Welcome
to the new American Garrison state. It is a prison without walls. The prisoners
are largely zombified by a vacuous and narcissistic popular culture broadcasted
into ever more spaces of everyday life and by pills for depression, anxiety, and
pain. Prisoners are constantly observed by automated programs mostly operated by independent
contractors without oversight. Any detections of wakefulness and dissent
trigger secondary and more invasive surveillance systems. I have even warranted
having my phone tapped on more than one occasion. Fear of indefinite detention
is real as the ancient right of habeas corpus has been destroyed by the growing
military-surveillance-industrial complex.
How
did we get here? We have to go back a few years to look at the legislation that
allowed the emergence of the military-surveillance-industrial state, a.k.a. the "Garrison State."
The
Bush Administration appealed to the U.S. Constitution’s vague but broad description
of presidential powers to push the privilege of executive authority (Leonnig,
2006). President Bush claimed unprecedented power, arguing he is not subject to
bills he authorizes (Weisman, 2007). Bush’s Vice President Cheney claimed that
his office was exempt from federal orders regulating handing of security
information; in 2007 he tried to abolish the office responsible for enforcing
those orders (Baker, 2007). However, perhaps the most ominous instances of
sovereign exceptionality revolved concerned the ancient and foundational right
of habeas corpus.
The
Bush administration pursued secret detention and rendition of “terrorist”
suspects within the U.S. and abroad. These suspects, some of whom are citizens
of western “democratic” states such as the U.S., Canada, and Australia, often
ended up in “secret” prisons abroad where they were (are?) subject to “aggressive”
interrogation techniques including psychological and corporeal torture (Moore,
2007), and lacked access to juridical protections. Journalists seeking to
publicize these events were threatened with censorship and criminal charges,
including war crimes accusations (Stone, 2006). When forced to vindicate
illegal extraditions and torture, the Bush administration asserted detainees
were war combatants who lack protection by Geneva Conventions (DeYoung, 2007).
U.S. judicial authorities stymied efforts by the wrongly accused to challenge
detention and torture, arguing judicial review would expose state secrets
(Sherman, 2007).
Dclassification
of the CIA’s “family jewels” documented historically that U.S. politicians knowingly
violated the constraints of international and national law across the second
half of the twentieth century using banned strategies such as press censorship
and harassment, targeted assassinations, and torture (DeYoung & Pincus,
2007, A1). As revealed by these documents, there is nothing new about the use
of sovereign decisionality to strip individuals of all rights and protections. The very perseverance and typicality of these
operations calls into question the existential viability of liberal
protections.
What
was new with the Bush Administration was the transformation of law to
legitimize these acts of sovereign decisionality. After
the Supreme Court’s ruling that enemy combatants were protected by Geneva
Conventions, the Bush administration passed new rules in 2006, and again in
2007, for interrogation and prosecution allowing aggressive methods,
retroactively protecting American military and personnel who previously
tortured suspects, and severely limiting courtroom rights for those defendants
fortunate enough to be granted trials (DeYoung, 2007; Fletcher, 2006a). The
2006 rules were justified by their purported role in preventing terrorist
attacks:
This
program has been one of the must successful intelligence efforts in American
history. . . . It has helped prevent attacks on our country. And the bill I
sign today will ensure that we can continue to use this vital tool to protect
the American people for years to come. (Bush cited in Fletcher, 2006a, p. A4)
Continued allegations
of CIA detainee abuse in 2007 met with claims that CIA interrogation programs
were conducted “lawfully, with great care and close review, producing vital
information that has helped disrupt terrorist plots and save lives” (cited in
White & Tyson, 2007, p. A1). The rules passed in the summer of 2007
provided new protocols allowing “harsh interrogation” while offering only the
most basic levels of biological protection to prisoners, rendering them simply
bare life. Accordingly, a senior administration
official stated any future use of “extremes of heat and cold” would be subject
to a "reasonable interpretation . . . we're not talking about forcibly
induced hypothermia" (quoted in DeYoung, 2007, p. A1).
Foreigners
were not the only ones to have basic rights violated. Passage of the Patriot Act
in October 2001 expanded legal surveillance while public concern about personal
security fostered support for heightened surveillance. Then, in 2006, Bush
justified the “need” for greater wiretap authority by appealing to changing
technologies which demand application of more pervasive surveillance systems: “The
nature of communications has changed quite dramatically,” Bush warned in an
address, “The terrorists who want to harm America can now buy disposable cell
phones and open anonymous e-mail messages. Our laws need to change to take
these changes into account” (cited in Asthana & DeYoung, 2006, p. A1). In
2007, Bush’s administration revised the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act (FISA), which stipulates the conditions under which the government can
conduct surveillance. Revisions expanded potential targets for surveillance and
warrantless surveillance (Pincus, 2007). Additionally, federal authorities
unveiled a new initiative which allowed federal, state, local and tribal agents
to use data from spy satellites for domestic enforcement of civil and criminal
law (Warrick, 2007). Meanwhile, federal
money brought surveillance cameras to small towns to protect against terrorist
threats (Fahrenthold, 2006). Additionally, the Homeland Security Department
created a unit to combat “homegrown terrorists,” targeting radicalization at
prisons and universities (Hall, 2007, p. A4).
Obama’s
legacy is just as bad, although the scandals about torture have subsided. Laura
Pitter, counterterrorism adviser to Human Rights Watch: "From a legacy perspective,
he's basically the first president in history to authorize indefinite detention
without trial in the United States of America (cited in Perez & Hughes,
2011, p. A6). The legislation allowing indefinite detentions is the Detention Authority Provisions in S.
1253, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. The ACLU
wrote a letter to Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Commision on the Judiciary
regarding regarding Sections 1031, 1032, and 1036 because they allow indefinite
detentions without trail, even for American citizens.
Link to the ACLU Letter (A Must
Read)
Current
headlines suggest that past concerns that these new laws would violate US
citizens right to privacy were correct: Dana Priest and William Arkin of the Washington Post have documented this vast empire of private
contractors and government organizations that monitor, assemble, and attempt to
analyze vast amounts of data on Americans viewing habits, memberships, online
activities, etc.http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/monitoring-america/1/.
Now, more evidence shows that concerns about the violation of US citizens privacy
were valid:
Privacy rights violated at least once by U.S. intelligence-collection
initiative, official says , The Washington Post
The
acknowledgment came in a letter Friday from the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) declassifying
several of Wyden’s statements regarding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act Amendments Act of 2008.
The
FISA Amendments Act allows the government to collect, inside the United States
and without a warrant, the communication of foreign targets located abroad.
Americans’ communications can be picked up if they are talking to, or
e-mailing, the foreign target. The communications are gathered from commercial
providers under a directive from senior government officials, following court
approval.
Majia here: Under Obama the most notable expansion of
the surveillance-security-military-state involves the expansion of the use of
drones:
New Surveillance Devices Compromise Constitutional Right to Privacy http://video.designworldonline.com/bugbots.html
The NSA Is Watching YouBy Amy Goodman, Truthdig 26 April 12http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/294-159/11144-the-nsa-is-watching-you
[Excerpted] "Three targeted Americans: A career government
intelligence official, a filmmaker and a hacker. None of these U.S. citizens
was charged with a crime, but they have been tracked, surveilled, detained -
sometimes at gunpoint - and interrogated, with no access to a lawyer. Each
remains resolute in standing up to the increasing government crackdown on
dissent...."
"U.S. Relaxes Drone Rules: Obama Gives CIA, Military Greater Leeway in Use Against Militants in Yemen." The Wall Street Journal April 26, 2012
Influence Industry:
Little lobbying opposition to bill opening up U.S. airspace to drones. By Dan
Eggen & T.W. Farnam. Washington Post April 26, 2012: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/little-lobbying-opposition-to-bill-opening-up-us-airspace-to-drones/2012/04/25/gIQAPIrphT_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&sub=AR
New York Times: "New Guidelines for the National Counterterrorism Center" March 22 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/us/politics/us-moves-to-relax-some-restrictions-for-counterterrorism-analysis.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120323
[excerpt] "The guidelines
will lengthen to five years — from 180 days — the amount of time the center can
retain private information about Americans when there is no suspicion that they
are tied to terrorism, intelligence officials said. The guidelines are also
expected to result in the center making more copies of entire databases and
“data mining them” using complex algorithms to search for patterns that could
indicate a threat..."
Surveillance abroad has also expanded:
By Craig Whitlock, Published: June
13The Washington Post Burkina Faso —
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-expands-secret-intelligence-operations-in-africa/2012/06/13/gJQAHyvAbV_story.html
[Excerpted] "The U.S. military is expanding its secret intelligence operations across Africa, establishing a network of small air bases to spy on terrorist hideouts from the fringes of the Sahara to jungle terrain along the equator, according to documents and people involved in the project.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-expands-secret-intelligence-operations-in-africa/2012/06/13/gJQAHyvAbV_story.html
[Excerpted] "The U.S. military is expanding its secret intelligence operations across Africa, establishing a network of small air bases to spy on terrorist hideouts from the fringes of the Sahara to jungle terrain along the equator, according to documents and people involved in the project.
Privatization of the “war on terror” has further
reduced transparency and accountability of the growing military-surveillance
industrial society.
Privatizing the War on Terror By John
W. Whitehead, Antiwar.com 18 January 12 http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/306-10/9505-privatizing-the-war-on-terror
Janine Wedel's series on the Shadow Elite:
[excerpted] "Many
contractors are integrally involved in formulating and influencing policy on
issues ranging from defense (as seen in the mentoring program), to the economy
and energy to homeland security and intelligence.
Even when many, if not most, of these contractors perform admirably, whether
contractors always have the public interest at heart, or whether, beholden to
shareholders, they might have their own...." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janine-r-wedel/emshadow-eliteem-selling_b_655392.html
Welcome to the New American Garrison State: You Can
Check Out Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Really Leave
RELATED BLOG POSTS
Transformation of American society into a “garrison state” http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/us-as-garrison-state-educating-for.html
REFERENCES
Asthana,
A., & DeYoung, K. (2006, September 8). Bush calls for greater wiretap
authority. The Washington Post, p.
A1.
Baker,
P. (2007, June 22). Cheney defiant on classified material executive order
ignored since 2003. The Washington Post,
p. A1.
DeYoung, K. (2007, July 21). Bush approves new CIA methods. The Washington Post, p. A1.
DeYoung,
K., & Pincus, W. (2007, June 22). CIA to air decades of its dirty laundry. The Washington Post, p. A1.
Fahrenthold,
D. A. (2006, January 19). Federal grants bring surveillance cameras to small towns.
The Washington Post, p. A1.
Fletcher,
M. A. (2006a, October 18). Bush signs terrorism measure. The Washington Post, p. A4.
Fletcher,
M. A. (2006b, September 6). Bush warns of enduring terror threat. The Washington Post, p. A1.
Hall, M. (2007, March 15). Homegrown terrorists’
focus of new unit. The Arizona Republic,
p. A4.
Leonnig,
C. (2006, January 7). Report rebuts Bush on spying. The Washington Post, p. A1.
Leonnig, C. D., & Rich, E. (2006). U.S. seeks silence
on CIA prisons. The Washington Post,
p. A1.
Moore,
M. (2007, June 9). Report gives details on CIA prisons. Washington Post, p. A1.
Perez
E., & Hughes, S. (2011, December 15). Obama Withdraws Threat of Veto Over
Detainee Rules. The Wall Street Journal, p. A6
Pincus,
W. (2007, April 14). Administration seeks to expand surveillance law. The Washington Post, p. A3.
Sherman,
M. (2007, October 10). U.S. Justices don’t touch Bush policy on secrets. The Arizona Republic, p. A1, A6.
Shenon, P. (2007, October 19). Senators clash with nominee about
torture. The New York Times, p. A1.
Stone, G. (2006, May 8). Scared of scoops. The New York Times, p. A21.
Warrick,
J. (2007, August 16). Domestic use of spy satellites to widen. The Washington Post, A1.
White,
J., & Tyson, A. S. (2007, March 31). Detainee alleges abuse in CIA prison. The Washington Post, p. A1.
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