The Bush administration responded to the Sept. 11th, 2001 attacks by pushing the Patriot Act and other legislation through congress to fight terrorism. His agenda was backed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373. and the economic and military power of our country. (Res. 1373 pdf file) Other countries joined our country and soon the combined efforts of the “Coalition” brought about an unprecedented suppression of civil rights and liberties.
We are sacrificing our privacy and freedoms for the cause of National Security while our President demands extraordinary powers (see post here) The legal protections that are essential to our democratic society; due process, presumption of innocence and rights against unreasonable search and seizure, arbitrary detention and punishment, interception of personal communications without warrant are being ignored. (example link to for each) Infrastructures for strategic mass surveillance and dissemination of propaganda are in place to support governmental agendas. (See Govt. pdf docs: Information Operations Roadmap, Information Operations: Doctrine, Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures)
InfraGuard is Federal Bureau of Investigation program “that began in the Cleveland Field Office in 1996. It was a local effort to gain support from the information technology industry and academia for the FBI’s investigative efforts in the cyber arena. The program expanded to other FBI Field Offices, and in 1998 the FBI assigned national program responsibility for InfraGuard to the former National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) and to the Cyber Division in 2003. InfraGard and the FBI have developed a relationship of trust and credibility in the exchange of information concerning various terrorism, intelligence, criminal, and security matters.” Info Businesses are surrendering their databases to government agencies. Among them are commercial airlines, Universities, driving schools, Double Click, and Choice Point. Major Internet companies have started to deal with this problem also.
CALEA gives law enforcement officials a back door that can be used to wiretap systems. Read my previous post on this subject here.
In Orwell’s 1984 Four, the hero says:
“It was inconceivable that they watched
everybody all the time. But at any rate,
they could plug in your wire whenever
they wanted to. You had to live – did
live from the habit that became instinct
– in the assumption that every sound
you made was overheard.”
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949 (London,
Penguin Classics: 2000), p. 5.
In its May 2004 report on federal data mining efforts, Federal Efforts Cover a Wide Range of Uses, GAO-04-548,May 2004. . The U.S. General Accounting Office(now called the Government Accountability Office) revealed projects that use personal information from the private sector. The Defense Intelligence Agency, mines data “to identify foreign terrorists or U.S. citizens connected to foreign terrorism activities”. The National Security Agency program called Novel Intelligence from Massive Data, extracts information from databases including text, audio, video, graphs, images, maps, equations, and chemical formulas. The C.I.A. reportedly has a data-mining program called “Quantum Leap” which “enables an analyst to get quick access to all the information available – classified and unclassified – about virtually anyone”.
“Are we beginning, as a society to accept inhumane and extraordinary practices of social control? The majority of American’s have become apathetic and sheepishly have accepted the infringements of their rights and the rights of others. If you are not with us your against us. If you have nothing to hide, why worry. A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage.”
–Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (1742-1813) Scottish historian
During the Cold War, which at times felt like a real existential threat because both the US and Soviet Union had huge arsenals of nuclear weapons, both Republicans and Democrats would have fought much of what Bush has been doing. Of course, there was fear-mongering during the McCarthy era but we eventually overcame that.
In this era, slowly, more slowly than I wish it were happening, Americans are coming around.
You have some excellent material here. I need to come back and look more at what you have on GAO/NSA related material. I fear the Bush Administration wants more in the way of intelligence than most Americans realize. And most Americans have no idea how easy it is to abuse such intelligence. Or how much better the technology is becoming. If you’ll excuse the tautology, without limits, there are no limits on what can be gathered. I wish more were writing on this stuff. Glenn Greenwald of Unclaimed Territory has done a certain amount. The Anonymous Liberal has also done a certain amount. A major contributor as a reporter is Jason Leopold who can be found at Truthout.
Well, as my writer friends say, onward!
The apathy of American’s is a concern. Perhaps repetition is the key. Many members of our society have not been provided with an education inclusive of logical thinking or an un-political corrected history class. Technology advances so fast it is hard to keep up with it. I remember when Pong was in and my calculator (basic add, subtract, mutlt, div) I recieved for Christmas was the hot item in my mathematics class. But, I remember being laughed at in grade school when I gave a little class presentation on space travel . . .
I digress..
Have you read the Jan 27 Data Mining and Homeland Security Report to Congress yet?
Thank you for your comments. I always wonder if anyone reads this blog.
I just stumbled upon your site as a blog-scanning novice via another blog (Sabbah’s, a guilty pleasure), and I find it lucid and seemingly well informed. But still, don’t you think some of your basic claims are overstated. What, for instance, is the “unprecedented suppression of civil rights and liberties?” I was under the impression that Lincoln suspended the right of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War; Adams invoked the Sedition Act; Roosevelt, in a moment of doubt and internal conflict impossible to judge meaningfully in hindsight, approved of the Japanese-American detentions. I don’t necessarily approve of any of these lapses in Liberty, but the historical context seems somehow important in light of your claims. In other words, maybe the sky isn’t really falling. More specifically, are the wiretaps and data mining really a bad thing or is the circumvention of Congress the true evil? It seems to me that data mining and focused taps are simply a necessary and appropriate tool to combat terrorism as its currently waged. Certainly, Congress needs to authorize these methods, and the Administration has grossly stretched the plain meaning of “use of force” (it makes Clinton’s understanding of “sexual relations” seem far less contrived). At this point, however, the checks and tension between the branches are very much in play, aren’t they?
Joachim,The last time I believed the sky was falling was under a desk practicing duck and cover drills. The use of wire taps, data mining – new technologies to gather information on citizens is unprecedented- although I will give you this one. Lincoln did and the Supreme Court decision – it was an unconstitutional Act. Did a registration system not assist in the detention of Japanese – Americans? Historically this country has a record of Presidential over extending their powers and mass fear of the “them” of the times. The present administrations by pass of the checks and balances, disregard for the Conventions of War outlined in Geneva, among other less obvious infringements, is at the core of my concerns. The proverbial “can of worms” has been opened, modern technology is being used to invade my privacy, and I doubt that the lid will be placed back on the can in the near future. Homeland Security abuse stories are referred to in mass media and blogs. I am not political science educated nor do I claim any vast knowledge in the field of government. I do know enough to check sources for fact. I enjoy questioning, forming my own opinions, and sometimes sharing them. I have noticed that source information is harder and harder to verify – a lot of 404 error pages now. I started this blog to help a computer illiterate friend start one. My web site was just sitting there untouched. I hit delete and here I am. Blogging is a positive use of new technology. Reading my email is not.
I strongly believe that sitting around complaining about wire taps, NEERS, ICAO biometrics requirements, CALEA, The Patriot Act, the NSA, CIA, or FBI, etc. is pointless if no one listens. It does bother me that after visiting certain government web sites my traffic tracker shows offices within the State Department have stopped by. I wonder if it a calling card. Even I have spy ware LOL –. My roommates think I have “turned conspiracy paranoid” – maybe J
Thank you for listening.