Here’s Reason #4,739 in an ongoing series:
F.B.I. Data Mining Reached Beyond Initial Targets
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 — The F.B.I. cast a much wider net in its terrorism investigations than it has previously acknowledged by relying on telecommunications companies to analyze phone-call patterns of the associates of Americans who had come under suspicion, according to newly obtained bureau records. The documents indicate that the Federal Bureau of Investigation used secret demands for records to obtain data not only on individuals it saw as targets but also details on their “community of interest” — the network of people that the target was in contact with. The bureau stopped the practice early this year in part because of broader questions raised about its aggressive use of the records demands, which are known as national security letters, officials said.
The community of interest data sought by the F.B.I. is central to a data-mining technique intelligence officials call link analysis. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, American counterterrorism officials have turned more frequently to the technique, using communications patterns and other data to identify suspects who may not have any other known links to extremists.
The concept has strong government proponents who see it as a vital tool in predicting and preventing attacks, and it is also thought to have helped the National Security Agency identify targets for its domestic eavesdropping program. But privacy advocates, civil rights leaders and even some counterterrorism officials warn that link analysis can be misused to establish tenuous links to people who have no real connection to terrorism but may be drawn into an investigation nonetheless… (more)
Despite evidence to the contrary, we’re trained to believe that innocent people are never caught up in law enforcement investigations. And should the unthinkable occur, the movies show us that they will be exonerated in the end. The movies don’t generally show us whether they are restored to their former status – with family, reputation, livelihood, and back pay intact – but we seem to presume that will be the case.
We also want to believe, with all our hearts, that law enforcement agencies never overreach, never push that proverbial envelope, never outright break the laws they’re intended to enforce. I’m not sure why we hold tightly to the tenet that “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely” except when it comes to agencies like the FBI, but we do. Hell, there are people who listened to every excruciating minute of the US Attorney hearings, which branched off into the highly questionable hiring/firing practices throughout the Justice Department, and still insist that no one broke any laws – even after Monica Goodling admitted she did.
So we know that the FBI misused its authority by issuing National Security Letters, that it was forced to stop using the them (at least as far as we know) after its misbehavior was made public, and that a judge just declared the portion of the Patriot Act dealing with NSLs to be unconstitutional. Or we do if we’ve been watching the news or reading the paper. But do we really know it, in the part of ourselves that should be outraged about it?
I’m not sure we do, and that is even more frightening than the story itself. We’ve been told over and over that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms. Do we really think the best way to solve that problem is to give them up?
Tuesday is the sixth anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. Six years out, we have an administration that has no problem stepping all over the civil liberties of citizens and a Congress that can’t seem to summon the backbone to rein in the excesses. We have a president whose stated philosophy includes accruing as much power as possible to the executive branch (all the while pretending that some parts of the executive branch aren’t actually part of the executive branch, except when said parts need to take advantage of a grossly inflated concept of executive privilege) and a Congress that is terrified of being blamed in the event of another attack. We’re mired in the midst of one preemptive war and to all appearances contemplating another one. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden is still making videos (if that’s really him), and the Taliban has made a comeback in Afghanistan.
I don’t think I’d call that progress. But then again, why should I worry? I’m not doing anything wrong.
Great post, Kathy.
I think people who truly are leading blameless lives have little to fear. (Well, maybe not; there’s always mistaken/confused identities. I have a friend who spent years straightening out something involving the IRS, a mistyped social security number, and tons of photocopy mailing and international phone calls, all of which was on his nickel, as the burden of proof lay on him.) The problem lies with the vast majority of us who occasionally do stupid and wrong things. We deplore (well, most of us deplore) the “zero tolerance” laws that have landed felony charges on that poor kid who had the Swiss army knife in his car on school property. What I envision is a country where all the citizens are, in effect, being treated like high school students. Watched constantly and strictly governed by lots of restrictions that are “there for our own good” and are enforced without exception.
I still think the great leader is equal parts stupid and evil. But the Dark Vice Lord is one seriously evil mfer. The great masses don’t want to hear the truth. But keep telling it anyway.
I will not go into detail about my personal experience but will say, with all due respect, many times people that live blameless lives have a lot to fear. Many of the checks and balances that should protect us have eroded to the point where they jeopardize us.
Clearly these checks and balances that have been kept in place throughout the history of our precioius country are now being used to manipulate the government for the benefit and greed of a few.
Sometimes citizens in our country have their lives destroyed by people in leadership positions that believe that we are simply collateral damage.
Sadly, because of personal experience, I envision a country where we will all be scared, paranoid and fearful of our neighbors spying on us as we have severe restrictions imposed on us so the people at the top will have total power, control and more money than they could ever use.
I mean no offense. This subject really hit a nerve with me.
Mod Libby, I really wish you would share your story. It sounds very edifying, but also juicy
Del, I appreciate the smile.
Generally speaking, citizens that have been impacted this way, must try to find the balance of making others aware while preserving whatever is left of their lives.
I AM being evasive. My apologies.
Please read between the lines and know that I am simply trying to impart what little I can to let you know that there truly are some ugly things happening to blamesless citizens. People in power and in leadership positions can do what they want because the checks and balances are systematically being eroded. This has been going on for a while without most people even understanding that it is happening. When people finally do see the truth, it will probably be too late to repair the damage.
Sorry I cannot impart the juicy details. It is about self-preservation. I would send you a smiley face back. I just don’t know how to do it. LOL.
Oh well. I will have to let my imagination run wild.
Re the smiley: Kathy, or WordPress, or both, have something built in that changes the old-school smiley of a colon : plus a closing parenthesis ) into a smiley. Colon plus a capital P gets you a little face with a tongue sticking out. Semicolon plus a parenthesis gets you a winkie. Colon with a capital D gets you a really big smile, which may even qualify as a laugh.
There may be more. I look forward to experiencing your emotional effusions from now on.
This is why we all need to move to Canada….maple syrup anyone??
I like hockey. And Molson (a lot).