On February 2, Terrell and two other Des Moines peace activists, Patti McKee and Elton Davis, were served subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury. An officer with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force also served a subpoena to Wendy Vasquez, a clerical worker in Des Moines. The four activists said they had been ordered to testify in federal court on February 10 about documents described only as concerning a “possible violation of federal law.”

The government’s investigation drew nationwide opposition from civil liberties supporters. Speakers at the rally of 150 announced that federal authorities were also withdrawing grand jury subpoenas against Drake University officials. The same day, a federal judge lifted a gag order on Drake University officials, who had been ordered not to discuss the police inquiry into a November 15 meeting of antiwar activists held on campus. Federal authorities had asked for records of the campus chapter of the National Lawyers Guild—which hosted the antiwar conference—and for information campus police had on the gathering.

The day before the rally, the U.S. attorney in Des Moines, Stephen Patrick O’Meara, acknowledged that a secret grand jury investigation was underway. Denying that it was in any way related to “terrorism,” O’Meara said the investigation, involved an alleged attempt to enter the fenced, secure perimeter at Camp Dodge, the home of the Iowa National Guard. Federal authorities said the grand jury questioning of peace activists was focused on whether a “prior agreement to violate federal law” was hatched at the November 15 conference.

The day after the conference—called “Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!”—activists went to the Iowa National Guard headquarters at Camp Dodge, a few miles north of Des Moines, where 12 people were arrested for trespassing. Ben Stone, executive director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, also voiced skepticism at O’Meara’s explanation. “If this was just a trespassing investigation, then why seek the records of the National Lawyers Guild?” he asked those at the rally.

According to the Des Moines Register, federal officials declined to say why they asked the grand jury to quash the subpoenas. Alvin Overbaugh, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Des Moines, declined to comment Tuesday, other than to say the moves didn’t necessarily signal that the investigation had ended.

Judy Lowe, representing Iowa Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told those at the rally to “stand up for your beliefs, your rights, and continue the fight.” Two Des Moines police detectives videotaped the event from a hotel room across from the federal building. According to the Register, “detectives said they were told to monitor the event ‘in case someone caused problems.’”

Organizers of the rally invited supporters of the peace activists arrested for trespassing to attend their trial, which begins March 22 in Des Moines.  
 
 
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