FC: DOJ responds to informant plan criticism; petition launches

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Defense secretary Rumsfeld claims that al Qaeda uses press leaks to plan 
attacks on U.S.:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-na-leaks16jul16005042.story

State Department unlawfully detains reporter who asked tough questions:
http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/nr_comment/nr_comment071202.asp

Washington Post editorial ("Americans should not be subjecting themselves 
to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail 
delivered or meters read"):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63924-2002Jul12.html

More:
http://www.aclu.org/news/2002/n071502a.html
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020716-75882632.htm

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03749.html

-Declan

---

From: WMadsen777 () aol com
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 16:34:05 EDT
Subject: "No" to U.S. Stasi-- petition/statement of non-cooperation

I have created an online petition for those who refuse to cooperate with
President Bush's Citizens Corps TIPS, Citizens Corps Councils, Neighborhood
Watch and Police Volunteer Services.

Signature window expires 1 Oct. Afterwards this petition will be sent to Tom
Ridge, President Bush, John Ashcroft, and the congressional leadership. Its
really not a petition but a statement of non-cooperation with these new
snooping organizations ---a sort of cyber-oriented civil disobedience
campaign.

The petition/statement of non-cooperation is at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/NoTIPS/petition.html

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAG
TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2002
(202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888


STATEMENT OF BARBARA COMSTOCK, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS,
REGARDING THE TIPS PROGRAM

"First and foremost, Operation TIPS is a program under development, and its 
blueprint is not yet finalized.  The Operation TIPS reporting system was 
announced in concept six months ago, and we look forward to its rollout in 
the late summer or early fall.

"Operation TIPS is simply a reporting system - not a membership 
organization or recruiting activity - based upon successful existing 
non-governmental programs like Highway Watch, River Watch and Coast Watch, 
which enable American workers to report unusual and non-emergency issues 
that they observe in the normal course of their work.  Several of these 
industries have requested a uniform method of reporting such matters to 
public authorities.

"The industries that will be involved in Operation TIPS represent workers 
who have regular routines that take them down roads, rivers, coastlines, 
and public transit routes, and through neighborhoods and 
communities.  Their jobs make them uniquely well positioned to understand 
the ordinary course of business in the area they serve, and to identify 
things that are out of the ordinary.  Many of these industries already have 
taken steps to offer their employees a voluntary way to report this type of 
information, but they are looking to the Department of Justice to offer a 
comprehensive, reliable and cost-effective voluntary reporting 
system.  Operation TIPS is that voluntary reporting system through which 
information can be maintained and analyzed in a single database, and will 
be referred to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies for 
appropriate follow-up.

"None of the Operation TIPS materials published on the web or elsewhere 
have made reference to entry or access to the homes of individuals; nor has 
it ever been the intention of the Department of Justice, or any other 
agency, to set up such a program.  Our interest in establishing the 
Operation TIPS program is to allow American workers to share information 
they receive in the regular course of their jobs in public places and 
areas.  Once they report the information, they can rest assured that law 
enforcement officials will be taking any appropriate next steps."

---

From: Manzoni Jean-Christophe  <manzoni () math uqam ca>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: Bush administration readies nationwide informant program
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 08:26:41 -0400

Hi there,

It's the first time it reply to one of your mail : I have too much respect for
your work to disrupt it with my futile comments, written in my broken english.

But THIS?

I am simply flabergasted. I live in Canada where we'd like to think we are
sooo different from the usa, but not really, and I can't believe I am reading
this. I mean, it is in the same ballpark as Romania, East Germany or USSR.
What is next : detention without trial (oups)? Public Executions? I thought
delation was out forever. I can't believe in 2002, we are seeing the EXACT
same thing as we did so soon. I mean it's the return of McCartism, the usual
propaganda like it was used and abused in the 30s, 40s and to some extent 50s.

These days, whenever I read your mails, I have the distinct impression
somebody teared a page of either Brave New World or 1984, and applied it to
the letter. But hey, you can't blame 'them': it works. People are buying this.
I don't understand, and I can't believe it in the 'land of the free', the
government will find 1,000,000 people to spy/report on their fellow citizen.
In the name of 'good'. Tell me what was the latest % of the american
population satisfied with G Dubbya Bush? Is that 68%?

There is a famous saying, that you would recall better than I : the one who
trades freedom for security deserves neither one. Please continue fighting, it
is not tolerable and it is going to happen! And it is a shame for mankind.

Christopher Manzoni

---

Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 23:15:59 -0400
To: declan () well com
From: Stephen Cobb <scobb () cobb com>
Subject: Re: FC: Bush administration readies nationwide informant
  program

Declan

"Operation TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against 
terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project." Sydney Morning Herald

I don't mean to get the black helicopter crowd excited, but it looks like 
FEMA, not the DoJ, may be running Operation TIPS - the Terrorism 
Information and Prevention System that will give millions of American 
truckers, letter carriers, utility employees, and others a formal way to 
report suspicious terrorist activity (and hopefully some form of training 
on how to distinguish suspicious terrorist activity from other forms of 
activity).

The web site http://www.citizencorps.gov is clearly a FEMA web site. If you 
click on the link there TIPS and then "Volunteer now" you are presented 
with a Security Alert that references a digital Certificate issued by FEMA 
(as you know, FEMA is run by Mr. Allbaugh, the National Campaign Manager 
for Bush-Cheney 2000, who previously served as Campaign Manager for 
President Bush's first run for Texas governor).

The "Guide for local officials" published at the Citizen Corps web site 
does say that TIPS is administered by DoJ. But the FEMA site says Citizen 
Corps is part of USA Freedom Corps. When you go to the DoJ site and click 
on their link to USA Freedom Corps you get this message: "The Department of 
Justice takes no responsibility for, and exercises no control over, the 
organizations, views, accuracy, copyright or trademark compliance or 
legality of the material contained on this server." And I can't not find 
word one about TIPS at the DoJ site.

The plot thickens? Or a simple case of nobody really knowing what is going on?

Stephen

---

Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 17:29:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dan Tsang <dtsang () lib uci edu>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: [Subv] Ex-NSA Officer on Civil Liberties at Stake (fwd)

Irvine -- How have civil liberties been eroded since 9/11?

On Subversity, a KUCI public affairs interview program, we chat with
Wayne Madsen, a former intelligence officer who has since "come in out of
the cold".  On the show he offers his analysis of the currents state of
civil liberties. Madsen is interviewed by show host Dan Tsang from 4-5
p.m. on Tuesday, July 16,2002 om KUCI, 88.9 fm in Irvine; the show is
simultaneously web-cast via kuci.org.

Wayne Madsen is the Washington correspondent for intelligence Online. He
has written for The Village Voice, The Progressive, In These Times,
CovertAction Quarterly, and Counterpunch.  Mr. Madsen is the author of
Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999 (Mellen Press) and The
Handbook of Personal Data Protection (Macmillan).

Mr. Madsen has some twenty years experience in national security and
intelligence matters. He has worked for the Naval Telecommunications
Command, National Security Agency, the Naval Data Automation Command,
Department of State, RCA Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

Mr. Madsen is a Senior Fellow of the Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC), a non-partisan privacy public advocacy group in Washington, DC.

To chat with Madsen, call (949) 824-5824 during the show.

Thanx for listening!

Selected Resources:

Homeland Security, Homeland Profits by Wayne Madsen
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=1108

Spies Magazine Links to Wayne Madsen's articles
http://www.spiescafe.com/wm/wayne.htm

Prepared Statement... by Wayne Madsen on Suffering and Despair:
Humanitarian Crisis in the Congo before a House Subcommittee
http://www.house.gov/international_relations/mads0517.htm

US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies
by Ritt Goldstein
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html

Operation TIPS [Justice Dept. informant program begins]
http://www.citizencorps.gov/tips.html

dan
Daniel C. Tsang
Host, Subversity, now Tuesdays, 4-5 p.m.
KUCI, 88.9 FM and Web-cast live via http://kuci.org
Subversity: http://kuci.org/~dtsang; E-mail: subversity () kuci org
Daniel Tsang, KUCI, PO Box 4362, Irvine CA 92616
UCI Tel: (949) 824-4978; UCI Fax: (949) 824-2700
UCI Office: 380 Main Library
Member, National Writers Union (http://www.nwu.org)
WWW News Resource Page: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/netnews1.htm
AWARE: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/aware2.htm
Personal Homepage: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/

---

From: Doug Carroll
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: FC: Bush administration readies nationwide informant program
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 01:05:10 -0400

Declan,

This reminds me of the Chinese "grandmother core", which are
retired people with the time to spy on neighbours - and the pettiness
to do so. It is a vicious system worthy of, and well beyond,
Joseph McCarthy, where Communists are now Terrorists.

Also assigning volunteers to effect searches on behalf of law
enforcement violates the Fourth Amendment. These 'volunteers'
are part of a state system, and therefore act as agents of that
state - and should be bound by the same Constitutional limits.

If used, please conceal my email, so I don't get spam.




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