Responding to reports that security officials within the Obama Administration held meetings with local authorities that led to a brutal national police crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street protests - including flagrant violations of freedom of the press -  the Green Party’s Jill Stein called for a full investigation of the federal role. She urged that new federal guidelines be established to "prevent the lethal power of post-9/11 militarized security from being turned against the American people."
 
According to news reports, officials of the FBI and Homeland Security Agency advised mayors and other municipal officials regarding the use of harsh, military-style techniques against people in the OWS encampments. The Federal officials reportedly tutored the municipal officials on ways to find legal excuses for closing down the encampments, on the use of riot police and advanced weaponry, and on techniques for interfering with press coverage of the evictions.
 
Stein, who is seeking the Green Party nomination for President of the United States, issued the following statement:
 
“Militarization of crowd control and the employment of brutal tactics against unarmed civilians and press are strategies worthy of dictators, not representative government. These actions violate the constitutional right of citizens to assemble freely, speak freely, and be informed by a free press. In combination with the Patriot Act, these policies seriously threaten civil liberties that are the beating heart of American democracy"