Key Facts – Why This Matters
32 years under FBI Non-Investigative Subject (NIS) surveillance — no charges, no trial.
Designation began after 1993 FBI “Nathan R.” interview during Unabomber investigation.
Targeting includes known individuals from my personal & professional life, linking federal actions to identifiable actors.
NIS program quietly impacts thousands of Americans, hidden under “patterns and practices” claims.
Over 20 FOIA requests filed, 55+ exhibits prepared — legal action ready.
Goal: Subpoena and depose those involved, compel disclosure, and expose this covert system.
Your support funds FOIA fees, filing costs, and legal representation to take this case to court.
My name is Nathan R. Brown. For 32 years, I believe the FBI has kept me on a hidden watchlist, without charges, trial, or due process.
It started in 1993 with an interview during the Unabomber investigation. It continues today.
I have filed over 20 FOIA requests, reached out to DOJ, and been stonewalled at every turn.
Now I am taking this fight to court and I need your help to get there.
In 1993, during the height of the Unabomber investigation, I was interviewed by the FBI as part of the “Nathan R.” lead. At the time, I lived in the Washington, D.C. area in close proximity to multiple federal law enforcement personnel and their families. I literally grew up surrounded by the families of FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and other agencies.
Evidence suggests that interview was used as the pretext to place me on a federal Non-Investigative Subject (NIS) list, an official category used to flag individuals who are not the subject of an open case, yet remain tracked, monitored, and have their information shared between agencies for decades.
Being on the NIS list has meant:
Phony or staged “investigations” to justify keeping me in the system, often through fake or manipulated employment situations.
Quiet Skies style travel monitoring, being pulled from airport lines and flagged during flights, followed during travel.
Routine scrutiny in daily life without explanation.
Long-term reputational damage and hidden barriers in employment, housing, and community life.
The targeting intensified as I became more vocal about my atheist beliefs, adding a clear First Amendment dimension to the surveillance and interference.
Since the early 2000s, I have lived with the constant awareness, and often the certainty, that I was under surveillance. Likely triggered by post-9/11 expansions of federal monitoring, this suspicion causes a chilling effect that affects daily life. You begin to weigh every email, phone call, or conversation, knowing that even innocent words can be taken out of context and used against you.
It changes how you speak, write, travel, how you communicate and who you communicate with, and even think, not because you have done anything wrong, but because you know your words and actions may be observed, recorded, and misinterpreted without your knowledge or recourse.
Once tagged, the scrutiny did not stay within the FBI. Other federal agencies and entities, including the U.S. Secret Service, have become involved over time, often sharing or amplifying information from the original designation.
This is a pattern known as scope creep, where once one agency puts you in the system, others can access, adopt, and expand the targeting without new cause or oversight.
Many of the individuals involved are known to me personally through past personal and professional connections. This is not an anonymous, faceless system. It includes people I have met, worked with, and interacted with in my community. Their direct involvement makes the targeting both more deliberate and more revealing, because it connects institutional actions to identifiable actors.
For over thirty years, and continuing today, I have lived under ongoing unauthorized surveillance, without charges, trial, or any lawful way to challenge the designation.
One compelling indicator: although allegedly over 10,000 “Nathan R.” individuals were interviewed (after investigators had reportedly gone through all surnames and moved on to “R” as the middle initial) there are zero first-person public accounts anywhere on Facebook, Reddit, or other major platforms from anyone connected to the “Nathan R.” lead, not even casual “you won’t believe what happened to me” posts.
The odds of that occurring naturally are almost impossible.
If others were interviewed, their absence from the public record suggests either:
1 - Deliberate suppression and control over what stories can surface.
or
2 - If no one else was interviewed, as I suspect, then my inclusion was exceptional and likely a pretext for long-term monitoring. (If the FBI produces another “Nathan R.”, it should be viewed with skepticism.)
In June 2019, I formally reached out to the Federal Department of Justice and ten other agencies, including the FBI, with an account of the targeting and the records I sought. My outreach was met with silence, ignored where answers were due, and soon after a career move delayed resolution.
I recently learned that 2019 employment was with a company owned by an individual directly tied to the federal intelligence community and hiring me was a move referred to internally as 'redirection', a way to silence whistleblowers. A repeated pattern in my work history.
It became clear that legal action was the only remaining path forward.
The Fight for Accountability
This year, I have filed over 20 FOIA requests to agencies including the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA, DOJ, and DHS. In preparation for litigation, I have already drafted over 55 detailed exhibits documenting the timeline, events, and supporting evidence.
These exhibits, combined with subpoenas and discovery, could expose a completely hidden world of inter-agency targeting, fake investigations, and scope creep that most Americans do not even know exists.
Accountability is possible. While some federal employees may attempt to hide behind sovereign immunity, many of the individuals and contractors involved have no such protection. They can be compelled to testify, produce records, and answer under oath.
This case is designed not only to challenge agencies but also to reach the people and entities behind the actions and use discovery to pull their operations into the light.
This case is not just about me. Based on my research and documentation, I am convinced that thousands of Americans are being targeted under the same unconstitutional NIS program.
Often, the targeting centers around religious beliefs: punishing dissent or enforcing ideological conformity.
Federal agencies shield it by labeling it as “patterns and practices” work, masking what is in reality an unregulated and unchallengeable watchlisting system. By challenging my own designation, this case seeks to open the door for others and expose how this hidden program operates nationwide.
This case raises serious concerns about public accountability, potential misconduct, and possible corruption, along with violations of First Amendment rights including free speech and transparency, and Fifth Amendment protections including due process. These constitutional issues affect everyone who values accountable and fair government.
Recent headlines show the FBI “cleaning house” in high-profile cases, including terminations tied to judgment and conduct concerns. While those actions suggest movement toward accountability in some areas, my case reflects the other side of the coin, decades-long unauthorized targeting that remains untouched, unacknowledged, and unresolved.
Experts Needed
To prove this case in court, I will need specialized experts, including:
Trauma & Psychological Abuse – to document the long-term impact of harassment and coercive control.
Whistleblower Retaliation – to explain how covert tactics are used when people expose misconduct.
Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) – to interpret the symbolic targeting patterns in light of military doctrine.
Surveillance & Privacy – to establish how watchlists and secret monitoring systems operate.
These experts will validate the evidence, connect the dots, and make the hidden visible. Their testimony is essential to exposing a covert system of punishment without due process.
If you know respected professionals in these fields, please reach out with recommendations. Your input can directly strengthen this case.
Funding Goals
$5,000 — FOIA request fees & document retrieval
$15,000 — Court filing + essential litigation costs
$30,000+ — Full legal campaign through discovery
My Promise
Updates shared whenever legally safe
100% of funds to move legal case forward
If successful & able, I’ll “pay it forward” to others
📜 Help expose this system of injustice. Every day, the public learns more about corruption inside these federal institutions and how easily individual rights can be ignored. Every contribution moves this fight closer to daylight.
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Finally, if you are media, attorney, or someone who has any information that could help me win this battle, please contact me directly. nbrown@mailfence.com. I will respond. If I don't respond it means your mail got filtered before it got to me.