As part of our increasing militarization of the police, the CIA has developed a handy workaround to spy domestically!
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the NYPD has become one of the country’s most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies. A months-long investigation by The Associated Press has revealed that the NYPD operates far outside its borders and targets ethnic communities in ways that would run afoul of civil liberties rules if practiced by the federal government. And it does so with unprecedented help from the CIA in a partnership that has blurred the bright line between foreign and domestic spying.
Neither the city council, which finances the department, nor the federal government, which contributes hundreds of millions of dollars each year, is told exactly what’s going on.
The department has dispatched teams of undercover officers, known as “rakers,” into minority neighborhoods as part of a human mapping program, according to officials directly involved in the program. They’ve monitored daily life in bookstores, bars, cafes and nightclubs. Police have also used informants, known as “mosque crawlers,” to monitor sermons, even when there’s no evidence of wrongdoing. NYPD officials have scrutinized imams and gathered intelligence on cab drivers and food cart vendors, jobs often done by Muslims.
The NSA has been spying on Americans for years. Check out the PROMIS software (developed by Bill Hamilton) case. Vince Foster was a liaison between the NSA and the CIA while he worked for the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock. Hillary’s connection and what Foster knew that may have led to his death remains an open question.
Foucault in Discipline and Punish and his long part on the Panopticon. Also the novel David Foster Wallace was working on when he died had a terrifying Panopticon in it at the IRS.
Increasing and ongoing surveillance will occur. Babies are under surveillance in their cribs – to protect them, eh. Children in school, their laptop sites censored or under surveillance, so they grow up with it. Do you think it will even occur to them to protest surveillance when they are adults. It is the water they have been swimming in.