The New York Times, Democracy Now, Indymedia and several other sources are reporting that Brandon Darby, of Austin, TX has outed himself as an FBI informant.  Darby was most recently involved in the Republican National Convention last year and worked with the FBI to identify people that were planning on "violent" activity during the convention.  Darby got his start in the activist community working with Common Grounds after Hurricane Katrina.  From the New York times article:

In a telephone interview, Mr. Darby said that he had provided information leading to the arrest of Mr. Crowder and Mr. McKay, and that he planned to testify at their trial.

Mr. Darby would not provide details about his undercover activities, but said he had also worked as an informant in cases not involving the convention. He defended his decision to work with the F.B.I. as “a good moral way to use my time,” saying he wanted to prevent violence during the convention at the Xcel Energy Center.

Documents that activists said were given to defense lawyers by the prosecution and printed on F.B.I. letterhead indicated that an informant — now identified as Mr. Darby — carried out a thorough surveillance operation that dated back to at least 18 months before the Republican gathering. He first met Mr. Crowder and Mr. McKay in Austin six months before the convention.

Mr. Darby provided descriptions of meetings with the defendants and dozens of other people in Austin, Minneapolis and St. Paul. He wore recording devices at times, including a transmitter embedded in his belt during the convention. He also went to Minnesota with Mr. Crowder four months before the Republican gathering and gave detailed narratives to law enforcement authorities of several meetings they had with activists from New York, San Francisco, Montana and other places.

One of his last conversations with Mr. McKay ended in an alley in Minneapolis, according to court documents, with Mr. Darby recording Mr. McKay talking about plans to use Molotov cocktails."

This whole case raises some tough questions, how can we secure our own communities when even someone who is heavily involved in the activist community may decide to turn sides and become an FBI informant.  Darby was not someone like Anna, who came into the activist movement just to snitch, Darby was an established activist who decided one day to side with the FBI.  This must necessarily make us re-evaluate our security protocols and our levels of trust.