A new report reveals how corporations use ex-U.S. intelligence agents to spy on environmental, anti-war, consumer safety and other kinds of nonprofit groups they regard as potential threats.

According to the report by Essential Information, a project of the Center for Corporate Policy, the enterprises ordering the spying include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Bank of America, Dow Chemical, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Burger King, McDonald’s, Shell and BP. The report says they use former CIA, NSA and FBI agents to conduct private surveillance work, which is often illegal but almost never prosecuted.

“Democracy Now!” got the story Monday from Gary Ruskin, director of the Center for Corporate Policy and author of the report “Spooky Business: Corporate Espionage Against Nonprofit Organizations.”

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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