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UG#645 - Potemkin Justice (Whistleblowers & Surveillance in 21st Century USA)

Robin Upton | 07.06.2013 09:03 | Policing | Social Struggles | Technology | Sheffield | World

A stark contrast with UG#644, we look this week behind the facade of the separation of powers in USA. Do any effective checks remain on how the US government behaves itself? Or is the external threat of massive dissent the only check left to the ongoing rollout of the totalitarian state's surveillance and control grid.

ug645-hour1mix.mp3 - mp3 27M

ug645-hour2mix.mp3 - mp3 27M


We've touched many times on at the illusory nature of democracy in USA. This week we look at whether there is any reality left to the separation of powers and the US government's internal system of checks and balances. Is it realistic to expect any checks from commercially controlled media? There is a statute called the Whistleblower Protection Act, but we ask, "Do whistleblowers in fact have any protection?"...

We begin the show this week with a short interview from 2012 of whistleblower Peter Van Buren, author of "We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People" which exposes the reality of the US occupation of Iraq. Van Buren explains the concept of the 'hallwalker' - someone who for procedural reasons cannot be fired, but who - having displayed their loyalty to truth - has been relieved of all duties. He himself was one such at the time of the interview, having been banned from entering the office which was still paying him at that time.

Next we hear an interview from last month with Jesselyn Radack, former ethics adviser to the United States Department of Justice turned whistleblower. Her perceptive interviewer, Peter B. Collins asks, many whistleblowers in recent years have retained their security clearance? Radack cannot think of any, and the discussion centers on the ever harsher treatment of anyone who dares to criticise the increasingly unrestrained US state.

After a short musical interlude by Clayton Blizzard we hear a speech by Glen Greenwald entitled 'Challenging the U.S. Surveillance State'. He begins his speech on systematic surveillance in modern day USA by noting the reaction in the 1970's when revelations surfaced about eavesdropping by the US executive prompted heated debate and the formation of the Church Committee to investigate. While ultimately not effective at preventing the ongoing abuses, at least the Church committee documented that all US administrations had systematically abused their technological ability to listen in on US citizens. Church was unequivocal on the danger of the NSA which had been secret even from US senators until that time:

"The [National Security Agency's] capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide. [If a dictator ever took over, the N.S.A.] could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be
no way to fight back." — US Senator Frank Church, 1975

Greenwald shares some statistical light on the huge net of surveillance cast by the NSA. It is very hard to get a grip on just how much they are intercepting, but given that surveillance technology is almost 40 years advanced since Frank Church's assessment, it seems likely to be almost everything. When asked to give rough statistics on the amount of communications traffic intercepted, the NSA recently refused point blank, stating that to do so would violate the 'privacy' of US citizens. WTF? Legal grounds? Justification? Suspicion? These appear to be frivolities in the age of Obama in which whistlebowers are increasingly not only being sacked but also criminally charged. Greenwald paints in broad brush the creation of and function of the surveillance state in USA since Sep 11th.

Robin Upton
- e-mail: unwelcome [At] unwelcome Guests [d0t] net
- Homepage: www.unwelcomeguests.net/645

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22.06.2013 14:49

NSA: PRISM/US-984XN Overview: The SIGAD Used Most in NSA Reporting
 http://goodtimesweb.org/surveillance/2013/wp-guardian-nsa-prism-april-2013-excerpts.pdf

The Evolution of Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook
 http://goodtimesweb.org/surveillance/2013/Silent-Listeners.pdf

Learn with Google: Targeting
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/google-targeting.pdf

Activity Forecasting
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/2012/Kitani-ECCV2012.pdf

Big Data, Big Impact: New Possibilities for International Development
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/WEF_TC_MFS_BigDataBigImpact_Briefing_2012.pdf

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Signals Intelligence and Cyber Reconnaissance Infrastructure
 http://goodtimesweb.org/surveillance/pla_third_department_sigint_cyber_stokes_lin_hsiao.pdf

Social Media in Strategic Communication
 http://goodtimesweb.org/surveillance/dod-smisc.pdf

Communicating Information In A Social Network System About Activities From Another Domain
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/FacebookOfflineTracking.pdf

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
 http://goodtimesweb.org/overseas-war/2013/dodd-5134-10.pdf

Afghanistan: Opium Survey 2012
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/2012/AfghanOpiumSurvey2012.pdf

Major U.S. Arms Sales and Grants to Pakistan Since 2001
 http://goodtimesweb.org/diplomacy/2013/pakarms.pdf

The New Media Revolution and U.S. Global Engagement
 http://goodtimesweb.org/covert-operations/bbg-021511.pdf

The Information Needs of Communities: The changing media landscape in a broadband age
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/2012/The_Information_Needs_of_Communities.pdf

Global Water Security
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/report-warns-that-water-shortages-could-threaten.pdf

The Use of Western Technologies by Middle East Censors, 2010-2011
 http://goodtimesweb.org/diplomacy/ONI_WestCensoringEast.pdf

Tactical Psychological Operations: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/2012/fm3-05-302.pdf

Noam Chomsky: Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies
 http://goodtimesweb.org/industrial-policy/2013/Noam-Chomsky-Necessary-Illusions.pdf

1951 CIA: Inventory of Cold War Weapons
 http://goodtimesweb.org/overseas-war/2013/CIA-RDP80R01731R003500170002-8.pdf

NSA: Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research
 http://goodtimesweb.org/covert-operations/2013/nsa-untangling-web.pdf

Civil Disturbance and Criminal Tactics of Protest Extremists
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/ProtestExtremists.pdf

Menwith Hill: The Strategic Roles & Economic Impact of the US Spy Base in Yorkshire
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/liftingthelid.pdf

1997, Nicky Hager: Secret Power (re. Echelon, UKUSA)
 http://goodtimesweb.org/surveillance/Secret_Power.pdf

New Statesman: Somebody's listening (Project 415) (Re. NSA, Echelon, Duncan Campbell)
 http://cryptome.org/jya/echelon-dc.htm

Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment
 http://goodtimesweb.org/documentation/rightwing.pdf

NASA Communications Security (COMSEC)
 http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/other/nasa_pg_1600_6a.doc

Information Operations (IO)
 http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/d3600_01.pdf

Stealing Trade Secrets and Economic Espionage
 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R42681.pdf

Cybersecurity
 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42409.pdf

Cloud Computing
 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43015.pdf

Cybersecurity
 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42507.pdf

.


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