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Operation TIPS
RugerNiner
Member Posts: 12,636 ✭✭✭
Spying eyes
Operation TIPS will have workers searching for
'suspicious terrorist activity'
Coming at you sometime this summer will be Operation TIPS - a phalanx of one million well-trained civilian tipsters on the lookout for "suspicious terrorist activity."
Operation TIPS (the Terrorist Information and Prevention System) is part of President Bush's new Citizens Corps - a division of his USA Freedom Corps initiative. Beginning in August 2002, Operation TIPS, a pilot project run out of the Department of Justice, will dispatch one million workers - likely to include truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees and others - to run down and formally report "suspicious terrorist activity."
A few weeks back, the FBI unveiled its new domestic surveillance agenda. According to the Washington Post: "New Justice Department guidelines... give FBI agents latitude to monitor Internet sites, libraries and religious institutions without first having to offer evidence of potential criminal activity." The FBI's new powers are in accord with a number of other recent policy changes that are eating away at our civil liberties.
A few months ago William Safire, the dean of conservative columnists, wrote that "in case of an external threat, U.S. leaders are protecting the capital at the cost of every American's personal freedom." Although Safire could have been referring to any number of recent initiatives brewing in the Justice Department's policy cauldron these days, he was specifically talking about the Joint Operation Command Center of the Synchronized Operations Command Complex (SOCC). SOCC is slated to employ hundreds of cameras spread about the nation's capital while "50 officials monitor a wall of 40 video screens showing images of travelers, drivers, residents and pedestrians."
SOCC is just one weapon in the domestic counter-terrorism arsenal: A national ID card has been proposed; the USA-PATRIOT Act unleashed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency; face-recognition software is being tested; and the National Neighborhood Watch program is being augmented. (For more, see "Swimming with narcs: Surveillance cameras are watching you in the name of the 'war on terrorism '".)
Operation TIPS
According to the Operation TIPS website: "Every participant... will be given an Operation TIPS information sticker to be affixed to the cab of their vehicle or placed in some other public location so that the toll-free reporting number is readily available. Everywhere in America, a concerned worker can call a toll-free number and be connected directly to a hotline routing calls to the proper law enforcement agency... "
Participants in the program are being encouraged to create a "record of service" - a private journal of each individual's volunteer time and experiences - at the Citizens Corps website.
What constitutes "suspicious terrorist activity" more than nine months after September 11? In a rapidly evolving universe where the permanent war on terrorism defines almost everything, it's anybody's guess.
The roots of TIPS
In March, I talked with a spokesperson at the Justice Department who refused to disclose the make-up of the Task Force developing Operation TIPS, or where the idea for the program came from. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the roots of this particular project, when in doubt... think conservative think-tanks. These days, several right-wing policy institutes, including the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) to the Heritage Foundation, have developed some type of homeland security project.
In late-November, CSIS published To Prevail: An American Strategy for the Campaign Against Terrorism. This book posits that "one of the ways to help sustain this sense of national purpose over time will be to create opportunities for national service in the area of homeland security." Kurt M. Campbell and Michele A. Flournoy, the principal authors of To Prevail suggest that the "president should create a task force to explore the creation of a Homeland Security Service Corps for young and old Americans alike, who are prepared to give two years to help serve and protect the nation. Volunteers would be trained to serve in a variety of fields, including the Public Health Service, Airport Security, and the National Guard and Reserve."
At a January news conference, the two chairman of the Heritage Foundation's Homeland Security Task Force, former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Reagan administration counter-terrorism chief L. Paul Bremer, unveiled its report, "Defending the American Homeland."
The Heritage Foundation report recommends that "local police departments should include citizens' assessments of local threats and vulnerabilities through the Police-Citizen Interaction Committee (PCIC) mechanism - a formal platform for regular precinct-level meetings with citizens to discuss problems and solutions of interest to the community. Implementing community policing tactics, like PCICs, should not require federal funding."
While it acknowledges the importance of individuals volunteering, the report is primarily concerned with "unleash[ing] market forces to mobilize the private sector to promote infrastructure security," and the need for building a stronger private sector/government partnership.
In an op-ed piece in support of the Task Force's recommendations, posted at the foundation's website in late-January, Meese, along with Kim Holmes, director of the foundation's Homeland Security Project, argued that in order to defend the nation properly "we must downgrade functions of government not related to defense - particularly those that haven't proven effective."
In keeping with the promotion of Heritage's mission - privatization, de-regulation and smaller government - the Task Force maintains "many government initiatives, such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), antitrust legislation, liability concerns, and current tax policies, inhibit the development of a true partnership for security between the private sector and the government."
Due to the possibility of chemical and biological attacks, the Heritage Task Force recommends the creation of "a national surveillance system... built from the ground up. Local surveillance networks that collect information on, for example, the number of hospital admissions, school absences, and state employee absences each day should provide these data regularly to the states, and the states should then compile this information and make regular reports to the federal government."
Bringing it all back home
In early-January, the Christian Science Monitor reported on three incidents where Americans informed on other Americans who expressed criticism of the president's war on terrorism and other government policies.
- Agents from the FBI and Secret Service went to Houston's "Car Art Museum" after a tipster complained the tiny gallery was involved in "anti-American activity." An exhibit entitled "Secret Wars" that dealt with covert operations and government secrets provoked the complaint.
- Secret Service Agents and a local police officer questioned North Carolina college student A.J. Brown in the doorway of her home in response to a report she had displayed "un-American material" in her dorm room - in this case a poster critical of President Bush's stance on the death penalty.
- Two FBI agents quizzed San Francisco's Barry Reingold on his front doorstep in late October. The retired 60-year-old was amazed to discover that they were responding to comments made during a workout at a local gym that were critical of Bush. "Some fellow weightlifters called Reingold a disloyal American," reported the Monitor. "One, apparently, called the government."
In each of these cases, civilian tipsters alerted government officials to what they considered "suspicious" behavior. According to the Christian Science Monitor: "The rise in doorstep inquiries reflects, in part, a new law-enforcement reality."
William Safire concluded his column by writing that while "the promise [of SOCC] is greater safety; the trade-off is government control of individual lives."
If Operation TIPS planners are true to their word and one million workers are out looking for terrorists during the course of the daily activities, local police forces could have their hands full chasing down one lead after another. And, if Americans begin equating dissent with disloyalty, Operation TIPS could turn out to be more like a glorified patriotic junta patrol than a workable response to the threat of terrorism.
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
Operation TIPS will have workers searching for
'suspicious terrorist activity'
Coming at you sometime this summer will be Operation TIPS - a phalanx of one million well-trained civilian tipsters on the lookout for "suspicious terrorist activity."
Operation TIPS (the Terrorist Information and Prevention System) is part of President Bush's new Citizens Corps - a division of his USA Freedom Corps initiative. Beginning in August 2002, Operation TIPS, a pilot project run out of the Department of Justice, will dispatch one million workers - likely to include truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees and others - to run down and formally report "suspicious terrorist activity."
A few weeks back, the FBI unveiled its new domestic surveillance agenda. According to the Washington Post: "New Justice Department guidelines... give FBI agents latitude to monitor Internet sites, libraries and religious institutions without first having to offer evidence of potential criminal activity." The FBI's new powers are in accord with a number of other recent policy changes that are eating away at our civil liberties.
A few months ago William Safire, the dean of conservative columnists, wrote that "in case of an external threat, U.S. leaders are protecting the capital at the cost of every American's personal freedom." Although Safire could have been referring to any number of recent initiatives brewing in the Justice Department's policy cauldron these days, he was specifically talking about the Joint Operation Command Center of the Synchronized Operations Command Complex (SOCC). SOCC is slated to employ hundreds of cameras spread about the nation's capital while "50 officials monitor a wall of 40 video screens showing images of travelers, drivers, residents and pedestrians."
SOCC is just one weapon in the domestic counter-terrorism arsenal: A national ID card has been proposed; the USA-PATRIOT Act unleashed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency; face-recognition software is being tested; and the National Neighborhood Watch program is being augmented. (For more, see "Swimming with narcs: Surveillance cameras are watching you in the name of the 'war on terrorism '".)
Operation TIPS
According to the Operation TIPS website: "Every participant... will be given an Operation TIPS information sticker to be affixed to the cab of their vehicle or placed in some other public location so that the toll-free reporting number is readily available. Everywhere in America, a concerned worker can call a toll-free number and be connected directly to a hotline routing calls to the proper law enforcement agency... "
Participants in the program are being encouraged to create a "record of service" - a private journal of each individual's volunteer time and experiences - at the Citizens Corps website.
What constitutes "suspicious terrorist activity" more than nine months after September 11? In a rapidly evolving universe where the permanent war on terrorism defines almost everything, it's anybody's guess.
The roots of TIPS
In March, I talked with a spokesperson at the Justice Department who refused to disclose the make-up of the Task Force developing Operation TIPS, or where the idea for the program came from. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the roots of this particular project, when in doubt... think conservative think-tanks. These days, several right-wing policy institutes, including the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) to the Heritage Foundation, have developed some type of homeland security project.
In late-November, CSIS published To Prevail: An American Strategy for the Campaign Against Terrorism. This book posits that "one of the ways to help sustain this sense of national purpose over time will be to create opportunities for national service in the area of homeland security." Kurt M. Campbell and Michele A. Flournoy, the principal authors of To Prevail suggest that the "president should create a task force to explore the creation of a Homeland Security Service Corps for young and old Americans alike, who are prepared to give two years to help serve and protect the nation. Volunteers would be trained to serve in a variety of fields, including the Public Health Service, Airport Security, and the National Guard and Reserve."
At a January news conference, the two chairman of the Heritage Foundation's Homeland Security Task Force, former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Reagan administration counter-terrorism chief L. Paul Bremer, unveiled its report, "Defending the American Homeland."
The Heritage Foundation report recommends that "local police departments should include citizens' assessments of local threats and vulnerabilities through the Police-Citizen Interaction Committee (PCIC) mechanism - a formal platform for regular precinct-level meetings with citizens to discuss problems and solutions of interest to the community. Implementing community policing tactics, like PCICs, should not require federal funding."
While it acknowledges the importance of individuals volunteering, the report is primarily concerned with "unleash[ing] market forces to mobilize the private sector to promote infrastructure security," and the need for building a stronger private sector/government partnership.
In an op-ed piece in support of the Task Force's recommendations, posted at the foundation's website in late-January, Meese, along with Kim Holmes, director of the foundation's Homeland Security Project, argued that in order to defend the nation properly "we must downgrade functions of government not related to defense - particularly those that haven't proven effective."
In keeping with the promotion of Heritage's mission - privatization, de-regulation and smaller government - the Task Force maintains "many government initiatives, such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), antitrust legislation, liability concerns, and current tax policies, inhibit the development of a true partnership for security between the private sector and the government."
Due to the possibility of chemical and biological attacks, the Heritage Task Force recommends the creation of "a national surveillance system... built from the ground up. Local surveillance networks that collect information on, for example, the number of hospital admissions, school absences, and state employee absences each day should provide these data regularly to the states, and the states should then compile this information and make regular reports to the federal government."
Bringing it all back home
In early-January, the Christian Science Monitor reported on three incidents where Americans informed on other Americans who expressed criticism of the president's war on terrorism and other government policies.
- Agents from the FBI and Secret Service went to Houston's "Car Art Museum" after a tipster complained the tiny gallery was involved in "anti-American activity." An exhibit entitled "Secret Wars" that dealt with covert operations and government secrets provoked the complaint.
- Secret Service Agents and a local police officer questioned North Carolina college student A.J. Brown in the doorway of her home in response to a report she had displayed "un-American material" in her dorm room - in this case a poster critical of President Bush's stance on the death penalty.
- Two FBI agents quizzed San Francisco's Barry Reingold on his front doorstep in late October. The retired 60-year-old was amazed to discover that they were responding to comments made during a workout at a local gym that were critical of Bush. "Some fellow weightlifters called Reingold a disloyal American," reported the Monitor. "One, apparently, called the government."
In each of these cases, civilian tipsters alerted government officials to what they considered "suspicious" behavior. According to the Christian Science Monitor: "The rise in doorstep inquiries reflects, in part, a new law-enforcement reality."
William Safire concluded his column by writing that while "the promise [of SOCC] is greater safety; the trade-off is government control of individual lives."
If Operation TIPS planners are true to their word and one million workers are out looking for terrorists during the course of the daily activities, local police forces could have their hands full chasing down one lead after another. And, if Americans begin equating dissent with disloyalty, Operation TIPS could turn out to be more like a glorified patriotic junta patrol than a workable response to the threat of terrorism.
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
Keep your Powder dry and your Musket well oiled.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
Comments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 15, 2002
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today questioned the prudence of a proposed Bush Administration initiative that would recruit a million letter carriers, utility workers and others whose jobs allow them access to private residences into a contingent of organized government informants.
"The Administration apparently wants to implement a program that will turn local cable or gas or electrical technicians into government-sanctioned peeping toms," said Rachel King, an ACLU Legislative Counsel.
At issue is a program that will be bundled into President Bush's new volunteer Citizen Corps and called Operation TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System). According to the White House, Operation TIPS is scheduled to be introduced as a pilot project in August 2002 and would recruit one million volunteers in 10 cities across the country who would be encouraged to report suspicious, ostensibly terrorism-related activity. The program will target volunteers who because of their work as, for example, letter carriers and utility technicians are "well-positioned to recognize unusual events," the White House says.
The ACLU is concerned that law enforcement will use these new volunteers -- especially those whose occupations allow them to enter homes and monitor citizens - to search people's residences without a warrant. Also worrisome is the potential for the program to adversely affect the fight against terrorism by wasting resources on useless tips and the possibility that the program would encourage vigilantism and racial profiling.
The Washington Post editorialized against the program this weekend: "Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves."
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
AlleninAlaska
Free men are not equal and equal men are not free
and the dates ...they just let it happen .
Goverment KNOWS American Citizens will die by the millions when AMERICA gets NUKED ,they already know who haves them were they are and they will let it happen ......
WHY ? The agenda is made in USA and not Outside USA ... Go to
www.rense.com there are many ex-CIA ex-NSA there telling it as it is .
JD
400 million cows can't be wrong ( EAT GRASS !!! )
Gun Control is Hitting Your Target!
People that will actually be in your house.
Just think of the Ramifications.
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.