Land of the Free, Home of the Brave
Jul. 14th, 2002 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
infrogmationvia Sidney Morning Herald:
US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies
By Ritt Goldstein
July 15 2002
The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.
The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".
Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.
As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.
Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits.
A pilot program, described on the government Web site
www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage. Assuming the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.
Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports.
Present Justice Department procedures mean that informant reports will enter databases for future reference and/or action. The information will then be broadly available within the department, related agencies and local police forces. The targeted individual will remain unaware of the existence of the report and of its contents.
The Patriot Act already provides for a person's home to be searched without that person being informed that a search was ever performed, or of any surveillance devices that were implanted.
At state and local levels the TIPS program will be co- ordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was given sweeping new powers, including internment, as part of the Reagan Administration's national security initiatives. Many key figures of the Reagan era are part of the Bush Administration.
The creation of a US "shadow government", operating in secret, was another Reagan national security initiative.
Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in the movement for US law enforcement accountability. He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there, saying he was the victim of life-threatening assaults in retaliation for his accountability efforts. His application has been supported by the European Parliament, five of Sweden's seven big political parties, clergy, and Amnesty and other rights groups.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html
From Washington Post:
What Is Operation TIPS?
THE JUSTICE Department is not saying much about the Terrorism Information and Prevention System -- otherwise known as Operation TIPS -- which is due to begin as a pilot program later this summer. Apparently the only public information about the program, in fact, is on a government Web site, which describes it as "a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity." Operation TIPS will, in the pilot stage, involve a million workers, who, "in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to serve as extra eyes and ears for law enforcement." It will offer them "training . . . in how to look out for suspicious and potentially terrorist-related activity." It will also provide "a formal way to report" that activity "through a single and coordinated toll-free number." This description, which is essentially all we know about the program, poses more questions than it answers.
Public vigilance is a good thing, and so is encouraging citizens to alert authorities to terrorist activity. It makes sense to educate people who work at potential targets or at places where lethal cargo may be smuggled. But having the government recruit informants among letter carriers and utility workers -- people who enter the homes of Americans for reasons unrelated to law enforcement -- is an entirely different matter. Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.
From the sketchy descriptions of the program so far, it is impossible to determine with any precision what the government is intending. Is TIPS to be principally focused on cargo shipping or on people in their homes? What sort of home activities will the government be urging workers to report to authorities? And what incentives, if any, will be used to encourage volunteers? Nor is it clear whether the program will be effective. It is easy to imagine how such a program might produce little or no useful information but would flood law enforcement with endless suspicions that would divert authorities from more promising investigative avenues. A White House official told us that the program will be focused more on suspicious activities around neighborhoods than inside homes. And a Justice Department spokeswoman says that the program is still "in its early planning stages." The administration owes a fuller explanation before launch day.
THE JUSTICE Department is not saying much about the Terrorism Information and Prevention System -- otherwise known as Operation TIPS -- which is due to begin as a pilot program later this summer. Apparently the only public information about the program, in fact, is on a government Web site, which describes it as "a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity." Operation TIPS will, in the pilot stage, involve a million workers, who, "in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to serve as extra eyes and ears for law enforcement." It will offer them "training . . . in how to look out for suspicious and potentially terrorist-related activity." It will also provide "a formal way to report" that activity "through a single and coordinated toll-free number." This description, which is essentially all we know about the program, poses more questions than it answers.
Public vigilance is a good thing, and so is encouraging citizens to alert authorities to terrorist activity. It makes sense to educate people who work at potential targets or at places where lethal cargo may be smuggled. But having the government recruit informants among letter carriers and utility workers -- people who enter the homes of Americans for reasons unrelated to law enforcement -- is an entirely different matter. Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.
From the sketchy descriptions of the program so far, it is impossible to determine with any precision what the government is intending. Is TIPS to be principally focused on cargo shipping or on people in their homes? What sort of home activities will the government be urging workers to report to authorities? And what incentives, if any, will be used to encourage volunteers? Nor is it clear whether the program will be effective. It is easy to imagine how such a program might produce little or no useful information but would flood law enforcement with endless suspicions that would divert authorities from more promising investigative avenues. A White House official told us that the program will be focused more on suspicious activities around neighborhoods than inside homes. And a Justice Department spokeswoman says that the program is still "in its early planning stages." The administration owes a fuller explanation before launch day.
Source Article
http://www.citizencorps.gov/
"Americans are working together to strengthen their communities. President George W. Bush is working to support community-based efforts through the newly-proposed Citizen Corps. This broad network of volunteer efforts will harness the power of the American people by relying on their individual skills and interests to prepare local communities to effectively prevent and respond to the threats of terrorism, crime, or any kind of disaster.
On this site, you can learn more about each of the programs that are currently part of Citizen Corps. Think about where your skills and abilities are most needed. When you sign up for information, you will be contacted as soon as possible to let you know what your next steps should be.
The programs profiled on this site are only the beginning of the Citizen Corps initiative. As more programs are added, there will be more ways for you to contribute your time, energy, and creativity to make Citizen Corps and America even stronger. "
US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies
By Ritt Goldstein
July 15 2002
The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.
The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".
Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.
As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.
Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits.
A pilot program, described on the government Web site
www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage. Assuming the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.
Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports.
Present Justice Department procedures mean that informant reports will enter databases for future reference and/or action. The information will then be broadly available within the department, related agencies and local police forces. The targeted individual will remain unaware of the existence of the report and of its contents.
The Patriot Act already provides for a person's home to be searched without that person being informed that a search was ever performed, or of any surveillance devices that were implanted.
At state and local levels the TIPS program will be co- ordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was given sweeping new powers, including internment, as part of the Reagan Administration's national security initiatives. Many key figures of the Reagan era are part of the Bush Administration.
The creation of a US "shadow government", operating in secret, was another Reagan national security initiative.
Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in the movement for US law enforcement accountability. He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there, saying he was the victim of life-threatening assaults in retaliation for his accountability efforts. His application has been supported by the European Parliament, five of Sweden's seven big political parties, clergy, and Amnesty and other rights groups.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html
From Washington Post:
What Is Operation TIPS?
THE JUSTICE Department is not saying much about the Terrorism Information and Prevention System -- otherwise known as Operation TIPS -- which is due to begin as a pilot program later this summer. Apparently the only public information about the program, in fact, is on a government Web site, which describes it as "a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity." Operation TIPS will, in the pilot stage, involve a million workers, who, "in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to serve as extra eyes and ears for law enforcement." It will offer them "training . . . in how to look out for suspicious and potentially terrorist-related activity." It will also provide "a formal way to report" that activity "through a single and coordinated toll-free number." This description, which is essentially all we know about the program, poses more questions than it answers.
Public vigilance is a good thing, and so is encouraging citizens to alert authorities to terrorist activity. It makes sense to educate people who work at potential targets or at places where lethal cargo may be smuggled. But having the government recruit informants among letter carriers and utility workers -- people who enter the homes of Americans for reasons unrelated to law enforcement -- is an entirely different matter. Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.
From the sketchy descriptions of the program so far, it is impossible to determine with any precision what the government is intending. Is TIPS to be principally focused on cargo shipping or on people in their homes? What sort of home activities will the government be urging workers to report to authorities? And what incentives, if any, will be used to encourage volunteers? Nor is it clear whether the program will be effective. It is easy to imagine how such a program might produce little or no useful information but would flood law enforcement with endless suspicions that would divert authorities from more promising investigative avenues. A White House official told us that the program will be focused more on suspicious activities around neighborhoods than inside homes. And a Justice Department spokeswoman says that the program is still "in its early planning stages." The administration owes a fuller explanation before launch day.
THE JUSTICE Department is not saying much about the Terrorism Information and Prevention System -- otherwise known as Operation TIPS -- which is due to begin as a pilot program later this summer. Apparently the only public information about the program, in fact, is on a government Web site, which describes it as "a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity." Operation TIPS will, in the pilot stage, involve a million workers, who, "in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to serve as extra eyes and ears for law enforcement." It will offer them "training . . . in how to look out for suspicious and potentially terrorist-related activity." It will also provide "a formal way to report" that activity "through a single and coordinated toll-free number." This description, which is essentially all we know about the program, poses more questions than it answers.
Public vigilance is a good thing, and so is encouraging citizens to alert authorities to terrorist activity. It makes sense to educate people who work at potential targets or at places where lethal cargo may be smuggled. But having the government recruit informants among letter carriers and utility workers -- people who enter the homes of Americans for reasons unrelated to law enforcement -- is an entirely different matter. Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.
From the sketchy descriptions of the program so far, it is impossible to determine with any precision what the government is intending. Is TIPS to be principally focused on cargo shipping or on people in their homes? What sort of home activities will the government be urging workers to report to authorities? And what incentives, if any, will be used to encourage volunteers? Nor is it clear whether the program will be effective. It is easy to imagine how such a program might produce little or no useful information but would flood law enforcement with endless suspicions that would divert authorities from more promising investigative avenues. A White House official told us that the program will be focused more on suspicious activities around neighborhoods than inside homes. And a Justice Department spokeswoman says that the program is still "in its early planning stages." The administration owes a fuller explanation before launch day.
Source Article
http://www.citizencorps.gov/
"Americans are working together to strengthen their communities. President George W. Bush is working to support community-based efforts through the newly-proposed Citizen Corps. This broad network of volunteer efforts will harness the power of the American people by relying on their individual skills and interests to prepare local communities to effectively prevent and respond to the threats of terrorism, crime, or any kind of disaster.
On this site, you can learn more about each of the programs that are currently part of Citizen Corps. Think about where your skills and abilities are most needed. When you sign up for information, you will be contacted as soon as possible to let you know what your next steps should be.
The programs profiled on this site are only the beginning of the Citizen Corps initiative. As more programs are added, there will be more ways for you to contribute your time, energy, and creativity to make Citizen Corps and America even stronger. "
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-07-14 11:30 pm (UTC)That's one of the scariest things I've ever read. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
I was browsing my friends friends journals. Looks like we both have
Oh, and I grew up in New Orleans. Oh, and I find the Mayan culture fascinating, and try to live by the Dreamspell version of their calendar. :) Hello, nice to meet you.
Have you checked out the
no subject
Date: 2002-07-15 01:45 am (UTC)-- Schwa ---
no subject
Date: 2002-07-15 01:59 am (UTC)to overuse the analogy, has no one in this country read any 1984?
no subject
Date: 2002-07-15 03:34 am (UTC)fix unemployment
Date: 2002-07-15 05:17 am (UTC)I wouldn't be surprised if the USPS's contract with the government actually prohibits this kind of surveillance activity. Government contracts are generally extremely strict about security (as our lowercase friend can tell us). Actually, are USPS employees still classed as Federal employees? Since the surveillance would presumably be done on their work time, that would make it pretty clearly illegal, Patriot Act or no.
Hmmm...
Re: fix unemployment
Date: 2002-07-15 05:29 pm (UTC)Democracy: Where you (and everyone else) is in on the conspiracy.