Posts in "DHS"

By Devon Minnema at 10:00AM

Dec 5, 2009

YAL@DHS Forum Pics

YAL@DHS held a forum luncheon on Nov. 19th as part of our national activism event for the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Former California liberty-candidate Gary Clift and Independent Institute Research Analyst Anthony Gregory answered questions during a luncheon at Dixon's Senior Multi-Use Center.

Gary Clift Fielding Questions

Anthony Gregory Fielding Questions

The FBI is stalking you...even though the DHS told them not to.

Newly declassified information has revealed some concerning activity on the part of the FBI:

A fast-growing FBI data-mining system billed as a tool for hunting terrorists is being used in hacker and domestic criminal investigations, and now contains tens of thousands of records from private corporate databases, including car-rental companies, large hotel chains and at least one national department store...

In other words, the FBI is keeping track of a lot of information about private citizens and obtaining it without warrants. Moreover, the Bureau wants to quadruple the staff of the tracking program to allow them to better keep an eye on all the terrorists this is supposedly going to catch.

The best part of this story is that even the Department of Homeland Security has said (albeit about a different specific program, but it's basically the same thing) data mining for terrorists is an ineffective plan which could lead to violations of privacy -- yes, that DHS, the one which runs the TSA, or airport security. And if those guys are concerned about privacy violation, this data mining stuff must be bad...I thought that's what the Fourth Amendment was supposed to be for?

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By Matt Cockerill at 11:22AM

Aug 23, 2009

Lessons from The Ridge Affair

Most Americans believe that while politicians may be corrupt creeps, the "national defense" establishment possesses some sort of magical Midas Touch. Despite the fact that the entire DHS/DOD apparatus is completely beholden to the whim of those supposedly rotten politicos, Americans see military bureaucrats as selfless and heroic. Never to be criticized, we indeed ought to worship all those who don a "sacred" government uniform.

However, the story about the Bush Administration's apparent willingness to manipulate the DHS "terror level" for wholly political reasons implies that we ought to reconsider that lazy, PC attitude. Fallible, ignoble politicians, who can't even manage to pay their own bills, are just as morally and functionally flimsy on "defense" issues as in all other matters. Remember, these are the same guys that ruined the economy and are consistently dishonest with the public.

I mean sheeeeesshhh. As if the Gulf of Tonkin "incident," the vastly overblown yet hysterically promoted, Nam-era "Domino Theory," and "Weapons of Mass Destruction" weren't enough evidence already! The military and the DHS are no worthier of our trust than Amtrak or FEMA.

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