Police State

The Washington Post has more on those spies in the skies that we learned about recently. Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, says: "They are laying the bricks one at a time for a police state."

And just on the outside chance that that's true, let's have a look at somebody who's trying to defend against state spying.

Oakland lawyer Jon Eisenberg calls the case of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. George W. Bush the strangest he has ever handled. How strange? Eisenberg was required to write one of his briefs in a windowless government office, without notes or lawbooks, under the watchful eye of two federal security guards.

When he got hungry, one of the guards brought him a banana. And when he finished, a security official shredded all his drafts — and even the banana peel, Eisenberg said.

  LA Times

The case claims illegal spying by the government. There are others like it. The government's defense in these cases is that it can't say anything about the spying for national security reasons; then it files for dismissal.

But in the Al-Haramain case, the Treasury Department inadvertently disclosed National Security Agency call logs stamped "top secret" indicating that the charity and two of its attorneys had been surveilled. Last year, U.S. District Judge Garr King ruled that the logs -- referred to in the court papers as "The Document" — gave the charity standing to sue in federal court.

Fine, but they aren't finding it easy.

Many of the government's motions have been filed under seal, and those lodged publicly contain gaps; one government brief reads: "REDACTED TEXT. PUBLIC TEXT CONTINUES ON PAGE 6."

Some of Eisenberg's briefs have been redacted as well, because they are considered too sensitive for the public to see. But although Justice Department lawyers can see Eisenberg's redactions, he isn't allowed to see theirs.

In the Al-Haramain case, Eisenberg has had to respond to a government filing he was not allowed to see.

Asked Monday if there was any way, under the government's interpretation of the law, that someone could contest the surveillance program, a senior Justice Department official replied, "In the current context, no."

Tough luck.

Oversight of the department's use of the overhead imagery data would come from officials in the Department of Homeland Security and from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and would consist of reviews by agency inspectors general, lawyers and privacy officers. "We can give total assurance" that Americans' civil liberties will be protected, Allen said. "Americans shouldn't have any concerns about it."

  WaPo

I think you can imagine what I might have to say to that.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Spies in the Skies

In a striking but unnoticed extension of domestic surveillance, the little-known National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency deployed a U-2 spy plane on the region affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to track hazards to public health.

In an article Thursday, Salon's Tim Shorrock explores the emergence of the NGA, born in 1996 from a partnership between the CIA, the Pentagon and the agency that maintains America's spy satellites.

[...]

In a way, Shorrock suggests the visible mission of the U-2 over New Orleans is akin to the visible mission of the U-2 over the Soviet Union -- a tip of the iceberg in a much larger program that most of America knows nothing about.

  Raw Story

Count me in. I always assume that there are other agencies we aren't - and won't be - told about, but I never heard of the NGA before. I was out of the country when Katrina hit New Orleans, so if it was mentioned in the news at that time, I wouldn't have caught it.

In 2004, the National Security Agency (which has overseen Bush's warrantless wiretapping program) announced they'd signed an agreement with the NGA to share resources and staff, including their sources, information infrastructure and "exploitation techniques." The document itself is classified, though according to Salon an NGA press release explained "the pact allows 'horizontal integration' between the two agencies, defined as "working together from start to finish, using NGA's 'eyes' and NSA 'ears.'"

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

New Flight Rules

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that starting six months from now airlines operating international flights will be required to send the government their passenger list data before the planes take off rather than afterwards, as is now the case.

The early sharing of passenger information was designed to give U.S. authorities more time to identify and remove from flights suspected terrorists like Richard Reid, who attempted to light a shoe bomb on a trans-Atlantic flight in Dec. 2001.

"Now the airlines give us their manifests after the plane has left the ground and that is too late," Chertoff said.

  Yahoo

I suppose we will be sitting on the runway for a while longer then.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

A New Bush Lie

"When Congress sends me their version, when Congress listens to all the data and facts and they send me a version of how to close those gaps, I'll ask one question, and I'm going to ask the DNI: Does this legislation give you what you need to prevent an attack on the country? Is this what you need to do your job, Mr. DNI? That's the question I'm going to ask. And if the answer is yes, I'll sign the bill. And if the answer is no, I'm going to veto the bill.

And so far the Democrats in Congress have not drafted a bill I can sign. We've worked hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk."

There's only one problem with Bush's statement: it isn't true.

A key Democrat in the negotiations, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), says that a deal had in fact been reached with McConnell, who has been busy lobbying Congress on a FISA update all week. "We had an agreement with DNI McConnell," Hoyer spokeswoman Stacey Bernards tells TPMmuckraker, "and then the White House quashed the agreement."

  TPM Muckraker

Here's your challenge: What will be George's next question for "Mr. DNI"?

Warrantless Wiretapping and More

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell wrote in a letter that other aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic spying program remain classified, the Post said.

"That is the only aspect of the NSA activities that can be discussed publicly because it is the only aspect of those various activities whose existence has been officially acknowledged," McConnell wrote, according to the Post.

  Yahoo

That is so bizarre on too many levels. In a "free" world. But then, why not? We all agree that "officially" Area 51 doesn't exist, and nobody in any position will even talk about it.

Doesn't this all seem primitive? Like the sci-fi stories where the people (apes) won't venture beyond a certain perimeter because they've been told officially that for their national security, they musn't? Or how about when people accepted the fact that the earth was flat and you'd fall off the edge if you sailed too far? That wasn't even science fiction.

Man, we're a weird species.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

National Health Care Terror

It's picking up steam.

National Health Terrorism

MSNBC joins the bandwagon.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Private Health Care....

....a matter of national security?

Update: I want to pull out a section of Bob's comment (see comments link) and post it up front here:

Brilliant! That explains why 9/11 happened in Sweden, the anthrax attacks in Denmark, and the Oklahoma City bombing in Canada.