored by the government. None of the reports in the documentation, however, indicated any terrorist activity (suspected or otherwise) by the monitored students.