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U.S. government continues to escalate domestic spying
(Joe Kay and Marge Holland, World Socialist Web Site, 5 May 2006)
Nearly five months after the secret National Security Agency spying program was first revealed in the media, the US government continues its unchecked expansion of domestic spying powers. Several recent reports document this expansion, which is taking place on many fronts, involving the military, federal intelligence agencies, and local police forces. . . . The NSA program, which involves the warrantless monitoring of emails and other communications in violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), has received the most attention. In spite of its blatant illegality, the program continues, with no serious move by either political party to stop it. The Bush administration has openly flouted decisions by Congress and the courts, asserting that warrantless spying on US citizens is part of the president’s powers as commander-in-chief in the "war on terror." . . . The NSA program is only one component of a much broader policy undermining basic democratic and constitutional rights in the United States, all justified by a supposedly ubiquitous terrorist threat. However, their real purpose is to vastly expand the powers of the government to monitor and repress internal dissent under conditions of mounting social tension and political opposition to the policies of the Bush administration. . . . Taken together, these developments provide a picture of a government that is systematically laying the foundations for a police state. . . . Republicans in the House blocked various amendments placing minor restrictions on the NSA spying program, including one that would require that classified reports on the program be given to the full House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. This hardly would have hampered the illegal spying on US citizens, as the government has already given regular reports for years to a smaller group of legislators of both parties, who have helped keep the program secret from the American people. These measures are further steps in the establishment of a secret intelligence/police agency in the United States that is able to monitor virtually any communications between US citizens and rapidly make arrests of individuals deemed to be engaging in illegal activities, including protesters who are designated as "threats" to intelligence or defense facilities. The bill also includes a measure that would require the director of national intelligence to study the possibility of revoking the pensions of intelligence agents who leak classified information without authorization. The military has focused on antiwar protesters and according to the Journal, "the Pentagon has monitored more than 20 antiwar groups' activities around the country over the past three years. It has reviewed photographs and records of vehicles and protesters at marches to see if different activities were being organized by the same instigators." The military database is connected to the program run by the NSA, as well to initiatives that were originally part of the Pentagon’s now officially abandoned Total Information Awareness program. After a public outcry over TIA, which was to involve the accumulation of vast databases to help the government spy on the American people, the program was renamed and several of its components were moved around, but the basic plan has remained in place. According to the Journal, some of the TIA components ended up in the hands of the Army’s 902nd Military Intelligence Group, "the military’s largest counterintelligence unit [which] has hundreds of soldiers stationed around the country." The 902nd makes extensive use of the Joint Regional Information Exchange System, "which gathers information collected by civilian law enforcement agencies around the country," The newest intelligence units are called fusion centers, which pool information from multiple local jurisdictions. These centers now exist in 31 states, with more on the way. There are plans to eventually have 70 such centers across the nation, providing what US News calls "a coast-to-coast intelligence blanket." Lawsuits filed against the NYPD reveal that its undercover officers have joined antiwar rallies, among other protest gatherings, and that they have acted as agents provocateurs in order to provoke arrests at at least one demonstration. US News also reported that in order to qualify for federal homeland security grants, local authorities are now required, to report on how many "potential threat elements" or "PTEs" exist in their jurisdictions. "The definition [given by the Department of Homeland Security] of suspected terrorists was fairly loose," the magazine reported. "PTEs were groups or individuals who might use force or violence 'to intimidate or coerce' for a goal 'possibly political or social in nature.'"

posted by LoZo 10:22 AM