"Total Information Awareness"

[daniel]

NYTimes 11/19/02

A Snooper's Dream

he threat of terrorism has created a powerful appetite in Washington for sophisticated surveillance systems to identify potential terrorists. These efforts cannot be allowed, however, to undermine civil liberties. There is a program now in the research stage at the Pentagon that, if left unchecked by Congress, could do exactly that. Ostensibly designed to enhance national security, it could lead to an invasion of personal privacy on a massive scale.

The program, known as Total Information Awareness, is a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which helped develop the Internet and a host of cutting-edge military technologies. It is run by John Poindexter, the retired Navy rear admiral who was Ronald Reagan's national security adviser and, in that capacity, helped devise the plan to sell arms to Iran and illegally divert the proceeds to the rebels in Nicaragua. Sentenced to six months in jail for lying to Congress (a conviction later overturned on appeal), the admiral was never particularly contrite about his deceit, asserting at one point that it was his duty to withhold information from the American people.

Mr. Poindexter is pursuing a scheme he thought up right after 9/11 and then sold to the Bush administration. Total Information Awareness, or T.I.A., aims to use the vast networking powers of the computer to "mine" huge amounts of information about people and thus help investigative agencies identify potential terrorists and anticipate terrorist activities. All the transactions of everyday life ‹ credit card purchases, travel and telephone records, even Internet traffic like e-mail ‹ would be grist for the electronic mill.

To civil libertarians, T.I.A., with its Orwellian dossiers on each and every American, would constitute a huge invasion of privacy. Mr. Poindexter says that he has no wish to trample on the Fourth Amendment, and that the technology can be designed so as to "preserve rights and protect people's privacy while helping to make us all safer." His associates say that his main role is to develop the technology, not the policy that governs its use.

This strikes us as disingenuous. Mr. Poindexter is a policy man to the core. Besides, there are enough federal agencies already engaged in the "mining" of information about all of us. The last thing we need is a vast new system of domestic surveillance engineered by John Poindexter.

Congress should shut down the program pending a thorough investigation. It could do this with an amendment denying further financing that could be attached to an appropriations bill or the homeland security bill now under discussion in the Senate. Either way, T.I.A. needs immediate oversight.

[daniel]

Cybersurveillance System Being Built
Thu Nov 14, 6:00 PM ET


Gretel Johnston, IDG News Service

WASHINGTON-- The U.S. Department of Defense (news - web sites) has begun developing a system that will use a variety of information technologies to sort through commercial and private databases and information gathered through surveillance, looking for patterns that reveal terrorist activities.

The program has been established under the Information Awareness Office within the DOD's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Seeking Patterns

The IAO's Web site says terrorism is the most serious asymmetric threat facing the United States. This threat is characterized by groups of people loosely organized in shadowy networks, which are difficult to identify and define. The IAO plans to develop technology that will allow understanding of the intent of these networks and their plans, and will potentially define opportunities for disrupting or eliminating the threats, according to the agency.

To carry this out, the research must promote "sharing, collaborating, and reasoning to convert nebulous data to knowledge and actionable options," says an agency statement.

The IAO intends to build a prototype using a number of technologies. Among the technologies being tapped are collaboration over TCP/IP networks, large distributed repositories with dynamic schemas that can be changed interactively, foreign language machine translation and speech recognition, biometric signatures, pattern matching and anomalous pattern detection, and human network analysis and behavior model building engines.

Military and investigative agencies are exploring a number of creative ways to identify security threats.

For example, the CIA (news - web sites) has helped fund work by a company called Systems Research and Development, which developed a database that uses fuzzy logic to identify unapparent relationships between people. A version of the technology is employed by casinos that try to detect relationships between staff and known cheaters. The same approach could help identify potential terrorists or supporters, investigators say.

Privacy Considered

The problem of terrorists is more complex than problems the United States has faced before, says John Poindexter, director of the IAO and former national security adviser.

He has described the DOD system as one that will allow counterterrorism officials the use of "transformational" technology to sift through almost unimaginably large amounts of data to find a discernible "signal" indicating terrorist activity or planning. The tools also would give analysts a way to represent visually what that information means. The system would include the technology to identify people at a distance based on known details about their faces and gaits.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has reportedly funded $200 million for the project, which Poindexter said would take years to build. It will include privacy safeguards, but it is up to Congress to set those limits, Poindexter said.

Poindexter was national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites), but lost his job over his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. He is disliked by privacy advocates. Last April, after becoming associated with the IAO, Poindexter was awarded a "Lifetime Menace Award" by Privacy International. The organization annually gives Big Brother Awards to individuals,

[imported_saoirse]

Published on Wednesday, November 20, 2002 by Capitol Hill Blue

Welcome to the American Gestapo
by Doug Thompson

Wonder if any of the vast sums of money approved Tuesday for the new Department of Homeland Security are set aside for black uniforms with knee-length boots and black leather trench coats?

Should be. Since we’ve gone to all this trouble to create the new American Gestapo
we might as well let them look the part.

Excuse me if I don’t join in all the senseless celebration over creation of yet another
mammoth bureaucracy of the federal government. Pardon me if I don’t go ga-ga over
a federal agency that has been given unlimited powers to spy on Americans,
trample all over the First and Fourth Amendments, ignore the privacy of anyone it
chooses and violate the rights of every man, woman and child who used to live in
the Land of the Free.

Our own paranoia has accomplished what Osama bin Laden and his minions could
not with hijacked airplanes and vague threats about future attacks – these fears
have forced America to abandon its principles and create a police state.

This new Department of Homeland Security has the power to wiretap any American
it wants, without a court order, without cause and without justification to any higher
authority. Homeland Security goon squads will have the power to enter any
American home, without a search warrant, without probable cause, simply because
someone somewhere says “hey, this guy might be a threat.” No checks and
balances, no due process. Nothing.

Video cameras at ATMs, convenience stores, department stores and office building
lobbies already record Americans living in urban areas 75-100 times on any given
day but that isn’t enough for the new American Gestapo. They plan to erect video
cameras on streets, along public highways, in neighborhoods and deploy them on
helicopters and police cars to record everything you and I do every day of the year.

“We are entering a new era of domestic surveillance,” says retired FBI agent
Franklin Postel. “One where the constitution is secondary to the cause. The new
department has the power to document the day-to-day actions of any American it
chooses.”

A secret court decision last May already gives the Justice Department expanded
powers to wiretap phones, spy on Americans and “share information” with other law
enforcement agencies.

These powers, granted under a dangerous piece of legislation called the “USA
Patriot Act,” allow Attorney General John Ashcroft to sign away the normal rights
and protections that Americans used to enjoy – little things like probable cause,
due process and the now forgotten belief that any accused is presumed innocent
until proven guilty.

Those who support these expanded powers say the system has "safeguards" where
law enforcement personnel must get a judge's approval before wiretapping an
American family but those who have studied the law said the "safeguards" are, in
fact, "carefully worded loopholes."

"The law only requires an 'administrative review' by the very department that wants
to spy on Americans," says retired federal judge John Macklin. "Most judges would
not approve such wiretaps but the law is engineered to make sure that most judges
never see the request."

Ashcroft says he will implement the new powers “immediately” and is already
increasing surveillance of Americans.

Look closer at the powers granted under the act and you will find things that would
make Hitler proud.

They include provisions to allow private citizens to spy on other private citizens
without fear of prosecution if the Department determines their actions were
conducted “in the national interest.”

“I’ve read some of the abstracts on the new law and they take the handcuffs off
people like me,” says private detective Andrew Burlingame. “I can tap anyone I
damn well please. All I have to do is claim I thought the guy was a terrorist.”

Under the new law, an agent of the Department of Homeland Security can walk into
your bank, flash a badge and demand to see your checking and saving account
records. No court order. All they need is the “presumption of guilt.” They can stop
you in your car without cause and search it and you. They can hold you in jail for 30
days or more without filing any charges or allowing you to make any phone calls.

They can call up America Online and put a trace on all your Internet activity without a court order. They can require Visa to turn over all your credit card activity records without notice.

"Again, the process only requires an internal administrative review and not the
involvement of any independent judicial authority," says retired judge Macklin. "It
violates all previous standards for due process and probable cause."

In other words, they can do any damn thing they want and there isn’t a thing that any of us can do about it. Some may argue the current terrorist threat requires such drastic measures. But what happens when that threat is met? The Department of Homeland Security and its draconian powers will still exist. Who will determine the new threat? Who will decide who becomes the enemy?

"An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation," the
leader of another country once wrote. "We must take steps to ensure our domestic
security and protect our homeland."

That was Adoph Hitler, writing about creation of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany.

Wecome to the American Gestapo. Be careful what you say and do. They are
watching and they will be watching from now on.

Doug Thompson is the founder and publisher of Capitol Hill Blue.

© Copyright 2002 Capitol Hill Blue

[imported_saoirse]

[sorry if it seems like i'm harping on about this, but this shit is really freaking me out.
"war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength"]

A Secret Burial for the Bill of Rights
4th Amendment R.I.P

by CAROL NORRIS
[from: www.counterpunch.org] (http://www.counterpunch.org])

The 4th Amendment, an unwavering champion of our right to privacy, died on 18 November 2002. The amendment, adopted by the convention of states on 17 September 1787, was 215. The 4th tirelessly fought to guarantee that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The 4th has had health issues over the years, struggling with those that have tried to weaken it. Most recently, it received a life-threatening blow from the USA Patriot Act. But lower courts, concerned about possible civil liberties abuses, tended to the injury by trying to curtail some of the Act's power.

On the 18th, the ruling of the lower courts was overridden by an all but unknown court: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which is the appeals arm of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). The appeals panel includes three men that were appointed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The courts meet in secret at the Justice Department. Initially, the FISC ruled the surveillance privileges sought by John Ashcroft after 9.11 "were not reasonably designed" to ensure the privacy rights of citizens. It cited many previous abuses of surveillance laws. But government lawyers sought a review. And the appeals panel determined the authorized surveillance measures of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) are "reasonable."

And so, with the courage characteristic of its life, the 4th succumbed to this ruling at its home in the pages of the Constitution, surrounded by friends and loved ones.

Ann Beeson of the Civil Liberties Union, a long-time supporter of the 4th stated: "As of today, the attorney general can suspend the ordinary requirements of the 4th Amendment in order to listen to phone calls, read e-mails, and conduct secret searches of Americans' homes and offices." Those that are being monitored won't know it. So, in essence, there is no mechanism in place to challenge the surveillance. And currently, only the government can do that.

John Ashcroft was reportedly seen shortly after the decision dancing around in circles on tiptoe, hugging himself while singing, "hot damn, hot damn, hot damn." On record, he called the ruling revolutionary and said, "the decision allows the Department of Justice to free immediately our agents and prosecutors in the field to work more closely and cooperatively in achieving our core mission...the mission of preventing terrorists attacks." As it stands, the definition of a "terrorist" is broad enough to include almost anybody.

Even if the ruling had gone the other way, the 4th would've surely lost its life at the hands of the likes of John Poindexter and his new post-9.11 brainchild: the Information Awareness Office (IAO), a new pentagon operation with a $200 million budget that Poindexter will head. Poindexter, retired rear admiral, and former national security advisor is most remembered for another of his brainchildren: funding anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua by selling arms to Iran. He was released from the jail sentence he was serving for lying to Congress about this because it was decided his evidence warranted congressional immunity.

The premiere program of the IAO will be called the Total Information Awareness Program. This program, if it so desires, can develop a dossier on every single American, unearthing and tracking nearly everything a person does with little or no need to explain itself and its motivations. This unchecked, broad-sweeping power is something our dearly departed amendment would be greatly dismayed to see.

The 4th was loved and respected by the citizens throughout the US that it protected. "How will I ever feel comfortable exercising my 1st amendment rights without the protections of the 4th?" asked one mourner, crying into her copy of the Constitution. Fearing repercussions, she refused to state her name. "I always knew I could count on it," she continued. "It was always there for me." Another sobbed, "El Cuarto - that's what we used to call it- was such a big part of my life. It's what made our country different from those police states. What are we going to do now?"

What indeed. The 4th Amendment will be sorely missed.

It is survived by 26 sibling amendments. The besieged 1st, 6th, and 14th amendments are also fighting for their lives. And the 2nd continues to be held hostage by special interests.

The surviving amendments ask that in lieu of flowers, you send your congressperson(s) your heartfelt sentiments.

Carol Norris is psychotherapist and freelance writer. She can be contacted at writing4justice@planet-save.com

[imported_saoirse]

CounterPunch
November 23, 2002

Rough Beast Slouching
The Birth of an American
Tyranny

by CHRIS FLOYD

We've said it before, and we'll keep on saying
it: A country whose leader has the power to
imprison any citizen whatsoever, on his order
alone, and hold them indefinitely, in military
custody, without access to the courts, without a
lawyer, without any charges, their fate
determined solely by the leader's arbitrary
whim--that country is a tyranny, not a
democracy, not a republic, not a union of free
citizens.

Now it may be that it is still a tyranny in utero,
a rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem--or
in this case, Washington--to be born, and not
yet the full-blown monster, fangs bared and
back plated with bristling armored scales. But
the tyranny has been conceived, it's taken root
in the womb, gained definite form and is
clawing, tearing its way toward the light.

President George W. Bush openly claims that he
now holds this power of arbitrary arrest and
imprisonment. His minions defend it with
earnest arguments. They have already begun
acting on its dictatorial tenets. If this claim is
not rejected by the other two branches of
government--an unlikely event, with both
branches now held by Bush partisans--then the
fundamental liberty of every American citizen
will have been stripped away finally and
completely. Henceforth, liberty is not the
inalienable right of the citizen, but a privilege
granted--or not--by an autocratic government.

What we are witnessing is the mutation of a
democratic republic into a military autocracy:
Bush bases his claim of arbitrary power on the
president's constitutional role as
commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces.
Although there is nothing in the constitution
that warrants the extension of military
command to cover arbitrary rule over the entire
citizenry, and certainly nothing that
countenances the abrogation of basic rights and
liberties on the unchallengeable say-so of an
all-powerful leader, the "commander-in-chief"
argument nevertheless serves a useful purpose
for the autocrat, creating the illusion of a
limited and temporary suspension of liberties--a
drastic but necessary "wartime" measure.

But Bush and his officials have already warned
us that this "wartime emergency" might never
end. A direct quote from the
commander-in-chief: "There's no telling how
many wars it will take to secure freedom in the
homeland." The other branches concur in this
militarization of American society. Citing a
political landscape "changed by war," the new
head of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
Republican John Warner, says he wants to
"break down the barriers"--the constitutional
barriers--that restrict the military's involvement
in civilian life. The Chief Justice, William
Rehnquist, whose Supreme Court stands as the
last defense against the dictatorship of the
executive branch, has already signaled his
public approval of military rule, quoting the old
Roman maxim: "In time of war, the laws are
silent."

So if the wars never cease raging, the laws will
no longer speak. Or rather, they will speak only
to ratify the will of the authoritarian regime.
Just this week, a "special" appeals court--a
secret panel operating outside the ordinary
judicial system--upheld the right of the state to
invade the privacy of any citizen through
expanded wiretap and surveillance powers,
Reuters reports. These invasions no longer need
meet the already-lax standards previously
required for domestic surveillance, but can now
proceed virtually at the whim of the federal
forces, even without any direct connection to
suspected terrorist or espionage activity.

The "special" court is a three-judge board made
up of appointees from the Reagan-Bush
administration, chosen for this secret duty by
that obedient Roman, William Rehnquist. It
overturned a lower-court ruling that curbed
surveillance powers after documenting 75 cases
of their abuse by federal agents in both the
Clinton and Bush II administrations. However,
Attorney General John Ashcroft--whose agents
will carry out most of the secret
investigations--said this week that the
government will not "overstep its legal bounds"
with the new, broader powers. And indeed, with
a "silent" high court and a supine legislature
willing to lend an air of legitimacy to any action
of the ruling junta--hijacking a presidential
election, imprisoning citizens without charge,
waging aggressive war--no doubt Ashcroft is
right. There are no longer any "legal bounds" to
overstep.

Bush's dictatorial powers of arrest and
imprisonment are only part of an unprecedented
expansion of militarized state power into every
aspect of American life, coupled with an
unprecedented level of secrecy surrounding
government activity. These changes are meant
to be permanent--and they are meant to remain
under the control of the Bush Regime and
likeminded successors. It is absurd to believe
that Bush, Cheney and the rest of the junta are
constructing this vast machinery of dominance
only to risk turning it over to any political
adversary who genuinely opposed empire,
plutocracy and rule by a privileged elite.

It is equally absurd to believe that these new,
unconstrained powers will not be abused. The
very fact of their assertion is itself an abuse, a
perversion of the freedoms that Bush has
sworn--falsely--to uphold. They are a far greater
threat to the foundations of American liberty
than even the most horrendous attack by
murderous criminals. No foreign terrorist can
strip the entire American system of its basic
freedoms--the inviolability of the citizen, the
right to due process, the constitutional
separation of powers, the people's right to
know what their government is doing in their
name.

Only an American tyrant can do that. And he is
doing it, day by day.

[Anita]

greetings,
These are indeed trying times but there are still glimmers of hope.I read with interest the following post on the net.
http://www.rense.com/general32/patr.htm
It is a report on Eugene OR council passing a resolution AGAINST the patriot act.
It seems to me that the only way to fight the bush administrations blatant disregard for our personal privacy,is to educate the People in our community.It is interesting what a simple Sooo,what do you think of the new TIA deal?opens up.As long as folks are openly discussing the issues there is still room for change.When fear is allowed to prosper we are already doomed.
I would encourage everyone to talk and talk some more.Sure,let your reps know how you feel,but more important in my view is our duty to allow our self as well as the "regular Joe"in our community not to be overwhelmed with the image of public opinion our mass media is spoonfeeding us.
To me it is quite clear that news as such is almost impossible to find anymore from the large newscompanies.Too much money and thereby conflict of interest involved.
Daniel,I want to thank you for your book,It is quite a gift for those of us who travel the path.
Anita

[daniel]

Anita,

Thanks so much for your post.

I have two rather contradictory thoughts.

1. Of course you are right about educating people, etc., but it seems more and more ridiculous to try to do it. Do I talk about TIA, the Patriot Act, the use of depleted uranium in Iraq and Afghanistan (irradiating sections of land for 4.5 billion years), low frequency sonar killing whales and dolphins, Indian Point nuclear reactor, the drug war and the privatized prison industry, the acceleration of climate change, the collapse of the oceans' food chains, topsoil depletion due to corporate agriculture, the RAVE Bill, the hegemonic corporate media's news black out, the Middle East oil grab planned for Iraq, Chemtrails, suspicions over the new "ATM-style" voting machines, GMOs potential hazards, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera?
What people must be educated to comprehend is that the fault runs through the entire logic of the present "suicide system," and this system will not - cannot - last much longer. But what kind of strategy or resistance is even useful or possible at this point? That is not a rhetorical question!

2 My second point is about the TIA system. Some of my psychedelic experiences suggested to me that such a system, on some hyperdimensional level, is already in place. Every transaction, every molecule or morsel of matter, is completely accounted for in the cosmological memory banks. So my feeling about TIA is that it is actually redundant - everything is already known, already recorded and scorecarded.

Whether it is eventually used to hoard many of us into detention camps or not, TIA is really a subconscious attempt to replicate by material means a cosmological fact.

[Anita]

Daniel,your second point is interesting to me.
I have had much the same experience you describe during my "sacred time".This will probably be one of my questions next time I meet with my friends.
I do however believe that one of our duties as men and women aspiring to a greater knowledge is to fight the fear in whatever way is presented to us.It is disquieting to see the change in the American workplace over the last year,I am of course talking about simple interaction between individuals.With the economy tightening and people losing their jobs there is a fear of making ones opinion heard,better to keep quiet and blend into the wallpaper.With the new Patriot act I believe this atmosphere of Fearfulness will increase.So,for myself,as a selfemployed person(Doing maintenance for a number of large companies)I feel it my duty to provide a "space"for folks I see every week to speak freely,to help an opinion to even form in the first place.If all my eggs were in one basket so to speak,I honestly do not know if I would be quite as outspoken.
So,to clarify my position,it is not so much about getting on a soapbox and educationg the "ignorant masses"as it is about fighting a feeling of hopelessness and fear.What I see happening now is that an awful lot of people are drawing into their shells,an attitude of suspiciousness born of fear.
Although I am not a christian I am and have been quite impressed with the tales of the early christians in the lionpits at the coloseum.They did not know fear,What did they know?
As I peep into these other dimensions?consciousness?A feeling of joy and humbleness have come over me,after all,I am but a pile of flesh and bones,an intricate biological mashine,but I am also so much more.I am a small part of ALL,and we all are part of this perfection.So not knowing anything much really,I can only act where my heart lives,or where my heart wants to be and fear does not know happiness.Having said that,I have found fear to be a most wonderful ally in dealing with the unspeakable,a good guide if you will,of course that is not to say that all that is feared is "bad"It is simply a heads up kind of emotion.
Enough ramblins'for now,Again,thanks for pointing out the similarities between the "cosmic"database and what the pentagon is doing now.
Of course,while I have trust in the intent of the intelligence behind the cosmic one,I am not so sure about Pointdexters brainchild.
These are the days we will talk about....
Anita

[daniel]

Anita,

You bring up the early Christian martyrs: "Although I am not a christian I am and have been quite impressed with the tales of the early christians in the lionpits at the coloseum. They did not know fear, What did they know?"

I've been wondering about this also. Steiner would say these martyrs were initiates who had direct access to the spiritual worlds through Christian esotericism. Death held little mystery for them. I suspect it was through their courageous actions in the physical world that they developed the requisit fearlessness for facing the spiritual realms. They used and perhaps intentionally chose their martyrdom as a means of preparation for the after-death state. "When you are reviled, rejoice and be exceedingly glad."

[tvsr]

"My second point is about the TIA system. Some of my psychedelic experiences suggested to me that such a system, on some hyperdimensional level, is already in place. Every transaction, every molecule or morsel of matter, is completely accounted for in the cosmological memory banks. So my feeling about TIA is that it is actually redundant - everything is already known, already recorded and scorecarded."

prophetically speaking the recreation of this system is just the making of the unholy trinity. the father will be the anti-christ figure, the son will be the false prophet, and this system which will eventually be known as the beast is just the holy spirit corrupted and used for the desire to obtain power.