CIFA Back In The News
The United States "terror-fighters" have proven again to be dangerously clueless.
A COINTELPRO-type program run by the Pentagon to spy on Americans exercising their constitutionally protected rights is again in the news. Several weeks ago, I familiarized readers of this blog with the odious Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA). See Major Increase In Surveillance Of Innocent People.
NBC News and Washingtonpost.com contributor William Arkin went public earlier this week with a leaked printout from a CIFA database which detailed reports of such suspicious events as Quaker meetings against the Iraq war and protests against the military-industrial crime cartel.
Today's WaPo has an article by Walter Pincus on this program, codenamed TALON (AMATEUR PROCTOLOGIST was vetoed for being too obvious), which fed the data to the Pentagon's CIFA.
Pincus' article states that in light of the public disclosure of the spying the Pentagon has ordered a "review" to quiet down the not-unreasonable outrage over this issue. It won't work:
To some, the Pentagon's current efforts recall the Vietnam War era, when defense officials spied on anti-war groups and peace activists. Congressional hearings in the 1970s subsequently led to strict limits on the kinds of information that the military can collect about activities and people inside the United States.
The review of the program, ordered by Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone, will focus on whether officials broke those rules, a Pentagon statement said. The regulations require that any information that is "not validated as threatening must be removed from the TALON system in less than 90 days," it said.
Who is going to be in the position of ruling that something is "not validated as threatening." That is what happened to "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S." Once intelligence is gathered, nobody looking out for their career prospects will want to decide anything "suspicious" is not a threat.
I seriously wonder about the motivation of anyone who allowed the spying on protesters. When the supposed "experts" on threats to national security assume the long-discredited role of the paranoid do-gooders the nation is put at risk. Terrorists are not likely to associate with peace groups. The real goal here is looking less like any real search for terrorists and more like an organized suppression of dissent.
A COINTELPRO-type program run by the Pentagon to spy on Americans exercising their constitutionally protected rights is again in the news. Several weeks ago, I familiarized readers of this blog with the odious Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA). See Major Increase In Surveillance Of Innocent People.
NBC News and Washingtonpost.com contributor William Arkin went public earlier this week with a leaked printout from a CIFA database which detailed reports of such suspicious events as Quaker meetings against the Iraq war and protests against the military-industrial crime cartel.
Today's WaPo has an article by Walter Pincus on this program, codenamed TALON (AMATEUR PROCTOLOGIST was vetoed for being too obvious), which fed the data to the Pentagon's CIFA.
Pincus' article states that in light of the public disclosure of the spying the Pentagon has ordered a "review" to quiet down the not-unreasonable outrage over this issue. It won't work:
To some, the Pentagon's current efforts recall the Vietnam War era, when defense officials spied on anti-war groups and peace activists. Congressional hearings in the 1970s subsequently led to strict limits on the kinds of information that the military can collect about activities and people inside the United States.
The review of the program, ordered by Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone, will focus on whether officials broke those rules, a Pentagon statement said. The regulations require that any information that is "not validated as threatening must be removed from the TALON system in less than 90 days," it said.
Who is going to be in the position of ruling that something is "not validated as threatening." That is what happened to "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S." Once intelligence is gathered, nobody looking out for their career prospects will want to decide anything "suspicious" is not a threat.
I seriously wonder about the motivation of anyone who allowed the spying on protesters. When the supposed "experts" on threats to national security assume the long-discredited role of the paranoid do-gooders the nation is put at risk. Terrorists are not likely to associate with peace groups. The real goal here is looking less like any real search for terrorists and more like an organized suppression of dissent.
posted by Effwit at 11:53 AM
2 Comments:
When they have to resort to spying on people who want peace, you have to seriously wonder about the rationale of the people pushing for war. What are they afraid of? I guess they're afraid that too many Americans will eventually realize that the peace supporters are right.
This also underscores, I think, that these people are intent on controlling and mainpulating public opinion. If they are willing to spy on fellow Americans in order to undermine the peace effort, to what lengths will they be willing to go to manipulate public opinion?
9/11?
Secret support for the insurgency in Iraq (after all, there wouldn't be a "war" if there weren't violent conflict)?
DrewL:
The rationale of the war mongers seems to be profit, either directly via ownership of defense contracting companies or to get a high-paying career in the military-industrial kleptocracy.
One thing about this that really pisses me off is the assumption by the 'thugs that leftists or peace-loving people are somehow weak on national security.
It is the sickos who advocate kill, kill, kill, that endanger our country's security by making enemies out of people who wouldn't ordinarily give us a second thought. When we kill and wound their families we develop enemies for life.
The War Party (with two wings: Republican and Democratic) has to manipulate public opinion to try to keep us in Iraq for the next few years, as is their plan.
And yes, I wouldn't put it past them to go to even greater extents to brainwash the public through fear than we have seen so far.
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