-Caveat Lector- >From Capitol Hill Blue
The Rant A setback for the new American Gestapo By DOUG THOMPSON Jan 24, 2003, 02:44 The United States Senate, in a rare show of courage in these "if it's anti-terrorist it must be all right" times, cut off funding Thursday for the Pentagon's super snoop computer project. By a voice vote, they blocked funding for the Total Information Awareness Project, a giant information gathering system that would have allowed Uncle Sam to track your financial transactions on a daily basis. "This makes it clear that Congress wants to make sure there is no snooping on law-abiding Americans," said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who sponsored the measure. "This was, without a doubt, the most far-reaching government surveillance program in history." The Senate action does not shut down the computer system. The Pentagon must come back before Congress, fully explain what the system can and cannot do, assess the impact on civil liberties and get permission before deploying it. And the Senate action is not yet law. It still must make it through a House of Representatives that seems more intent on rubber-stamping anything in the name of national security and also faces the usual House-Senate conference negotiations. And there is no guarantee that President George W. Bush, who obviously endorses the liberty-threatening actions of the Pentagon and his anti-civil liberties attorney general John Ashcroft, would sign such a bill if it reached his desk. But the vote shows there are at least a few people left in government who question the headlong rush to trample the Constitution and ignore the rights of Americans as long as it is part of the out-of-control "war on terrorism." Bush seems content to let Ashcroft run amuck at the Department of Justice and his new Homeland Security Department has enough power to become the new American Gestapo if both Ashcroft and Tom Ridge choose to employ the increased surveillance powers, relaxed restrictions on wiretaps and other personal invasion tactics allowed under the USA Patriot Act. The Total Information Awareness Project is the brainchild of former national security advisor John Poindexter, a retired Navy admiral convicted of lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra Scandal. His conviction was later overturned because he had negotiated an immunity plea with some idiot prosecutors who allowed him to admit to just about anything without fear of prosecution. If Ashcroft, Ridge and Poindexter have their way, no American will be safe from government surveillance. The Pentagon computer is designed to tie directly into the financial databases of banks, credit card companies, airlines, travel agencies and other companies that track spending and travel of Americans. The computer looks for patterns that someone decides indicates "suspicious" activity that might suggest terrorism and then that American is placed under increased surveillance, including wiretaps and shadowing by FBI agents. Last week, The Defense Department's inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, told Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a letter that the FBI was working on a memorandum of understanding with the Pentagon ``for possible experimentation'' with the data-mining project. This pissed Grassley off. He said the action "only heightens my concern about the blurring of lines between domestic law enforcement and military security efforts." Which, rightfully, worries some people. "At a time when Americans are calling for more privacy of personal information, this program would provide a backdoor to databases of private information," said the American Civil Liberties Union, the conservative Eagle Forum and seven other watchdog groups last week in a letter to Congress. Mark this date down. It may be the first and last time you see Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum and the American Civil Liberties Union in bed together. They should be worried. A legal screw up is the only thing that kept Poindexter from being a convicted felon. Ashcroft has a long and tawdry history of ignoring civil rights and Ridge has shown himself to be willing to do whatever the boys at 1600 Pennsylvania tell him to. If this trio gets their way, Americans may have to learn to goosestep before the next 4th of July parade. � Copyright 2003 Capitol Hill Blue <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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