The patriotic-sounding “USA Freedom Act” currently working its way through Congress is intended to blunt some of the nation’s anger at the warrantless surveillance of American citizens disclosed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Previous NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake characterizes the Act as “faux reform” and he knows a thing or two about the subject. As a crypto-linguist during the Cold War he studied how the East German Stasi spied on an entire nation and he found the NSA’s techniques chillingly similar.
Of all the Amendments to our Constitution, the Fourth is possibly the most important to individual liberties: “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.” “Effects” and “persons” still have the same meanings today as in 1792 when they were added to the Constitution, and the meaning is quite clear, yet the Fourth Amendment has never been violated as savagely as it is today.
After decades of warnings of a “creeping Security State” by Drake, Senator Frank Church, and others, we have finally arrived at the Police State. Unchecked surveillance of every citizen; police powers and technology increasing daily; police agencies and officers operating with relative impunity. Evidence obtained through warrantless surveillance is passed along to prosecutors. Defense attorneys are wiretapped. Gag orders prevent the accused from discussing details of their cases with lawyers or spouses. Kidnapping, torture, extortion and murder by faceless agencies and the executive branch go unpunished. Trade agreements are negotiated in secret, keeping even legislators in the dark. FISA courts rubber-stamp the illegal surveillance that normal courts would deny. The CIA spies on the Senate, and the Supreme Court’s mission seems to be making life great for corporations while rolling back the social gains of the last century.
In this “democracy” the very wealthy go largely unpunished while the very poor are hounded by arbitrary searches in communities with increasingly militarized police. Twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners are caged in our country. Thirteen states have passed laws making secret the mystery cocktails they inject into those condemned to death. Children are charged as adults and held in solitary confinement. Drones, cameras, bag checks, Shotspotters, cell tower dumps, cellphone “stingers,” license plate readers, fingerprint readers, retina scans, DNA registries, face recognition, kill switches on phones and cars, lie detectors, drug tests, stop and frisk, tasers, SWAT teams dispatched for minor crimes – this now characterizes law enforcement’s relationship to the public.
In 2010 Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and William Arkin counted some 1,271 government agencies and 1,931 corporations feeding at the homeland security trough in over 10,000 locations across the United States. DHS and Fusion programs grant police departments the latest military and surveillance gadgets. Ignoring Eisenhower’s warnings, the military-industrial complex has become a dangerous, bi-partisan revolving-door to corporate riches for every director of the DHS and countless program directors. This half-trillion dollar industry (apart from the Defense budget) includes many specialized lobbying groups such as the Secure Identity and Biometrics Association, which advocates for a biometric-based national identity card. Over five million Americans have security clearances and serve a Police State that the Stasi would have envied. And almost all of this is being deployed, not against terrorists, but against us, the American public.
In this year’s mid-term elections 33 Senate seats and 435 Congressional seats are up for grabs. To date only a handful of politicians have questioned the wholesale assault on democracy underway since 9/11. Virtually all, Republican and Democrat, just want the issue to go away because, hey, who wants to take on lobbyists from powerful industries?
It will take more than fake, patriotically-themed reform laws to do it. The “Patriot” Act must be repealed, not amended; the FISA courts dismantled, not tweaked; and spy agencies must be neutered and brought under meaningful Congressional control.
We need to bring democracy back.
This was published in the Standard Times on May 22, 2014
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20140522/opinion/405220357
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