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Durham anti-war activist got FBI visit amid raids

FBI agents visited a North Carolina anti-war activist at his home in Durham last week around the same time authorities were searching eight locations in Minneapolis and Chicago.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — FBI agents visited a North Carolina anti-war activist at his home in Durham last week around the same time authorities were searching eight locations in Minneapolis and Chicago.

Kosta Harlan said Monday that the agents tried to question him for about 10 minutes Friday about an ongoing terrorism investigation. Harlan says he refused to answer questions without speaking with an attorney.

Warrants from last week’s raids in Chicago and Minneapolis suggested agents were looking for links between anti-war activists and terrorist groups in Colombia and the Middle East.

"They said they had a lot of information about me and that they wanted to question me for an ongoing terrorism investigation," Harlan said Monday. "I told them I had nothing to say to them without a lawyer, but they continued to try and question me."

The 26-year-old has been involved in anti-war and social justice protests for years. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed the visit but declined to discuss details.

"The effect of what could come out of these FBI raids is a silencing of the anti-war movement," Harlan said. "We are not going to be silent. We are not going to be intimidated."

He declined to discuss what questions the agents asked.

FBI agents also drove by his home and parked across the street after the Friday meeting, Harlan said, and they also tried to talk to another activist after he met with that unidentified person.

"Having federal agents show up out of the blue one morning wanting to talk about a terrorism investigation is a very stressful event for me and my family," he said, noting he has been caring for a sick family member for more than a year.

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