Posted on 06/19/2014 3:52:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Think the National Security Agency is doing enough snooping in “The Homeland?” A federal spying coalition aims to drill deeper under the Orwellian title, Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee.
“Call it massive surveillance of the U.S. population,” said John Whitehead, president of the civil libertarian Rutherford Institute.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder soft-pedaled DTEC earlier this month.
He said the committee — whose members are not yet known — would “coordinate closely with U.S. attorneys and other key public safety officials across the country to promote information-sharing and ensure an effective, responsive and organized joint effort.”
Whitehead and other skeptics are not assuaged.
“This is a government exercise to chill free speech and further nationalize the police force,” Whitehead told Watchdog from his Charlottesville, Va., office.
Gabriel Rottman, the American Civil Liberties Union’s legislative counsel on the First Amendment, told Reason magazine: “Given the already lenient standards for when the government can launch an investigation, the task force is both unnecessary and an invitation to investigate Americans because of the beliefs they hold, not because of any wrongdoing.”
While the Southern Poverty Law Center hailed Holder’s pivot against “domestic terrorists” and the “hate groups” it lists, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said DTEC’s mission to root out “anti-government animus” practically screams abuse.
“Would a group advocating strenuously for smaller government and lower taxes be included in the attorney general’s definition of a group with ‘anti-government animus?’” the House Judiciary Committee chairman asked at a recent congressional hearing.
Goodlatte didn’t get a straight answer from FBI Director James Comey.
With no congressional approval of DTEC required under the Patriot Act, and no budget transparency, Whitehead expects the worst.
“The object is not to find a jihadist, but to watch people and to stop dissent through intimidation,” he said. “The government is moving heavily into what’s called ‘pre-crime.’ It’s watching everything.”
Whitehead noted the apprehension of a Marine veteran who had posted anti-government comments on a Facebook page. A Secret Service task force, along with local police, incarcerated Brandon Raub involuntarily in a psychiatric facility — until Rutherford lawyers freed the Virginia man.
Whitehead’s takeaway from that Soviet-style treatment of a U.S. citizen: “If you’re chatting (online), you’re talking to the government.”
Advances in technology and the rapid growth of a privatized homeland security industry since 9/11 will help DTEC cast an even broader net, he warned.
“The stuff we used to regard as free speech isn’t any longer.”
In France this was the “Committee for Public Safety”.. How long before their “Reign of Terror” begins (if it has not already) is not yet clear.
The democrats watch your every move.
Yet they cannot locate some emails from one of the “elite”.
The progressive-dominated governing class is our society's autoimmune disease.
From the Chambers to the chamber pot..
Void the bowels of Washington, D.C. 2014 - 2016
That may solve the problem. Doc WoC.
More loon material because they cant get things through congress. They are so bitter and pouting.
“As President Obama has said, after years of strong and effective anti-terror efforts post-9/11, the United States has significantly reduced the threats we face from core al Qaeda. However, the threat posed by Islamic extremist satellite groups – from al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen, to al-Shabaab in Somalia – and individuals inspired by their violent ideology remains a significant concern. We must remain vigilant against this threat both here and around the world.
“But we also must concern ourselves with the continued danger we face from individuals within our own borders who may be motivated by a variety of other causes from anti-government animus to racial prejudice. To that end, I am announcing today that the Department of Justice is reconstituting a committee on domestic terrorism that was first established nearly 20 years ago under my predecessor, Attorney General Janet Reno, in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. In the wake of that incident, the committee met regularly to assess and share information about such ongoing domestic terror threats.”
-Eric Holder
Ahh, the good ol days.
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