And you thought the CDN/US Border was a hassle...

[E_B_Samaritano]

Well folks,

Just when you've been told we're working out our differences over border hassles of Canadian citizens born in ME countries, we have something new in store, not only for visitors, but for our own Iraqi born citizens as well.

You are now getting a full dose of right wing McCarthyism at its best. Brought to you courtesy of our distinguished AG..John Asscraft we have a new operation which can best be described as Orwells' 1984 reenacted in 2002. There has even been a discussion amongst the National Security Team that examines stripping the FBI of their internal security responsibility and forming our own "MI-5". This only days after the passage of the Homeland Security Act.

From the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/17/politics/17INTE.html

"A large number of government agencies are part of the new operation, including the Pentagon, the F.B.I., the Central Intelligence Agency, the immigration service, the State Department and the National Security Agency, which eavesdrops on communications around the world, officials said."


Interested to hear your rants:

EBS

 

[Captain Bly]

Well good luck. I suspect the Buffalo Wall is not far away.

 

[E_B_Samaritano]

Sheik,

You're essentially correct. The CIA was set up primarily to focus on foreign intelligence gathering and covert operations.

The CIA and FBI have always run into jurisdictional conflicts when it comes to handling the tracking of spies and terrorists on US soil. The CIA has no law enforcement authority within the US and derives its powers from Presidential authority. But, they can and do operate on US soil. The CIA could track me as a potential terrorist and coordinate with the FBI for an arrest.

The laws/jurisdictional restrictions you reference are intended to make sure that the CIA does not subject US citizens to unconstitutional procedures and surveillance. Post morteum on 9/11 revealed that a combination of the legal requirement and interagency rivalry actually prevented/discouraged the CIA from passing vital information to the FBI. The CIA tracked several members of the 9/11 gang from Afghanistan/Pakistan to LA and failed to pass the information to the FBI or INS officials.

Realizing that this loophole and interagency rivalry was counterproductive, the President has ordered cooperation between the two agencies in tracking and information passing regarding terrorist suspects. That is being brought to bear in the current operation to track and interview foreign nationals.

EBS

 

[*d*]

a fitting quote

"Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and associations; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed."
Is it Bush? Ashcroft? No. The quote is from Hitler's 1933 speech calling for 'an enabling act' for 'the protection of the people and the state'.

d

 

[xarir]

It's interesting to watch the American government descend into a greater state of isolationism. It will be interesting in time to see how the world, and how Americans judge this phase of history.

The American way of life has long been admired and sometimes villified for its emphasis on individual freedoms. Yet now at a time when freedom itself was attacked, the government response is to limit movement of people and goods within its sphere of influence, and to grant greater powers of surveillance and arrest to its various law enforcement agencies. Heck, a brand spanking new agency was even formed (Homeland Security) with the explicit mission to seek out new and developing threats to America and Americans.

If this was 50 years ago, and the Soviets had formed a Homeland Security, or if they had started to fingerprint people at the border just because they were born in a particular country, would the US had stood by idly and said those actions were OK?

McCarthy's influence reaches from beyond the grave it seems.

 

[DR PEPPER]

Xarir,
you are quite right that the US is becoming more isolationist in nature. But, I submit that most of the world dosen't want us involved, (notice some of the other posts around here as evidence), I think the citizens of the US just want to know what the world really wants us to do about it. We do something, we get criticized... we don't do something we get heat for that to.