Catherine Bleish featured on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010From Anderson Cooper’s Podcast:
Here’s footage from the entire interview:
Posts Tagged ‘Homeland Security’
Feds Gearing Up to Use Spy Satellites Domestically
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008[up front note - while containing accurate factual information, this is not an objective news article. The difference between this and "news" articles is that it does not purport to be.]
Much like the Real ID situation (see entry here on Liberty Restoration Project website), a strategy the Federal Government seems to be using is to gain support for what might otherwise be very controversial program by dangling the carrot of information and technology sharing in front of the states. For the Real ID, if the mere prospect of information sharing is not enough, they can always just dangle that old federal standby – money – and most state governments will forget about being vigilant towards privacy rights as their pupils turn into flashing dollar signs.
Using a similar approach, the National Applications Office (NAO), to be run by the Department of Homeland Security, will “work with its customers to meet their requirements.” Some of those “customers” are state and local law enforcement. The “product” is information gathered through the use of spy satellite imagery. Insert here images of local law enforcement agencies saying “gee whiz!” and clamoring for cool James Bond technological help with no consideration whatever to the bigger picture.
According to a recent Newsweek article, these spy satellites have been used previously to help provide information for emergency and natural disaster situations like floods and fires, and even for planning of big events like the Super Bowl. But the Department of Homeland Security’s fact sheet on the National Applications Office makes it clear that a new goal is to use it domestically to assist “law enforcement,” both as a part of its Homeland Security Working Group and its Law Enforcement Domain Working Group.
The same Newsweek article reports that some private commercial satellites have a resolution of 18 inches, meaning they can get a good image of a particular vehicle on the ground. Government spy satellites have much greater imaging capability.
Concerns over potential civil liberties abuses have led to Congress delaying full funding of the National Applications Office. Rep. Jane Harman, chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on intelligence said that full funding for the NAO will be held up at least until after the Congress’ General Accountability Office finishes its report on the civil liberty concerns related to domestic spy satellite use. “We have to make sure this is not a back door for spying on Americans,” said Harman, who feels as though Congress was misled by assurances earlier in the Bush administration that increased domestic electronic domestic spying was on firm legal foundation. She said that the administration needs to give a fuller explanation on how the program would operate. The report on civil liberties and privacy implications is scheduled to be ready in August.
In August of 2007, Rep. Bennie Thompson, who is on the House Committe on Homeland Security, wrote an open letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff concerning the National Applications Office (NAO). Rep. Thompson complained that the Homeland Security committee was not even told in advance about the NAO, and instead found out about it only when it appeared in media reports. He also raised concerns that DHS, despite the obviously sensitive issue of using spy satellites domestically, had not even utilized its own Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties during the early planning stages of the NAO, instead bringing them in eleven months into the process.
In a less-than-reassuring assurance, an anonymous intelligence official told Newsweek that agencies must first consult a government lawyer before they spy on individual households. The same intelligence official could not answer whether a warrant would or should be necessary for detailed surveillance from above.
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RESOURCES FOR THIS POST:
“You’re on Candid Camera: the Bush Administration Now Wants to Watch You From the Sky”, by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball. Posted on Jun. 25, 2008 at http://www.newsweek.com/id/143257/page/1 . Still there as reviewed on 6/30/08.
“Fact Sheet: National Applications Office”, as viewed on 6/30/08 at http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1187188414685.shtm , listing a release date of August 15, 2007.
Rep. Bennie Thompson’s Aug. 22, 2007 letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff regarding concerns about National Applications Office, as available on the Federation of American Scientists’ site at http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_cr/thompson082207.pdf as of 7/1/08.
“Training Satellites on the United States: Homeland Security Plans to Share Spy Satellite Data with Domestic Agencies”, by Lindsay Beyerstein. Posted September 19, 2007 as seen on 7/1/08 at “In These Times” site page http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3346/training_satellites_on_the_united_states/
Arizona Prohibits Real ID
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008(retrieved from http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?InfoNo=034608 )
For Immediate Release
Contact: Senator Karen S. Johnson (602-926-3160)
Gov. Napolitano Approves Prohibition on Real ID
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed a bill today that prohibits the implementation of the REAL ID in Arizona. SB2677 received a Final vote of approval in the House last week by an overwhelming margin of 51 to 1. Napolitano’s signature was uncertain until today when she signed the bill into law.
The bill prohibits implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005, which was passed by Congress as part of a supplemental spending bill for tsunami relief and the War on Terror. The bill did not receive a hearing in either the House or the Senate, and the public was largely unaware of it until it had already been signed into law.
“Everyone thinks that the REAL ID is just about protecting us against terrorism,” said co-sponsor Senator Karen Johnson (R-18). “But it really represents a cash cow for technology companies as well as the birth of the National ID card, complete with all the biometric information that technology can handle – face recognition, fingerprints, etc.”
“Corporations which specialize in selling identity cards stand to gain millions of dollars in profits if the Real ID Act is implemented,” said Johnson, “so, of course, they’re eager for everyone to be required to carry a National ID card everywhere they go.” Two of those corporations are Digimarc ID Systems and L-1 – the Number 1 and Number 2 companies for the manufacture of state driver’s licenses and identity cards. L-1 is considered the main driver behind the REAL ID and last year had nearly $100 million in federal contracts involving identity cards. Digimarc spent $350,000 in the first six months of 2007 lobbying Congress on the Real ID Act. Apparently the two companies are soon to be merged, resulting in a powerhouse corporation, pushing the “identification-as-security” concept to the maximum in order to increase company profits as they add more and more biometric features to state driver’s licenses.
“It’s misguided to think that identification equals security,” says Johnson. “Identification is just identification – it doesn’t prove intent and it doesn’t stop terrorists. Indeed, terrorists will forge documents – as they always have – to obtain the identification they want to commit crimes. Making U.S. citizens carry identity papers to board a plane or enter a government building stinks,” says Johnson. “It’s odious, onerous, and a violation of our civil liberties.”
“I refuse to be tagged and numbered,” said Johnson. “Requiring people to carry papers takes away their freedom. There are other, better ways to stop terrorism and to protect us against criminals. The federal government needs to butt out and let the states handle driver licensing. It’s not the business of the Dept. of Homeland Security to tell us how to run our state.”
Real ID – SB2677
1. Proponents always claim that the sole purpose of the Real ID is to prevent another 9/11-type attack by disrupting terrorists travel. That is bogus. If the government really wanted to prevent such an attack, they would secure our borders, which would (1) cost less than implementing Real ID, (2) would be more effective at keeping terrorists out, and (3) would be less intrusive and less inconvenient for American citizens. Until the borders are secure, all the rosy pleas for the Real ID are just so much hogwash.
2. The Real ID will cost the states billions of dollars. The Dept. of Transportation estimates that in Arizona alone, it will cost $40 to $70 million to implement just in the first year, and $15 to $20 million in subsequent years. But they really don’t have a clue – they don’t know what the regulations are going to be yet. They are just estimating. It will depend on what the Rules say when they are finally issued.
They already do some things that will be part of the requirements. For example, they already check citizenship, or whether or not someone is legally authorized to be in the country. So that would not be an additional expense. But even factoring in that some things required by REAL ID are already being handled, the $40 to $70 million is over and above what we already do!!!
3. The Real ID is an invasion of privacy. Why should so much personal information be compiled on one place for so many people to have access to?
- medical history
- social security number
- insurance information
4. The Real ID increases the risk of Identity Theft. Identity theft is a major problem in Arizona already. Throwing everyone’s personal information – including social security numbers, birth dates, medical information, driver’s license and auto licensing information, etc. – into one massive data base just makes it easier for identity thieves to harvest identities for fraudulent purposes. The Real ID requires all Arizona driver’s license information to be compiled with all the information for the other 49 states and the District of Columbia into one massive database that will be accessible by thousands of clerks and government employees throughout the country. This is a horrendous idea – an invitation to identity theft on a massive scale.
