Aah. i love the smell of the police state in the morning. Back in January I sent out Freedom of Information Act requests to various spook agencies in the US asking for any and all information (blahblahblah & etc.) they had pertaining to antiwar organizations, meetings activities etc. in Ohio , as well as requests for a few specific groups in the NE Ohio area. The FBI, Secret Service and the Defense Intelligence (sic) Agency all had the decency to pretend to try to answer the request - saying they had searched some list of major cases and there were no case files assigned specifically to the organizations I asked about. Except for the International Socialist Organization - the FBI has some files that may pertain to my request, but they haven't figured out what they might or might not send along to me.
Not the National Spook (Security) Agency. They took almost two pages to basically tell me to piss off - the president says they don't have to tell me. takes lots of words to try to perty up a load of manure and pass it off as some sort of rational legal justification. The full text can be found at the http://www.suejeffers.net/mabl/NSAFOIA.htm - but here's a few excerpts....
.......
As you know, the President of the United States "authorized the National Security Agency [(NSA)], consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations." The President also noted that, "[t]his is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security."
Rest assured that safeguards are in place to protect the civil liberties of U.S. citizens. However, because of the highly classified nature of the program, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records responsive to your request. The fact of the existence or non-existence of responsive records is a currently and properly classified matter in accordance with Executive Order 12958, as amended.
.........
Now, I was told by some rightwinger that the government had some really bad people to spy on, and it was ridiculous to think they would bother with the little old antiwar folk . I happen to agree, it is ridiculous that a government would spend their time and resources spying on us, and it would be nice if they would realize their error and stop all on their own. it also would be nice if my dog would learn english and stop barking. But the thing that bothered me about this letter is their assertion that they can do whatever the hell they wish and we (their employers) shouldn't bother our pretty little heads about it. rest assured, its for our own protection. It seems to be a form letter - we can't tell you if we're spying on your meetings or bugging your headboard - cuz that would help al queda.
I will be appealing, not so much because i believe there are records (but i wouldn't be suprised) but because i refuse to accept the bullshit that the decider is king, and won't have my employees telling me what they are doing is none of my business.
The problem is that everyone understands that secrecy is an effective strategy in some sorts of warfare. So there are these creepy mysterious guys in the corner saying: We're fighting a war you don't understand and that we can't tell you about. Trust us and give us money. People are afraid to call the bluff.
ReplyDeleteEspecially because it's sort of true. Terrists are plotting against us. It's easy for those people to convince themselves that their unique knowledge makes them special movie warriors who deserve free rein.
The main reform that I think could rationalize the situation would be to eliminate the Presidency. It's just insane to give one man/hillary that much power. There are numerous documented abuses of the secret services by US Presidents, and every reason of course to believe that most abuses are yet undocumented.