Who's watching the watchers? Boston Globe

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: George Teplansky <gteplansky () attbi com>
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 10:05:45 -0500
To: farber () cis upenn edu (David Farber)
Subject: Poindexter and Gov't Integrity (or we always knew they were felons)

For those whose memories do not extend back to Iran-Contra the following is
instructive.  In watching our leaders in Washington it is important to
remember that what they say they are doing, and what they do (or have done)
are not necessarily the same.  If only all our media people would remember
this while standing in awe of them.



Who's watching the watchers?


By Derrick Z. Jackson, 11/22/2002

THIS WEEK the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended the
Total Information Awareness project from mounting criticism from civil
libertarians. The project is intended to research a system that could give
police and intelligence agencies access to virtually all your personal
transactions - financial, education, travel, medical, transportation,
housing, and even veterinary.

On its Web page, the Information Awareness Office considers someone's gait
to be vital information. Rumsfeld and the military swear this is solely in
the service of finding terrorists before they can strike. ''The hype and
alarm approach is a disservice to the public,'' Rumsfeld said.

The big clue that the hype and alarm are not a disservice is right there on
the agency's Web page in the resume of its director, John Poindexter. On the
part of the resume that covers 1983-86, his years as deputy national
security adviser and national security adviser to President Reagan, it
states: 

''As national security adviser, Vice Admiral Poindexter was responsible for
providing recommendations to the president on national security, foreign
policy, and defense policy. He was directly involved in implementing the
president's policies on a strong defense, freedom, and democracy around the
world, human rights, world hunger, economic military assistance, combating
terrorism, and arms control. Major events in which he played a significant
role included: Strategic Defense Initiative, Grenada Rescue Operation,
Achille Lauro incident, Libyan operation to respond to terrorist attacks,
Reykjavik Summit with Soviets, peaceful transition of government in
Philippines, support for the democratic resistance in Nicaragua, and an
attempt to begin rationalization of US relationship with strategically
important Iran.'' 

Even as Poindexter wants your gait, he has virtually changed his own
identity. On human rights, when the House approved economic sanctions in
1986 against the brutal apartheid regime in South Africa, Poindexter was the
man who announced that the Reagan administration had ''grave misgivings and
strong opposition'' to sanctions, in effect maintaining economic support of
the regime. On world hunger, you can find more on the record from Michael
Jackson and Bruce Springsteen than you can find by Poindexter on Ethiopia or
any other locale of starvation.

What Poindexter is most remembered for is his lead role in the Iran-contra
scandal - the secret and illegal funneling of profits from arms sales to
Iran to mercenary rebels fighting the leftist government in Nicaragua.
Poindexter, along with Oliver North, lied to Congress, which had barred US
aid to the contras, and destroyed documents about the operation. Poindexter
knew so thoroughly how explosive his activities were that he ''made a very
deliberate decision not to ask the president so that I could insulate him
from the decision and provide some future deniability for the president if
it ever leaked out.''

In 1990 Poindexter was convicted for the felonies of conspiracy and lying to
Congress and obstructing congressional inquiries. The conviction was
overturned in 1991 because an appellate court ruled that too much of the
testimony Poindexter had given before Congress under the protection of
immunity had been used, directly or indirectly, against him.

The facts of Poindexter's lying and gutting of the Constitution were never
in dispute, not when he defiantly told the world, ''The buck stops here with
me.'' 

Now the Bush administration, as if to punctuate its assault on civil
liberties under the cover of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has
appointed Poindexter to figure out how to assemble and use all the data one
could possibly gather on Americans. The stated reason is to spot and stop
terrorist activity. By appointing Poindexter, the administration justifies
fears that it will treat our privacy in the cavalier way that Poindexter
once treated the law.

At best, a gargantuan database will make the government a wasteful busybody
on the most benign of your transactions. At worst, if Americans know en
masse that their unauthorized biographies are lurking in a Pentagon
database, there is no telling what the effect will be on free speech, as
people fear being tagged as un-American by surveillance officials who wake
up on the wrong side of the bed. Too many would-be James Bonds in a computer
room might blow up too many lives.

The fact that Poindexter has already admitted keeping knowledge of illegal
activities from the president should automatically disqualify him from
having anything to do with the privacy of Americans. The fact that the White
House cannot talk straight about his appointment should make Americans
demand that the project be scrapped until secrecy becomes an open debate.

Last week a reporter asked White House deputy spokesman Scott McClellan if
President Bush publicly supports Poindexter's program. All McClellan said
was: ''I've seen the reports, but I think you need to talk to the Pentagon.
That is a question related to something that the Pentagon may be looking at,
so I would refer you to the Pentagon.''

The obfuscation so well associated with Poindexter has begun. With him in
charge of Total Information Awareness, you can be sure you will be the last
to know if the government is breaking the law.

Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson () globe com. 

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