Government Surveillance of Religious Expression: Mormons, Quakers, and Muslims in the United States by Kathryn Montalbano (review)

Kathryn Montalbano's Government Surveillance of Religious Expression is a timely contribution to the debate over the role of government surveillance of religious groups, as well as to the multiple questions raised by trying to balance a proactive approach to public safety with protection of traditional American values of freedom of religious belief and safeguarding of personal privacy. Montalbano's work is not advocacy-based, but by bringing historical context to bear on how we look at surveillance of religious groups in America she makes a sorely needed contribution to the issue of surveillance in uncertain times. Given the remarkable advances in technologies of electronic surveillance, the revelations by Edward Snowden and others about secret government use of such technologies, and the post-9/11 spread of Islamophobia, this book is extremely relevant.

Government Surveillance begins by examining the scholarship on, and theoretical approaches to, government surveillance, especially with reference to religion. Throughout the book Montalbano is careful to maintain a balanced perspective that avoids the temptation to move toward a politically-tinged point of view. Following the introductory chapter, separate chapters investigate government surveillance of three religious targets—Mormonism, the Quaker-affiliated American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and Muslims in the New York area immediately after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. In presenting these case studies, Montalbano focuses on three questions: 1) What was the role of the insider or outsider status in the monitoring systems? 2) How did government officials distinguish between religious belief and action? and, 3) How did different cultural environments shape the collection of information?

The heart of the book is contained in the three case study chapters, beginning with the chapter on Mormonism, where Montalbano explores the challenge presented by the Mormon interest in statehood and broader participation in American economy, politics, and culture, along with the government's concern about polygamy. There is limited discussion of actual surveillance in this chapter, but that can perhaps be attributed to the fact that methods of "surveillance" at that time were limited to decidedly low-tech practices such as spies ("spotters") and mail interception. There is, however, extensive and well-documented consideration of the many other issues that were generated by the practice of polygamy: politics, economics, legal issues, media, and the issue of statehood are explored in great detail. Montalbano shows particular interest in how these issues worked their way through the courts, and there is wide-ranging analysis of legal cases generated by the concerns about polygamy. One might say that this chapter ends up being less about actual surveillance and more about the broader concerns of how to address the role of polygamy as Mormons attempted to integrate into American culture and politics.

A common theme running throughout the chapter, to be repeated in the chapters on the AFSC and American Muslims, is the government's inadequate understanding of the Mormon faith. Mormonism through much of the nineteenth century operated an intentionally semi-closed subculture, such that misunderstanding of the tradition by outsiders was understandably widespread. And yet, as would be repeated in many subsequent conflicts between the government and new religious movements, the investigating bodies often seemed negligent in their efforts to understand Mormonism, relying on hearsay, rumor, and second-hand reports from government informants. Nonetheless, Montalbano provides a fair-handed treatment that recognizes that at least some government figures attempted to differentiate between Mormon belief, which was constitutionally protected, and Mormon practices (i.e., polygamy) which violated American law.

In the chapter on government surveillance of the AFSC, Montalbano documents a similar struggle by the government to balance concern over public safety with the constitutionally-protected exercise of religious belief, again marred by an often misinformed understanding of the beliefs of the identified religious group, the Society of Friends, or Quakers. In the case of the AFSC, the FBI's inadequate understanding of the organization was complicated by the AFSC's somewhat...