Newly revealed documents show the FBI monitored the Occupy Wall Street movement from its inception last year. Internal government records show Occupy was treated as a potential terrorism threat when organizing first began in August of 2011. Counterterrorism agents were used to track Occupy activities despite the internal acknowledgment that the movement opposed violent tactics. The monitoring expanded across the country as Occupy grew into a national movement, with FBI agents sharing information with businesses, local police agencies and universities. One FBI memo warned that Occupy could prove to be an “outlet” through which activists could exploit “general government dissatisfaction.” Although the documents provide no clear evidence of government infiltration, they do suggest the FBI used information from local law enforcement agencies gathered by someone observing Occupy activists on the ground. In a statement, the group that obtained the documents, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, said they show that federal law enforcement agencies are “treating protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity.”