National "Security"

The threat level in the airline sector is High or Orange. Read more

So here's an article that that was, for reasons unexplained, rejected by the Recorder. But we think it's pretty obvious why it didn't run.
-DA Editors

We need your personal records. This is for your protection.
by Kari Sledzik

George Orwell’s fictional 1984 depicted a society where the government had their hands on everything. There was no privacy. People didn’t have personal lives. The government told you when and how to do everything, and they watched your every move.
But this was a work of fiction, and this world is only a fantasy. No proudly democratic society would invade its’ citizens lives.

Right?

The Orwellian nature of our society is hardly news. People have been drawing startling parallels between American society and Orwell’s 1984. What the American Civil Liberties Union’s latest lawsuit found is just one more to add to the list.

The ACLU found documents revealing that the Department of Defense had secretly issued 455 national security letters after September 11. These national security letters are often used to investigate criminal cases, and they allow access to personal records, like financial and internet records. They must be reviewed and signed individually by a Federal Judge. The institutions are not permitted to tell the individual being investigated that the government has obtained access to these records.

According to the ACLU, the declassified documents indicate that the FBI and the Department of Defense worked together to overexert power granted under the Patriot Act. The individuals investigated included Pentagon employees, but ACLU staff attorney Melissa Goodman said that this raises the issue of spying on civilians as well. Retired Colonel Ann Wright brought this issue up in a forum in West Hartford recently. According to Wright, some officers have been signing these letters themselves without the signature of a Federal Court Judge.

So this is for our protection, right? We’re so protected here in America that we feel the need to spy on the people we hire to work within the government. Oh, and by the way, to all of you nutty dissenting individuals, the government will keep an eye on you too.

Government spying is nothing new in America. Since the Patriot Act went into effect, there’s not much people can do to argue that. At best, you hear the “if you’re innocent, you’ve got nothing to hide” argument, but that all but disputes the fact that the government can stick their hands into our business. But with 455 letters being issued so covertly and without the signature of a Federal Judge, it’s pretty hard to convince me that every single one indicated an imminent and serious threat to national security. If these investigations were truly valid and necessary, why bypass that requirement?

This is just another example of how the government has overextended the arm of the law to instill a climate of fear. We can feasibly be monitored at any time, and we know it. People who actively speak out against government actions could be incriminated for a fundamental right granted in the Constitution. And as I said, this is nothing new, but these national security letters indicate some issues that maybe we weren’t even aware of.

Should we be scared? Should we be concerned? Reason says yes, but the government tells us that this is merely a matter of national security. This is for our protection.