The Terror of Pre-Crime

The Progressive ^ | September 2002 | Nat Hentoff

[robowombat]

Nat Hentoff

The Terror of Pre-Crime

John Ashcroft recently released his guidelines for investigating people he suspects as terrorists, and these guidelines exceed even J. Edgar Hoover's contempt for due process.

Activists particularly--and I expect the term applies to a good many readers of The Progressive--should know what may well be in store for them. On page three of "The Attorney General's Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigations," we are told: "A terrorism enterprise investigation may be initiated when facts or circumstances reasonably indicate that two or more persons are engaged in an enterprise for the purpose of . . . furthering political or social goals wholly or in part through activities that involve force or violence and a federal crime . . ."

Note the use of "reasonably" and "wholly or in part." These insidiously malleable guidelines for terrorism investigations could apply to political action (and the reaction) during demonstrations by environmentalists, anti-globalizationists, animal rights pickets, or union members on strike, as well as pro-lifers trying to talk, and only to talk, to women entering abortion clinics ("obstruction" at clinics can be a federal crime).

The guidelines go on to note that "the 'reasonable indication' standard for commencing a terrorism enterprise investigation is . . . substantially lower than probable cause." It is so low it could be part of the new Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report, which envisions the nabbing of "pre-criminals." As The Washington Times puts it, such pre-criminals are convicted "before they ever act on, or, in some cases, are even aware of, their murderous designs."

On page four of the Ashcroft Guidelines: "The nature of the conduct engaged in by a [terrorist] enterprise will justify an inference that the standard [for opening a criminal intelligence investigation] is satisfied, even if there are no known statements by participants that advocate or indicate planning for violence or other prohibited acts." (Emphasis added.)

The Attorney General, furthermore, extends the dragnet to make individuals in a group under suspicion responsible for what other members say or write: "A group's activities and the statements of its members may properly be considered in conjunction with each other. A combination of statements and activities may justify a determination that the threshold standard for a terrorism investigation is satisfied, even if the statements alone or the activities alone would not warrant such a determination." (Emphasis added.)

Also indicating the "pre-crime" mindset of Attorney General Ashcroft is the following paragraph. "While no particular factor or combination of factors is required, considerations that will generally be relevant whether the threshold standard for a terrorism investigation is satisfied includes as noted, a group's statements, its activities, and the nature of potential federal law violations suggested by its statements or its activities." (Emphasis added.)

Keep in mind the massive, pervasive electronic surveillance--with minimal judicial supervision under the USA Patriot Act--of inferential "pre-crime" conversations and messages, both sent and received. Add to that the FBI's power, under the same law, to break into your home or office, with a warrant, while you're not there, and inset "The Magic Lantern" into your computer to record every one of your keystrokes, including those not sent. Then add the Patriot Act's allowing the FBI to command bookstores and libraries to reveal the books bought or read by potential domestic terrorists.

You may now appreciate the prophecy of Senator Frank Church--who was instrumental in exposing the constitutional crimes of J. Edgar Hoover's Cointelpro operation--when he said in 1975 that future government intelligence capabilities could "at any time be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left--such is the capacity to monitor everything, telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter." And that was before the omnivorous, permeable Internet. The Web can be a spider web.

Senator Church, referring to "potential" enemies of the state, warned: "There would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know."

There is still time to fight back.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nat Hentoff is a columnist for The Village Voice, Legal Times, Editor&Publisher, and The Progressive.

[robowombat]

While the Progressive is a lefty screed Hentoff is a liberal who actually respects the Constitution for itself and not selectively to cover left wing causes only. Freepers ought pause and consider how a President Hillabat with someone such as Mark Shriver as AT could use the powers the current AT arrogates to himself against for instance this web site.

[Oschisms]

Sounds like Hentoff has already tried and convicted Ashcroft of violating someone's civil rights.

So who is using the "Pre-Crime" mindset? Ashcroft or Hentoff?

[AzJP]

Did I just hear George Orwell doing 360's in his grave?

[Thoudothprotest]

I agree with a lot of this article. I think Ashcroft is completely unfit for his job. I think most people will agree he was a thank you gift for the Christian base, and we are all finding out exactly how damaging that gift will be.

[lsee]

[Just another Joe]

Welcome to Amerika.

[Redbob]

"But, but, but... I thought if you weren't a criminal you have nothing to be afraid of?
Has that changed?"

No, ma'am, but the definition of "criminal" has!

[robowombat]

It is unlikely that the Ashcroft DOJ will use these powers to persecute right wing or conservative dissenters. Unfortunately the Bush administration may not be around after 2004 and in any case at some point in the future a Rat administration will be voted into office. The Rats are not going to change and are dedicated to a wide range of statist/socialist programs which they know are violently opposed by conservatives. Liberals literally hate people who adhrere to strong 2nd Amendment, antiabortion, limited government, prohome school ideas. They see them as the common enemies of mankind and deserving of any punishment that can be made to pass legal muster. They will use the powers that Hentoff writes of to actively persecute as many high profile cases against conservatives as possible with the goal of terrorizing the rest into silence if not acquiesence. The definition of terrorism will be conveniently reworked so that prolife groups, shooting clubs, and home school network members will find themselves designated as proto terrorists. Truth as liberals know is subjective so the fact that these cases will be basically lies interspersed with out of context quotations scooped up by various electronic monitoring measures will be irrelevant. In the mind of those who believe in social justice individuals are judged on the basis of what group they belong to not specific acts. That is why we all should fear the arrogation of unconstitutional powers by executive agencies. The administrative state is the friend of Hillary not of normal Americans.

[Pining_4_TX]

If the Clinton administration were proposing this stuff, we'd all be buying guns and looking up for the black helicopters. Government must always be watched, no matter who's in charge.

[gunnedah]

This situation is more grave than most understand and I include myself. When it comes to protecting America how far should we go? I have very little confidence in the system and I have said things in this forum that could cause them to investigate me and really I wouldnt care if I had confidence in the System of Justice in this country.I truly trust conservatives more than liberals but I believe when it comes to court if you dont have the money and they want you ,you are a goner.The system is in need of repair badly but at what expense.I dont have the answer,sometimes I wonder if their is any truth and justice left in America.In the courts truth is like beauty it lies in the eyes of the beholder.

[BluesDuke]

Nat Hentoff is as indispensable when discoursing on matters of the Constitution as he long has been when discoursing about jazz. His Free Speech For Me, But Not For Thee: How The Left and Right Censor Each Other and Living The Bill of Rights are likewise indispensable reading.

[Thoudothprotest]

Justice is truly for the haves as opposed to the have-nots, that is for sure. It does need overhauled. There is a "Too rich to ever go to prison" section in our society.

I have no idea how we could reform our system of Justice. I think decriminalization of drugs would be a good start. It would likely eliminate perhaps 50% of the caseloads of our police and courts, so that prosecutors and lawyers are not forced to plea bargain 80% of the cases and all would be assured a fair trial.

[marron]

War by definition is a state that exists when normal civil and criminal law are no longer adequate to defend us. That means, by definition, that we have arrived at the need to kill people without first reading them their rights. The people killed will be not only people we have unilaterally labeled as the enemy, but also any innoncent women and children and other non-combatants unlucky enough to be nearby when we launch the attack.

The fact that we are going to short-circuit normal legal boundaries, as we move in to slaughter people that no court has yet judged, is the reason we legally need a declaration of war. We need a legal finding that we are in a state of war, specifically because for the duration, we are not going to be restricted by normal law. If we believe you to be an enemy, you will not get to call your lawyer. You can surrender, if you do it quickly, and we will probably hold you until the conflict is over, and only then decide what to do with you.

If you do not surrender quickly, we will attack you, and you and anyone standing near you will likely be killed. And we will not likely entertain any lawsuit for damages afterward.

This is why its called war.

[JediGirl]

bttt

[robowombat]

Specifically the left thinks the people represented by this site are the enemy. "If we believe you to be an enemy, you will not get to call your lawyer." Is exactly what they want to be able to do to a lot of US citizens, and not naturalized ones from Arab states either. Unfortunately bureaucratic imperatives will trump constitutional legalism about a declaration of war. Bureaucrats wish as much latitude as possible to push empire building and conduct turf defense. The people at DOJ who make the day to day decisions about prosecutions and investigations are just as morally calloused as the French police during the 1939-45 period. When war began they arrested communists for opposing mobilization and egaging in sabotage, after June 1940 they persued resistants and Jews with equal zeal and after August 1944, aside from a few high ranking political figures in the surete, they arrested callaborators and Vicyites with the same efficiency they used a year before to round up Jews. By the same token the same people that write the instructions on proto terrorism today will be just as pleased to define groups such as this one as prototerrorists tomorrow to serve their new set of political masters.

[banjo joe]

You are entirely correct. Additional scenario: your local minister quotes certain passages from I or II Corinthians.

[Oschisms]

You made the point in far fewer words than Hentoff did, and without referencing some crappy movie.

[Leper Messiah]

bump

[marron]

Specifically the left thinks the people represented by this site are the enemy.

They're right, too.

[dcwusmc]

Enemy of the State bump.

I am a PROUD enemy of the coercive, war-on-everything-and-to-hell-with-the-Constitution, perpetual growth nanny state. BTW, are you aware that the Patents and Trademark Office will summarily delete and reject any patent application for a "perpetual motion machine" of any sort? I always thought it was because there could be nothing of the sort due to the laws of physics and all. I think now it was because we have one already and it can't be patented: The ever growing, perpetual motion FedGov.