george washington's blog
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Programs Which the Government Claims Are Aimed At Foreign Enemies are being Used Against American Citizens within the United States

The U.S. government has repeatedly claimed that it was launching aggressive programs solely at foreign enemies, and then launched them at American citizens. For example:

* In 2002, the Pentagon announced that it was considering spreading false propaganda in the foreign press. However, the military has spread propaganda within the U.S. in an operation so aggressive that one participant, a military analyst, called it "psyops on steroids"

* For many years, the government has claimed that it was only spying on foreigners. But it is now clear that the government is massively spying on American citizen's home and cellphone calls, email and internet usage, credit card and other financial transactions, and just about every other facet of our personal lives

* The Patriot Act is supposed to be aimed at stopping America-hating terrorists. Instead, it is being used to prosecute acts having nothing to do with terrorism, and to harass normal, law-abiding Americans

Can anyone see a pattern here?

Given the above, should we believe that the following programs will just be limited to foreigners?

* The Air Force is seeking to dominate all computers and the Internet, to be able to take over control of every computer, and to turn computers into "zombies" that can be forced to execute Air Force commands. This is supposed to be aimed at enemy states and "rogue individuals". See this summary.

* The Pentagon is running an artificial intelligence program to see how people will react to propaganda and to government-inflicted terror. The program is called Sentient World Simulation:

"U.S defense, intel and homeland security officials are constructing a parallel world, on a computer, which the agencies will use to test propaganda messages and military strategies.

Called the Sentient World Simulation, the program uses AI routines based upon the psychological theories of Marty Seligman, among others. (Seligman introduced the theory of 'learned helplessness' in the 1960s, after shocking beagles until they cowered, urinating, on the bottom of their cages.)

Yank a country's water supply. Stage a military coup. SWS will tell you what happens next.

The sim will feature an AR avatar for each person in the real world, based upon data collected about us from government records and the internet."

* And as former former Congressman Dan Hamburg and others have pointed out:

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees."

But many people have pointed out that the laws governing the program are so vague that they could lead to the imprisonment of American citizens for simply speaking out against the government (see also this).

Actions which the government claims were launched against non-U.S. citizens have in the past been used against Americans within the United States. Why should we believe any differently about its new, even more tyrannical programs?

I suppose that there are still bored intelligence agents tucked away in low rent apartments chain-smoking and listening to surveillance subjects gossip and order pizza. But it looks like advances in technology are starting to make their lives much easier.

I'd like to know if Obama would kill the Patriot Act if elected. I doubt it. He's just another cog in the system controlled by people who are never elected into power but exercise power fully.

One of his main missions is to restore the US Constitution.

I've been wondering for quite some time why the rest of the world doesn't stop us like we stopped Nazi Germany.

BTW cool pic.

I've been wondering for quite some time why the rest of the world doesn't stop us like we stopped Nazi Germany.

BTW cool pic.

Isn't it? Have you seen Metropolis?

That's one of my favorite movies. You are talking about the 1927 Fritz Lang classic right? But perhaps I'm a bit dim, I don't see the connection to that movie and what Bush is doing. Except maybe the mad scientist part.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Env..._and_Simulation
The Sentient World Simulation project (SWS) is to be based on SEAS. The ultimate goal envisioned by Alok R. Chaturvedi on March 10, 2006 was for SWS to be a "continuously running, continually updated mirror model of the real world that can be used to predict and evaluate future events and courses of action. SWS will react to actual events that occur anywhere in the world and incorporate newly sensed data from the real world. [...] As the models influence each other and the shared synthetic environment, behaviors and trends emerge in the synthetic world as they do in the real world. Analysis can be performed on the trends in the synthetic world to validate alternate worldviews. [...] Information can be easily displayed and readily transitioned from one focus to another using detailed modeling, such as engineering level modeling, to aggregated strategic, theater, or campaign-level modeling."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

ECHELON is a name used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UK-USA Security Agreement (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, known as AUSCANZUKUS).[1]

The system has been reported in a number of public sources.[2] Its capabilities and political implications were investigated by a committee of the European Parliament during 2000 and 2001 with a report published in 2001.[3]

In its report, the European Parliament states that the term ECHELON is used in a number of contexts, but that the evidence presented indicates that it was the name for a signals intelligence collection system. The report concludes that, on the basis of evidence presented, ECHELON was capable of interception and content inspection of telephone calls, fax, e-mail and other data traffic globally through the interception of communication bearers including satellite transmission, public switched telephone networks and microwave links. The committee further concluded that "the technical capabilities of the system are probably not nearly as extensive as some sections of the media had assumed".[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office
The Information Awareness Office (IAO) was established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense, in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying information technology to counter transnational threats to national security. The IAO mission was to "imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, components and prototype, closed-loop, information systems that will counter asymmetric threats by achieving total information awareness". Following public criticism that the development and deployment of these technologies could potentially lead to a mass surveillance system, the IAO was defunded by Congress in 2003, although several of the projects run under IAO have continued under different funding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantle...nce_controversy
The NSA warrantless surveillance controversy concerns surveillance of persons within the United States incident to the collection of foreign intelligence by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) as part of the war on terror. Under this program, referred to by the Bush administration as the "terrorist surveillance program",[1] the NSA is authorized by executive order to monitor, without warrants, phone calls, e-mails, Internet activity, and text messaging, and other communication involving any party believed by the NSA to be outside the U.S., even if the other end of the communication lies within the U.S. The exact scope of the program is not known. Shortly before Congress passed a new law in August of 2007 that legalized warrantless surveillance, the Protect America Act of 2007, critics stated that such "domestic" intercepts required FISC authorization under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,[2]. The Bush administration maintains that the authorized intercepts are not domestic but rather "foreign intelligence" integral to the conduct of war and that the warrant requirements of FISA were implicitly superseded by the subsequent passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF).[3]

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confirmed the existence of the program, first reported in a December 16, 2005 article in The New York Times[4][5]. The Times had posted the exclusive story on their website the night before, after learning that the Bush administration was considering seeking a Pentagon Papers-style court injunction to block its publication.[6] Gonzales stated that the program authorizes warrantless intercepts where the government "has a reasonable basis to conclude that one party to the communication is a member of al Qaeda, affiliated with al Qaeda, or a member of an organization affiliated with al Qaeda, or working in support of al Qaeda." and that one party to the conversation is "outside of the United States".[7] The revelation raised immediate concern among elected officials, civil right activists, legal scholars and the public at large about the legality and constitutionality of the program and the potential for abuse. Since then, the controversy[8] has expanded to include the press's role in exposing a classified program, the role and responsibility of Congress in its executive oversight function and the scope and extent of Presidential powers under Article II of the Constitution.

http://www.biometrics.org/government.htm
he Department of Defense Biometrics Task Force consists of:
Department of Defense (DoD) senior leadership has recognized the important role that biometrics play in prosecuting the global war on terrorism, protecting our troops, and securing national security interests. The Biometrics Task Force (BTF) serves to:

Act as the DoD proponent for biometrics

Lead in the development and implementation of biometric technologies for Combatant Commands (COCOMS), Services, and Agencies

Deliver capabilities in order to contribute to the enhancement of the biometric community
Increase Joint Service interoperability

Empower the warfighter by improving operational effectiveness on the battlefield

More information my be obtained by visiting the DoD Biometrics Web Site:
http://www.biometrics.dod.mil/

Bush pushes biometrics for national security
By Ben Bain
Published on June 6, 2008
http://www.fcw.com/online/news/152750-1.html

excerpt:
The Bush administration has required agencies to increase their capability to share among themselves biometric information on people believed to pose a threat to national security.

A presidential directive issued June 5 requires the increased compatibility of methods agencies use to collect, store and share fingerprints, face and iris recognition data and behavioral characteristics to identify and screen “known and suspected terrorists.” The directive also applies to other categories of individuals the directive said would be identified soon who may also pose a threat to national security.

The National Security Presidential Directive 59/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 24's purpose is to create a "framework" to ensure that agencies are using mutually compatible and legal methods for sharing biometric information, the document states.

The directive also explained that although existing name-based screening approaches are beneficial, biometric technologies can improve agencies’ ability to identify and screen people believed to threaten national security.

Or we never actually stopped the Nazis and their ideals. Perhaps we just IMPROVED on them.