Your daily police state dispatch
I was out of the country only nine days, hardly a blink in time, but time enough, as it happened, for another small, airless room to be added to the American national security labyrinth. On March 22nd, Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Jr. signed off on new guidelines allowing the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), a post-9/11 creation, to hold on to information about Americans in no way known to be connected to terrorism—about you and me, that is—for up to five years. (Its previous outer limit was 180 days.) This, Clapper claimed, “will enable NCTC to accomplish its mission more practically and effectively.”
Trial, would undoubtedly have felt right at home in Clapper’s Washington. George Orwell would surely have had a few pungent words to say about those anodyne words “practically and effectively,” not to speak of “mission.”
For most Americans, though, it was just life as we’ve known it since September 11, 2001, since we scared ourselves to death and accepted that just about anything goes, as long as it supposedly involves protecting us from terrorists. Basic information or misinformation, possibly about you, is to be stored away for five years—or until some other attorney general and director of national intelligence think it’s even more practical and effective to keep you on file for 10 years, 20 years, or until death do us part—and it hardly made a ripple.
And needless to say, the difference here is consent, which Facebook users (sort of) give and the government isn’t even asking for. From anyone.
This is such dangerous stuff. There is nothing stopping the Feds — or state and local agencies, which are often even worse — from clocking your every move and communication. Aside from the clear abnegation of constitutional principle, which should be enough, when you consider the possibility for political mischief and authoritarian misuse, this becomes a little bit less abstract.
Indeed, it’s already a problem:
Seizing Thunder was opened in 2002 to target members of the “Animal Liberation front (ALF), Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and an anarchist group called the Red Cloud Thunder, all whose members are inter-related and they openly claimed several major arsons,” according to the files. The investigation involved physical and video surveillance, warrants for phone taps, and cooperation with local police departments in Portland and Eugene, Ore. But the feds quickly dropped the pretense of tracking organized groups and quickly began surveilling people simply for identifying themselves—or for being identified by informants—as anarchists. The memos read like artifacts from the Red Scare:
July 19, 2002: “On [redacted], the source observed a [redacted] Oregon license plate…parked at [redacted], a known anarchist hangout.”
August 8, 2002: “The source observed the following vehicles in the vicinity of [redacted], a major hangout for the anarchist and [redacted]”
September 19, 2002: “On [redacted] the source observed [redacted] vehicle, Oregon license plate [redacted] parked at [redacted] one of the hangout for anarchist….”
October 18, 2002: “On [redacted] the source was questioned as to the [redacted] anarchist travelling to [redacted].”
“The anarchists were dressed in black”
What sort of federal crimes were all these anarchists getting up to, aside from the thought variety? The records, which document the FBI’s extensive cooperation and intelligence-sharing with local police departments in Eugene and Oregon, show that agents collected intelligence about an anarchist march that was being planned to protest U.S. policy in the Middle East:
On [redacted] at approximately 2:30 p.m., the source visited [redacted]. The source did not observe any anarchists. The source walked [redacted] to view their bulletin board. Most of the ads on the bulletin board were for individuals looking for roommates.
On [redacted] the source attended [redacted]. The source visited [redacted] where the source met two unknown anarchists at [redacted]. The anarchists were dressed in black and were in their early 20s…. The source stated the anarchists are planning a protest to “Reclaim the Streets” on April 20, 2002, in Portland, Ore.
Here’s how the Associated Press covered that crucible of terror and violence:
About 700 people marched through downtown Saturday in a peaceful protest against U.S. support of Israel in the Middle East crisis. There were no arrests and no altercations, police said.
This was in 2002. Before they built this behemoth police apparatus known as the Department of Homeland Security. I don’t even want to think about what else we’ll find they’ve done since. And if this is any example, the FBI has been just as aggressively inept in charging right wing groups:
Two members of the Midwest militia group Hutaree pleaded guilty to charges of possessing machine guns and temporarily walked out of jail on Thursday, two days after a judge rebuked prosecutors and dismissed more serious charges that the Hutaree plotted to attack the U.S. government.
David Brian Stone Sr., the leader of the militia and his son Joshua Stone, each pleaded guilty to possession of a machine gun before Judge Victoria Roberts in federal court in Detroit.
They were the last two Hutaree members still in jail of seven arrested two years ago following an undercover operation by the FBI, and charged with plotting a violent revolt using weapons of mass destruction.
Judge Roberts on Tuesday took the unusual step of dismissing all major charges against the Hutaree, saying government prosecutors had failed to prove that they were doing anything more than talking about their hatred for authority.
I’ve been saying since 2003: if you build it, they will use it. These new surveillance powers will undoubtedly be used against average Americans, abusing due process and our right to privacy. It’s just how it works.
Update:
By “disavowing” rather than prosecuting torture, in public mind Obama changed it from crime into a policy dispute.
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