Conspiracy theories aside, this article at TomPaine.Com raises legitimate questions over the effectiveness and managerial wisdom regarding many post-0911 security "enhancements" in the country, and exactly how much trust should be placed in these new organizations with limited or nonexistent accountability controls for their actions.
The excessive layers of secrecy in the 'homeland security" area only acerbates the problem and prevents citizens from both knowing, and then hopefully trusting, these newly-established organs of state security. In addition, failing to provide recourse for citizens wronged by these new security programs when launching them only reinforces the perception, real or otherwise, that the citizenry really doesn't matter much when developing the mechanisms of "homeland security." Based on what I've seen thus far, I suspect that much of what is done under the reassuring name of "Homeland Security" would be better (and more accurately) characterized in reality as "faith-based security." Thoughts? I'll repost them in aggregate if there are enough of them. -rick Infowarrior.org >From TomPaine.Com (http://www.tompaine.com/print/flight_insecurity.php) The Transportation Security Administration�s �new� Secure Flight program would employ most of the elements of CAPPS II that generated heated opposition from privacy watchdogs�but repackaged with a slicker name while citizens' attention is distracted by the imminent elections. The concept�gathering and computer analyzing information about every traveler in an attempt to identify �dangerous� people�is unchanged from CAPPS II. The same fundamental problem also remains: attempting to sort citizens based on their alleged potential for violence merely distracts from creating sound security infrastructure. < snip > So what�s your recourse if you�re wrongly tagged? Incredibly, the TSA is exempting itself from federal law that would guarantee our right to know why if our name appears on a watch list. And after secretly obtaining millions of passenger records from airlines and deceiving the public about it, TSA officials say we should trust them to create an appeal process later. Meanwhile, the Bush Justice Department is ever more secretive about the issue. In September, the Department refused in federal court to either confirm or deny the existence of a law requiring that airline passengers show identification upon check-in. So the government has airlines enforcing a law that may or may not exist�a bit like the Fourth Amendment under John Ashcroft�s reign as attorney general. You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
