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Title: An American Stasi?
Source:
The Freeman Online
URL Source: http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/an-american-stasi/
Published: Jan 15, 2011
Author: Wendy McElroy
Post Date: 2011-01-15 09:18:33 by F.A. Hayek Fan
Keywords: None
Views: 375
Comments: 31
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported on July 25 that “there are 72 fusion centers around the nation, analyzing and disseminating data and information of all kinds. That is one for every state and others for large urban cities. What is a fusion center? The answer depends on your perspective. If you work for the Department of Homeland Security, it is a federal, state, local, or regional data-coordination unit, designed to improve the sharing of anti-terrorism and anti-crime data in order to make America safer. If you are a privacy or civil-rights advocate, it is part of a powerful new domestic surveillance infrastructure that combines data from both the public and private sectors to track innocent people and so makes Americans less safe from their own government. In that respect, the fusion center is reminiscent of the East German Stasi, which used tens of thousands of state police and hundreds of thousands of informers to monitor an estimated one-third of the population. The history of fusion centers provides insight into which answer is correct. Fusion centers began in 2003 under the administration of George W. Bush as a joint project between the departments of Justice and Homeland Security. The purpose is to coordinate federal and local law enforcement by using the “800,000-plus law enforcement officers across the country” whose intimate awareness of their own communities makes them “best placed to function as the ‘eyes and ears’ of an extended national security community.” The fusion centers are hubs for the coordination. By April 2008 there were 58. The growth has continued under the Obama administration. Indeed, President Obama has also continued Bush’s concealment of domestic intelligence activity by threatening to veto legislation that authorizes broader congressional oversight or review of intelligence agencies by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As a result of that threat, the GAO provision was removed from the Intelligence Authorization Act. Due to secrecy, it is difficult to describe a typical fusion center. But if the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center is typical, this is what one looks like: Indiana’s center has essentially become an arm of Indiana law enforcement. . . . It has 31 full-time staffers and two part-time employees. Some . . . are state employees. Others are assigned to the center from other agencies, such as the FBI, Transportation Security Administration, and Marion County Sheriff’s Department. They are joined by workers from the Department of Correction, the Indiana National Guard, the Indiana State Police, the Department of Natural Resources and local campus police. . . . There are also private sector analysts on contract. Previously those analysts were from EG&G Technical Services of California. The most recent contract with EG&G called for payment of $1.1 million. . . . Fusion centers invite reports from public employees such as firemen, ambulance drivers, and sanitation workers as well as from private-sector sources such as hospitals and neighborhood watch groups. They often operate tip hotlines; this means a “suspect’s” name could be submitted by a disgruntled employee, a hostile neighbor, or an ex-spouse who seeks child custody. What or who is targeted by this sweeping coordination of data? To get an idea, let’s look at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) program, which the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence said “should be a national model.” In June 2008 the departments of Justice and Homeland Security recommended expansion of the LAPD program to other cities. In April 2008 the Wall Street Journal reported on a new LAPD policy that compelled officers to report “suspicious behaviors” to the local fusion center. LAPD Special Order #11, dated March 5, 2008, defined a list of 65 suspicious behaviors, including using binoculars, taking pictures or video footage “with no apparent esthetic value,” abandoning a vehicle, taking notes, and espousing extremist views. Local police were converted into domestic surveillance agents. Voices of caution were present from the inception of fusion centers. Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr stated: “Using the resources of federal and state law enforcement to encourage the citizenry to submit to the government information on the political, social and even religious views of other people, is in itself outrageous. For the government to then database that information, disseminate it widely, and clearly imply that views with which it may disagree provides an appropriate basis on which to surveil citizens and collect information on them, is beyond the pale. It is also a poor and inefficient use of police resources.” Violation of privacy rights, excessive secrecy, lack of congressional oversight, the inevitability of inaccurate and noncorrectable information, the lack of due process for the accused, the encouragement of racial/religious profiling, the creation of a “snitch” nation, the political abuse of dissidents—the objections scroll on, followed by specific abuses that bear them out. Here’s a brief sample: Specific Abuses Maryland: Fifty-three nonviolent political activists, including antiwar and anti-death penalty activists, were labeled as terrorists and actively surveilled for 14 months. Minnesota: Eight anarchist protesters who planned to protest the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis were preemptively arrested and charged with terrorism. In Minnesota, a crime can become terrorism if it disrupts the conduct of government. Texas: A leaked intelligence bulletin from the North Central Texas Fusion System asked police officers to report on Islamic and antiwar lobbying groups. Missouri: Supporters of third-party presidential candidates, pro-life activists, and conspiracy theorists were targeted as potential militia members. Virginia: A terrorism threat assessment included certain universities as breeding grounds for terrorism, including historically black colleges. A more comprehensive list of fusion abuse is available in the ACLU’s Survey of Reported Incidents [PDF]. See also the ACLU’s interactive map for what’s happening in your state [PDF].
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#1. To: All (#0)
Spying on the Peaceful Clearly, the elaborate infrastructure of fusion centers has spied on peaceful citizens. Those who believe the abuses are aberrations, rather than an inherent or intended function, may argue that increased transparency will bring accountability and solve the problem. But that belief is naive. At least four reasons indicate that a lack of transparency and accountability are built into the system—the absence of real congressional oversight being number one. Second, the ACLU and others have filed numerous Freedom of Information Act requests. They have had to fight tooth and nail for any scrap of information. Third, as the ACLU notes, “[T]here appears to be an effort by the federal government to coerce states into exempting their fusion centers from state open-government laws. For those living in Virginia, it’s already too late; the Virginia General Assembly passed a law in April 2008 exempting the state’s fusion center from the Freedom of Information Act. According to comments by the commander of the Virginia State Police Criminal Intelligence Division and the administrative head of the center, the federal government pressured Virginia into passing the law. . . . [T]here is a real danger fusion centers will become a ‘one-way mirror’ in which citizens are subject to ever-greater scrutiny by the authorities, even while the authorities are increasingly protected from scrutiny by the public.” Fourth, much of the information used by fusion centers comes from private databases such as Accurate, Choice Point, Lexis-Nexis, Locate Plus, insurance claims, and credit reports. Moreover, the centers access millions of government files like the Federal Trade Commission ID theft reports and DMV records. Why is this important? The federal government has adopted various laws to prevent the maintenance of databases on average Americans, but if fusion centers access the other existing files, they would bypass those laws. A massive database on peaceful citizens, a tip hotline that encourages turning in neighbors, the casting of suspicion on daily activities, enlisting private workers as national surveillance agents—this is a police state in the making. And if its creation is invisible to most people, well, that is another characteristic of a police state. You are not a believer until it knocks on your door . . . in the middle of the night.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. - Benjamin Franklin
In charge of founding and operating the Stasi was Marcus Wolfe, a German Jew that sat out the war in Russia. He was another blood thirsty Beria.
The FEDERAL Government is creating the conditions for revolution.
"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities also has the power to make you commit atrocities." Voltaire
I have no doubt they'll get it very capable in the near future, but right now their status is demonstrated by the "Yahoo in Tuscon".
Yes.
I agree that this will happen eventually but I do not see it happening in my lifetime. The USSR, PRC, Mynamar (Burma), etc., etc. prove that man will take a heap of abuse from their government before they rise up and overthrow their government (if they ever do).
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. - Benjamin Franklin
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
It has already happened.
True, but not in the way that noone222 was talking about.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. - Benjamin Franklin
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
Having observed this process and result for eighty years, I considered his words to be very succinct.
We'll have to agree to disagree on this issue because I am of the opinion that this is exactly what is going to have to happen before the American people will rise up and overthrow the corrupt Republican and Democrat controlled government. I do not see the people rising up until the Republican and Democrat controlled government is much, much worse than what the USSR was. I think it will take decades to reach that point because they will continue to use negative events to implement the same boiling frog technique they have been using since the beginning of the 20th century.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. - Benjamin Franklin
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
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Well, I can't see into the future of course. However, considering the stranglehold the two party fraud has on the political process and the Pavlov dog mentality of the American voter in bouncing between the two parties, it doesn't seem too far fetched to assume that they will continue to maintain power.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. - Benjamin Franklin
Fifty years ago, I'd agree given the then demographics of the nation. Today we are a polyglot country of ignorant slop who are literally incapable of communicating with each other, never mind agree on things politically. The only shot we have is if white Americans who believe in the Founders and our Constitution, unify under a leader.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
With each new illegal arrival, our mean national IQ dips lower. Call me cynical, but I do believe that's the plan :P
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
when you see protesters holding signs after incidents like the Tucson shootings that read HATE SPEECH = MURDER, you realize the mentality of the sheep. they jump right into the pit.
The MIC remains viable 1) the absence of decent jobs for 18 year old kids who despise government 'education' and 2) their willingness to partake in the war, the lifeblood for the MIC and 3) taxpayer funding. I have no confidence our middle class jobs will return, or that kids will wise up and avoid the military trap, or 3) that legions of Americans will take the noone222 pledge.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
I concur, and once upon a time in NYC, in lieu of traditional HS, there were vocational schools. For four years, students were taught plumbing, carpentry, auto mechanics, electric work, etc. and it all culminated in a one year apprenticeship in your last year. What a terrific idea, and many kids I knew chose that route. I'm not sure if they still exist.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Ben Franklin
Yes, but that would be education rather than indoctrination. Not allowed in The New judeo Century in Uhhmerikka. Just another day in Retardia I don't know, it was yesterday or the day before, the days blur into one long nightmare of mediocrity. Anyhoo, someone calls me wanting to know what kind of air compressor to buy to blow up their car tires. I told them they could get a small 110 volt pancake compressor for less than $50. "No, it has to plug into my cigarette lighter." "Why?" "Because my tire goes flat overnight AND while I'm at work, and they don't have electricty in the parking lot." "Why don't you have the tire fixed?" "Oh, that's too much bother, I don't have the time." Sweet Jeebus, I shit you not, JT.
We're surrounded by the maimed, crippled and retarded. Americans all.
Run your own test. Try one of our daily subjects here on a sheep, watch that glazed look creep in, their speech becomes fuzzy and their head begins to bob about.
Rest of the article.....
#2. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)
In that respect, the fusion center is reminiscent of the East German Stasi, which used tens of thousands of state police and hundreds of thousands of informers to monitor an estimated one-third of the population.
#3. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)
#4. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)
#5. To: noone222 (#3)
The FEDERAL Government is creating the conditions for revolution.
#6. To: noone222 (#3)
(Edited)
The FEDERAL Government is creating the conditions for revolution.
#7. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)
#8. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)
#9. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#6)
I agree that this will happen eventually but I do not see it happening in my lifetime.
#10. To: Cynicom (#9)
It has already happened.
#11. To: noone222 (#3)
#12. To: F.A. Hayek Fan, All (#6)
#13. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#10)
"The FEDERAL Government is creating the conditions for revolution."
#14. To: Eric Stratton (#12)
Ergo, if it does not happen, then count on seeing us and our children/grandchildren growing up in Orwell's hell!
#15. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#14)
#16. To: F.A. Hayek Fan, *libertarians*, *Jack-Booted Thugs* (#0)
#17. To: Eric Stratton (#15)
Who says it's going to be a "Republican/Democrat" government?
#18. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#14)
the American people will rise up and overthrow the corrupt Republican and Democrat controlled government.
#19. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#17)
#20. To: Jethro Tull (#18)
#21. To: Eric Stratton (#20)
Throw in the fact that Americans today are more ignorant and even stupid than ever, ...
#22. To: Jethro Tull (#21)
#23. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)
#24. To: Eric Stratton, noone222, 4 (#22)
#25. To: christine (#23)
#26. To: Jethro Tull (#24)
#27. To: Eric Stratton (#26)
I'm convinced that if there were a class in entrepreneurship in high schools, a full-year class, with guest visits by varying people owning their own small businesses, that many more people would start their own following HS instead of pursuing the path that they've been told they need to embark upon, namely college, and if not that immediately, then some means, AHEM, the military, for funding college during or down the road
#28. To: Jethro Tull (#27)
#29. To: Jethro Tull (#27)
I concur, and once upon a time in NYC, in lieu of traditional HS, there were vocational schools.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#30. To: Esso (#29)
#31. To: Jethro Tull (#30)
We're surrounded by the maimed, crippled and retarded. Americans all.
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