Living Under Surveillence - The New American Magazine 10 29 07
1. Not Accepting Student Failure • Pushing War With Iran • Purple Heart: The Award No One Wants
October 29, 2007
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5. 12
Vol. 23, No. 22 October 29, 2007
COVER STORY
SURVEILLANCE
12 Living Under Surveillance
Design by Joseph W. Kelly
by Wilton D. Alston — The technology that enables the surveillance
state is here to stay. Now, how do we keep it from controlling us?
18 To Protect America, Protect Privacy
by Warren Mass — How the “Protect America Act” affects privacy.
18 20
FEATURES
ECONOMY
20 Taking Delight in Deception
AP Images
AP Images
by William F. Jasper — Big Media embraces Alan Greenspan.
EDUCATION
23 Not Accepting Student Failure 23
by Kurt Williamsen — How to improve America’s schools.
IRAN
27 Pushing War With Iran
by William F. Jasper — What talk of a pre-emptive strike means.
BOOK REVIEW
31 Answers a Fifth Grader Should Know
by Michael J. Thompson — Thomas Woods’ latest work is 33
AP Images
Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask.
HISTORY — AMERICAN SPIRIT
34 The Award No One Wants 27 31
by John White — The Purple Heart is awarded to those who have
been wounded or killed while serving in the Armed Forces.
THE LAST WORD
AP Images
44 Taking the Country to War
by Gary Benoit
34
DEPARTMENTS
5 Letters to the Editor 33 The Goodness of America
7 Inside Track 41 Exercising the Right
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11 QuickQuotes 42 Correction, Please!
COVER Design by Joseph W. Kelly
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9. Inside Track
Life Chain Spreads Pro-life Message Coast to Coast
From Seattle, Washington, to Miami, Florida, and from Bangor, first Life Chain in Yuba City, California, in 1987, told THE NEW
Maine, to San Diego, California, as many as a million or more AMERICAN, “When we began, we were not visionaries; we did
Americans took to the streets on October 7 in over a thousand cit- not expect it to go national or to still be going twenty years later.
ies and communities across the nation to stand for the rights of the It appears, for now, at least, that the Lord wants it to continue.”
unborn and to show their opposition to abortion. The Life Chain Last year, he noted, the number of cities and towns participating
event, which takes place every year on the first Sunday of Octo- in the United States and Canada passed 1,200 and for 2007 the
ber, marked its 20th anniversary this year. Participants in the Life total increased to more than 1,300 communities.
Chain lined designated streets hold-
ing signs that read, “Abortion Kills
Children,” “Adoption: The Lov-
ing Option,” and “Abortion Hurts
Women.” In some communities
Courtesy of LifeChain.net
the Life Chain may have had only
a handful of hardy pro-lifers, but in
others, the demonstrators numbered
in the thousands and stretched for
miles along busy thoroughfares.
Royce Dunn, who organized the Life Chain, Allen, Texas
Multinational Education
According to an AP report, the Oregon Department of Education ish-language course material. However, even those concessions
and Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education are conducting dis- do not satisfy everyone.
cussions to align their curricula so courses will be valid in both “That’s not enough,” said Patrick Burk, chief policy officer
countries. Going against conventional practice — wherein foreign with the superintendent’s office of the Oregon Department of
students are immersed in the language of their adopted country, so Education, who flew to Mexico with Oregon curriculum officials
they can rapidly learn the new language — some Oregon educa- in August to take part in discussions about the proposed program.
tors contend that including the Mexican school curriculum in public He told reporters the new curriculum will provide minimal dis-
schools will make learning easier for Spanish-speaking students. ruption for immigrant Latinos. Burk contended: “We’re able to
Oregon schools already employ bilingual aides or use Span- serve the students so much better if we’re working together.”
Classified Justice Department Opinions Support Torture
The New York Times unleashed a political bombshell on October “none of the C.I.A. interrogation methods violated that standard.”
4 when it reported that in 2005, the Justice Department issued a The following day, President Bush responded to the uproar
secret legal opinion that, “according to officials briefed on it,” was sparked by the Times article by saying that “this government
“an expansive endorsement of does not torture people” and
the harshest interrogation tech- that “the techniques that we
niques ever used” by the CIA use have been fully disclosed
on terror suspects. The approved to appropriate members of the
techniques, said the Times, in- United States Congress.” On
clude “head-slapping, simulated the other hand, Senate Intel-
drowning [waterboarding] and ligence Committee Chairman
frigid temperatures.” John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)
The Times also reported that noted: “The administration
later in 2005, “as Congress can’t have it both ways.... They
moved toward outlawing ‘cruel, can’t say that Congress has
inhuman and degrading’ treat- been fully briefed while refus-
ment” of terror suspects, the Jus- ing to turn over key documents
tice Department issued another used to justify the legality of
secret opinion, declaring that the program.”
THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007 7
10. Inside Track
Illegal Immigrants to Get New York Driver’s Licenses
Democratic New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced on it will deter illegal immigrants from driving illegally and without
September 21 that illegal immigrants would be able to apply for insurance, both of which contribute to more hit-and-run accidents
driver’s licenses in New York. and higher insurance rates for
Reaction to the decision was all New Yorkers.
predictable. The new policy is opposed
“Osama bin Laden is some- not only by Republicans. For
where in a cave with his den of example, Suffolk County Ex-
thieves and terrorists, and he’s ecutive Steve Levy, a Demo-
probably sabering the cork on crat, is opposed to it. Accord-
some Champagne right now, ing to the Times, Levy has
saying ‘Hey, that governor’s earned very high approval
really assisting us,’” James N. ratings, earned in part for
Tedisco, the State Assembly his action against illegal im-
Governor
minority leader, was quoted Eliot Spitzer migration, such as shutting
as saying by the New York down overcrowded boarding
Times. houses for day laborers and
AP Images
Spitzer justified his unorth- for cracking down on unli-
odox position by claiming that censed drivers.
Deportation Fears Prompt Exodus From Texas City’s Schools
Irving, Texas, Independent School District Superintendent Jack In an October 3 interview with the Dallas Morning News,
Singley announced on October 3 that an estimated 90 children Irving Mayor Herbert Gears defended the fairness of his city’s
had withdrawn from the city’s schools in the past week because policy, stating: “If they’re not being booked into our jail, there’s
of the deportation fears. nothing they should be worried about.”
The Mexican Consulate recently began warning Mexican citi- Mayor Gears assured parents that they need not fear that im-
zens to stay out of Irving because the city’s police department has migration officials or police would pick up their children from
been cooperating with federal immigration authorities to identify school campuses. Nevertheless, he stated that many Irving resi-
illegal immigrants who have been arrested so they can be de- dents support the City Council’s immigration policy, because
ported. Irving police have turned over more than 1,600 people to illegal immigrants overburden social services and overcrowd
immigration officials since the program began. public schools.
Bush Attempts to Use International Court Against Texas
President Bush has issued a memo to his attorney preme Court agreed to hear his appeal; Presi-
general declaring that state courts must enforce a Jose Ernesto Medellin dent Bush issued his memo to the attorney
ruling by the International Court of Justice in The general declaring that state courts must enforce
Hague on behalf of Jose Ernesto Medellin and the international court’s ruling; the Supreme
50 other Mexican nationals on death row in the Court then dismissed Medellin’s case while
United States. Medellin was convicted of murder state courts reviewed the president’s order; and
in the course of a sexual assault on two teenaged Texas courts ruled against Medellin once again,
girls, a capital offense in Texas, and sentenced to ruling that Bush had no authority to meddle
death in October 1994. into the affairs of the state courts.
Medellin had given authorities a written con- Finally, the Supreme Court has once again
fession, but in 2003, Mexico sued the United agreed to hear the case — Medellin v. Texas,
States in the International Court of Justice on 06-984.
AP Images
behalf of Medellin and other Mexicans who had AP reported that Texas Solicitor General Ted
been denied access to their country’s diplomats Cruz has protested that the Bush administra-
following their arrests. tion’s position would “allow the president to
The sequence of events that followed was: Medellin’s case set aside any state law the president believes is inconvenient to
was rejected by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; the Su- international comity.”
8 THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007
11. G.I.s Support Ron Paul’s “Bring Them Home” Message
For his opposition to the Iraq War and his insistence on bringing The pundits and politicos attacking the congressman’s position
our troops home, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron are out of touch with the men and women who wear the uniform,
Paul (R-Texas) has had to endure charges by his political and who are voting overwhelmingly in favor of Dr. Paul, if their po-
media opponents that he is unpatriotic, soft on national security, litical contributions are an accurate barometer. The Federal Elec-
soft on terror, and “doesn’t support our troops.” His more vicious tion Commission’s release of second-quarterly contributions to
accusers have even charged him with “taking his marching orders presidential candidates revealed that Ron Paul topped all of the
from al Qaeda.” However, Congressman Paul has responded that other candidates — Republican and Democrat — in contributions
the Iraq War is an unconstitutional, undeclared war that did not from active members of the military. In fact, Dr. Paul received as
have any connection to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and “was sold to much from our military personnel as all of the other Republican
us with false information.” candidates did combined. His receipt of $24,965 amounted to 26
percent of all military contributions to presidential
candidates of both parties. Rudy Giuliani, the pres-
ent GOP frontrunner, by contrast, received only 2
percent. The FEC’s latest statistics have not been
similarly broken down, but Ron Paul stunned ana-
lysts by raising $5.08 million in this year’s third
quarter, an impressive 114 percent increase over
the second quarter, while all of the top GOP can-
didates suffered decreases in fundraising.
The strong support Ron Paul is receiving from
the military is not surprising in light of a mid-July
survey by Military.com, a website popular with mil-
itary personnel. According to Military.com, 59 per-
cent of the poll participants “said the United States
should withdraw its troops from Iraq now or by the
end of 2008. More than 40 percent of the respon-
AP Images
dents agreed the pullout should begin immediately
because ‘we’re wasting lives and resources there.’”
Federal Judge Rules Patriot Act Unconstitutional
“For over 200 years, this nation has adhered to the rule of law won a $2 million settlement and received an apology from the
— with unparalleled success,” said Judge Anne L. Aiken in a re- U.S. government. Part of Mayfield’s settlement included a provi-
cent ruling declaring that crucial parts of the USA Patriot Act are sion that allowed the U.S. government to be freed from any future
unconstitutional. Aiken, a Federal District Court judge in Port- liability in his case, with one exception that he could challenge the
land, Oregon, said that certain parts constitutionality of the Patriot Act.
of the Patriot Act violate the Fourth It was that exception that Judge
Amendment’s prohibitions against Aiken ruled against last week recog-
unreasonable searches and seizures. nizing that Mr. Mayfield’s constitu-
The Patriot Act was quickly passed tional rights and civil liberties were
by Congress following the 9/11 ter- threatened by the implementation of
rorist attacks. Though scrutinized by the Patriot Act. Wording in the Pa-
many since that time, the Patriot Act triot Act, argues Aiken, allows the
was made permanent when Congress government to avoid any probable
renewed the law in early 2006 despite cause requirements as required in the
known problems with the law. Constitution.
A September 27 article published Elden Rosenthal, an attorney for
in the New York Times details the Mr. Mayfield, commented that the
wrongful imprisonment of attorney “tradition of judicial independence
Brandon Mayfield who was mistak- and our nation’s most cherished
enly linked to the 2004 train bomb- principle of the right to be secure in
ing in Madrid. Mayfield, who was in- one’s own home,” were upheld by
nocent of any terrorist involvement, Judge Aiken’s ruling. ■
THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007 9
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13. QUICKQUOTES
Justice Thomas Recalls Being Verbally Attacked
During His Confirmation Hearings
“The mob I now faced carried no ropes or guns. Its weapons were
smooth-tongued lies spoken into microphones and printed on the front
pages of America’s newspapers.... But it was a mob all the same, and
its purpose — to keep the black man in his place — was unchanged.”
In his book, My Grandfather’s Son, Supreme Court Justice Clarence
AP Images
Clarence
Thomas Thomas recounted his life story including the ordeal he endured while
being confirmed for a place on the high court.
Supreme Court Justices Urged to Consider Original Intent
“We do not think that the Supreme Court is some kind of Supreme Council of Ayatollahs that can do
anything it wants to do on a 5-4 vote.”
Federalist Society co-founder Steven G. Calabresi used op-ed space in the Wall Street Journal to call
upon the justices to issue rulings that are “faithful to the Constitution as written and understood at the
time of its adoption.”
Senator Angered by Prediction of “Long-term Presence” in Iraq
“The president and his supporters claim that we’re now finally on the Robert
Byrd
cusp of progress and that we must continue to stay the course. Call me
a skeptic, but we have heard this tune before.”
After Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Congress that more funds
were needed to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for years to come, Senator
Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) responded sharply and claimed that the Ap-
AP Images
propriations Committee he leads would not “rubber stamp” requests
for more funding.
Ethanol Boom Seems Over and Many Have Been Hurt Because of Overproduction
“The end of the ethanol boom is possibly in sight and may already be here. This is a dangerous time for
people who are making investments.”
After a rush to build distilleries and a parallel spurt in the price for corn, Iowa State University eco-
nomics professor Neil E. Harl reported a glut in the amount of ethanol that has caused a 30-percent
drop in its price.
Taiwan Building Missiles to Counter Threat From Communist China
“They want to make mainland China hesitate before launching any attack. These missiles could not only
destroy military targets, but financial and economic targets as well.”
With Taiwan seeking recognition as an independent nation and tensions between it and Communist
China mounting, Hong Kong-based Andrei Chang, an analyst of the military capabilities of both sides,
explained why Taiwan has created a missile program.
France Shows the Way With Nuclear Power and Nuclear Waste
“Instead of storing its waste at each nuclear plant (as in the United States) or burying it in containers
underground (as we would do if Yucca opens), the French take their waste to a massive plant in Nor-
mandy where spent fuel is recycled.”
Approximately 78 percent of the electricity generated in France is produced
by nuclear power, and John Dyson and Matt Bennett of the group Third Way
report that the French don’t consider nuclear waste a problem.
Nicolas
Sarkozy
New Leader of France Tells UN of the Need for a “New World Order”
“In the name of France, I call upon all states to join ranks in order to found the
new world order of the 21st century on the notion that the common goods that
belong to all of humankind must be the common responsibility for us all.”
In his address to the UN General Assembly, French President Nicolas Sar-
kozy urged the world body to launch programs to establish equal wealth
AP Images
distribution and fight corruption. ■
— COMPILED BY JOHN F. MCMANUS
THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007 11
14. SURVEILLANCE
LIVING UNDER
SURVEILLANCE
To put it bluntly,
the technology
that enables the
surveillance state is
here to stay. Now, how
do we keep it from
controlling us?
E
by Wilton D. Alston veryone on the political spectrum — from free-market
anarchists to totalitarians — has some vision of what is
We live in a surveillance society. It is pointless to talk about meant by the phrase, “surveillance society.” Is the idea
surveillance society in the future tense. In all the rich coun- of a surveillance society in today’s world “unremarkable?”
tries of the world everyday life is suffused with surveillance Consider:
encounters, not merely from dawn to dusk but 24/7. Some • The UK is now the world’s most watched country, having
encounters obtrude into the routine, like when we get a ticket upwards of five million closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras keep-
for running a red light when no one was around but the ing a watchful eye on the public, with the average citizen being
camera. But the majority are now just part of the fabric of caught on camera around 300 times per day.
daily life. Unremarkable. • Upwards of 1.5 million automobiles can now be tracked and
— “Report on the Surveillance Society” located anywhere in the United States — or in fact anywhere on
Surveillance Studies Network, 2006 Earth — using OnStar, General Motor’s onboard car-to-mobile-
phone-network communications system.
Wilton D. Alston, a libertarian activist and writer, is a principal research scientist • Telecom giant AT&T has allowed the National Security
working in the field of transportation safety. Agency (NSA) to set up what could only be called a “spy room”
12 THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007
15. on AT&T property to make routine moni- The question is more what
toring of phone calls easier. the unavoidable ubiquity of
• Marijuana farmers in Wisconsin now surveillance will mean to the Telecom giant AT&T has allowed the
must fear not only conventional law en- individual and the collective. National Security Agency (NSA) to set
forcement methods, but also the Internet. The question is how society
Satellite images from Google Earth — yes should deal — how society up what could only be called a “spy
that Google Earth — have been used to will deal — with routine, room” on AT&T property to make routine
locate farms and arrest farmers. widespread, nearly constant
• The trend of one-to-one marketing has surveillance, not just by gov- monitoring of phone calls easier.
driven businesses to be more aggressive in ernment but by private enti-
both discovering and remembering facts ties as well, now that surveil-
about their customers. Firms like Don- lance technology is quite clearly not only Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?
nelly Marketing, which keeps dossiers on common but also here to stay. So far, Americans seem to favor surveil-
over 90 percent of American households, But how much surveillance is too much? lance over privacy. For example, a recent
collect and manage massive files regard- Such questions amount to quibbling over survey by ABC News found that most
ing each family’s preferences in every- price. No one can prevent the proliferation Americans favor increased use of police
thing from pets to politics. of surveillance tech, and no one can pre- surveillance cameras to “fight crime.”
• Face-recognition software was suc- clude “bad people,” including some agents This, despite the fact that precious little
cessfully tested during Super Bowl XXXV of the State, from also having it. That data illustrates that cameras do anything
in Tampa, Florida, with approximately much is certain. Can freedom and privacy to reduce crime. Indeed, despite the lack
100,000 faces being scanned and identi- coexist with the surveillance society? Ab- of real security benefits, publication of
fied. (Several law-breakers — mostly tick- solutely. However, one cannot determine a single story illustrating that a heinous
et scalpers — were noticed, but no arrests the proper amount of surveillance by the killer was caught via video can justify al-
were made, since it was just a “dry run”!) government if one has already ceded the most any infringement upon the privacy of
• The FBI, apparently unsatisfied with entire decision to that government. ordinary citizens.
their success using data mining, is issuing
so many National Security Letters (NSLs)
— administrative subpoenas that require
How will they be used? David Holtzman, the former
no probable cause while simultaneously chief technology officer with Network Solutions,
precluding the recipient from ever disclos- said that cameras, like this seemingly innocuous
ing that the letter was issued — that they one above a New York sidewalk, could be used in
plan to automate the process of tracking conjunction with computers to “profile” people
them. based on the their movements, such as, “Are you
Clearly this presents a challenge to a walking funny? Whistling funny?”
free society. That challenge stems from
the imbalance in power between the state
and the people where surveillance is con-
cerned. That imbalance must be addressed
if freedom is to be maintained.
Conflicting Views
The odds are pretty good that most people,
when asked what that term means, would
think of some image from the Will Smith
movie, Enemy of the State, in which an
innocent man is pursued relentlessly by
a federal security apparatus employing
the latest high-tech surveillance gadgetry.
Many would agree, also, with the movie’s
tagline, “It’s not paranoia if they really are
after you.”
It does seem these days that “they”
really are after “us.” The question is not
whether or not a surveillance society will
occur, particularly in Western societies
AP Images
like the United States and the United King-
dom. That horse is out of sight already.
THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007 13
16. SURVEILLANCE
personal data — videotape rental rec-
ords, health care information — but
nothing like the broad privacy protec-
tion laws you find in European coun-
tries. That’s really the only solution;
leaving the market to sort this out will
result in even more invasive whole-
sale surveillance.
It is ironic that Schneier speaks of the
protection available in European coun-
tries, given the number of times per day
that a typical citizen of the UK is caught
on camera. Another person worried about
increased surveillance is author Naomi
Wolfe. According to Wolfe’s The End of
America, the United States is well on its
way to becoming a fascist empire due to
the fact that creating a surveillance soci-
ety is one of the “Ten Steps to Fascism.”
The Bush administration claims to have
a legitimate reason for massive privacy
infringement: protecting the U.S. public
from the ever-present specter of terrorism,
but are its arguments legitimate?
Surveillance and Power
The Bush administration (like many U.S.
administrations before it) is enamored
with monitoring ordinary citizens, under
AP Images
the guise of protecting the freedom of
those they watch. The fact that their “im-
provements” in security have resulted in
limited actual performance improvements
New York City has begun installation of 500 cameras throughout the city at a cost of is apparently lost in the shuffle. Is there
$9 million. If the city gets federal funding, they’ll install hundreds more cameras in anyone who believes that the privacy nor-
midtown, trying to create a “ring of steel.”
mal Americans have given up has directly
precluded further terrorist attacks? Is
there anyone — anyone — who actually
Security expert Bruce Schneier calls a good thing, both for safety and conve- believes that if a terrorist wanted to attack
this effect, within the realm of surveillance nience, the technorati are not as uniform an arena, a stadium, a shopping center, or
psychology, the “availability heuristic.” in their view. Schneier thinks legislation is even an airport, that such an attack could
Most people would rather all their deepest the only methodology for curtailing, or at not have taken place despite the so-called
secrets be posted on the Internet tomor- least somewhat stemming, the advance of protections put in place after 9/11? From
row than have a psychopathic serial killer surveillance and the corresponding loss of Future of Freedom Foundation columnist
escape capture today, assuming that’s the privacy. In a recent blog entry he says: Anthony Gregory, we find this accurate
trade-off. Of course, it’s not quite that sim- commentary:
ple. Today’s “I’ve got nothing to hide” can We’re never going to stop the march
turn into tomorrow’s “but I didn’t know of technology, but we can enact leg- The real threat to American liberty,
that was against the law!” That’s particu- islation to protect our privacy: com- the defense of which the administra-
larly the case when a government moves in prehensive laws regulating what can tion still insists is the purpose of the
the direction of imposing more and more be done with personal information war on terror, is a federal government
laws and regulations on its citizens — de- about us, and more privacy protec- without strict checks and limits on its
nying the right to keep and bear arms, for tion from the police. Today, personal power, whose executives feel com-
instance. information about you is not yours; fortable using the military to spy on
While the bulk of the American public it’s owned by the collector. There peaceful Americans, while telling the
seems convinced that more surveillance is are laws protecting specific pieces of media not to report their secret and
14 THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007
17. unconstitutional surveillance activi- [only] a fraction of the incidents,
ties. The use of a military intelligence and most are never disclosed.”
agency against the American people, The reported incidents included Can freedom and privacy coexist with
with or without judicial oversight, is one instance when five DHS in- the surveillance society? Absolutely.
far more a “shameful act” than report- vestigators posing as passengers
ing such activities to the American managed to get knives, a gun and However, one cannot determine the
people, who have a right to know. a bomb in their carry-on baggage proper amount of surveillance by the
through security checkpoints
Clearly we have a right to know, but that without being detected. government if one has already ceded
point aside, the State is exactly the wrong Clearly, the increase in state the entire decision to that government.
organization to have the power of unfet- intrusion on the privacy of the
tered surveillance for other reasons. The citizen does not result in a net
tendency, nay the likelihood, that evil will increase in the safety of that citizen from Floyd Rudmin, a professor at a Nor-
flourish in a bureaucratic environment terrorist attack. But, if the State were wegian university, applie[d] the math-
where risk can be externalized is unassail- more skilled, could surveillance be used ematics of conditional probability,
able. Bureaucracies are almost always in- to thwart some future terrorist attack? No. known as Bayes’ Theorem, to dem-
efficient. Bureaucracies are almost always The reason: The basic mathematics of onstrate that the NSA’s surveillance
wasteful. Bureaucracies are almost always finding a needle in a haystack. cannot successfully detect terrorists
caught somewhere between the Keystone Says Institute for Political Economy unless both the percentage of terrorists
Cops and the Three Stooges when their Chairman Paul Craig Roberts from a 2006 in the population and the accuracy rate
performance is measured. column on libertarian website LewRock- of their identification are far higher
If this assessment sounds too harsh, well.com: than they are. He correctly concludes
please consider who the real
heroes of 9/11 were: they were
the citizen-soldiers who at-
tempted to stop the terrorists
aboard United Airlines Flight
93; they were the local firemen
and policemen who willingly
and selflessly rushed into the
doomed WTC towers; and they
were the field FBI agents who
reported important pieces of
the 9/11 plans to their superi-
ors in Washington, only to have
the information ignored. The
entity that failed most grossly
to protect us on 9/11 was the
Washington bureaucracy itself,
and yet we are supposed to
prevent future 9/11s by trans-
ferring more power to that
bureaucracy?
The number of times airport
security has been breached since
the supposed improvements
in airport security should put
the myths to rest. The Seattle
Times published a report of all
the airport security breaches
they had found between 2002
and 2004. The list was far from
AP Images
inconsequential, although the
Times evidently stopped col-
lecting reports after the num-
ber reached 100. According to Test run: At Super Bowl XXXV, face-recognition software was tested to find lawbreakers in the crowd.
the Times, “Screeners say that’s No one was arrested because it was only a “dry run.”
TNA • OCTOBER 29, 2007 15
18. SURVEILLANCE
veillance identifies them as lecting. At a more radical and polem-
terrorists is only p=0.2308, ical level, there is the sousveillance
Most people would rather all their which is far from one and movement, led by University of To-
deepest secrets be posted on the Internet well below flipping a coin. ronto professor Steve Mann. Playing
NSA’s domestic monitor- off “surveillance” (overlooking from
than have a psychopathic serial killer
ing of everyone’s email above), Mann’s coined term suggests
escape capture. Of course, it’s not quite and phone calls is useless that we should all get in the habit of
that simple. Today’s “I’ve got nothing for finding terrorists. looking from below, proving that we
are sovereign and alert citizens down
to hide” can turn into tomorrow’s “but I So while one would have to here, not helpless sheep. Mann con-
didn’t know that was against the law!” be incurably naïve to think tends that private individuals will be
the NSA will stop monitor- empowered to do this by new senses,
ing U.S. communications dramatically augmented by wearable
that “NSA’s surveillance system is — something they’ve been doing for over electronic devices.
useless for finding terrorists.” 40 years — at least we know what this
practice cannot accomplish, no matter Columnist David Leo Veksler — webmas-
The mathematics mentioned absolutely what we are told. What can we do about ter at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a
prove that monitoring every phone call, it? Maybe those being watched can fight libertarian think tank — suggested a strat-
every e-mail, and every instant message back. David Brin, scientist and best-sell- egy in a 2007 column:
of every American will not result in a re- ing author of science fiction novels, cer-
duction of terrorist attacks. In fact, using tainly thinks so. In his 2004 Salon piece, There are a number of limitations of
the most generous estimates for both the “Three cheers for the Surveillance Soci- the power of the state. Foremost is that
number of terrorists in the U.S. popula- ety!” he stated as much: the same technologies that make ubiq-
tion, and the NSA’s ability to find them, uitous surveillance possible also allow
Rudmin concludes: Swiss researcher Marc Langheinrich’s ubiquitous secrecy.... Government’s
personal digital assistant application attempts at limiting the spread of en-
The probability that people are terror- detects nearby sensors and then lists cryption and introducing loopholes
ists given that NSA’s system of sur- what kind of information they’re col- into encryption programs failed mis-
erably because information is
nearly impossible to contain
in our connected world.
Veksler continues:
There’s no guarantee that life
will remain private in the fu-
ture. We can only be certain
that the potential to com-
municate securely will grow
along with the potential to
monitor unsecured commu-
nications. If we value priva-
cy, the tools will be there.
Adam Perenberg, technology
columnist for Slate, agrees with
Veksler. “Just because cam-
eras are getting smaller, more
powerful, and surveillance
is becoming ubiquitous, that
doesn’t necessarily mean Big
Brother wins.” In fact, he’s on
AP Images
record suggesting that what all
this powerful computation and
The OnStar GPS tracking and security system, available on Cadillacs and other GM models, can be image capture means is that
used to listen in on in-car conversations. IT website The Register reported in 2003 that the FBI has anyone can turn the tables on
used that capability to eavesdrop on suspects. the government.
16 TNA • OCTOBER 29, 2007
19. AP Images
Does it do any good? It is estimated that the average Briton is
scrutinized by cameras 300 times a day, yet crime, even violent
crime, has continued to rise.
If the experience of
users of Google Earth in
the UK is any indication
— where they actually
used a Google Earth plug-
in to obtain the locations
of speed cameras — sur-
veillance tech can be used
against the State just as
successfully as it can be
used by it. Perenberg and
others may be correct,
although the imbalance
in power between the
government and a typical
citizen still needs to be
considered.
Surveillance Psychology
Should we be hopeful or
cautious? Should we be more convinced veillance when the next terrorist attack fact that some random person could wield
that the State will take away our anonym- is used to peel away more privacy? Of the power of surveillance in an evil way,
ity or comforted by the fact that we can course not. we must remember this fact: we’ve only
fight back? Should we be cowering in the The real problem lies not with the na- got people. If we want to lessen the imbal-
corner, awestruck by the imbalance of ture of the technology itself, but with the ance of power between those who rule and
power, or should we be laughing at the way the technology is used. Most people the ruled, the most viable option is hav-
Beverly Hillbillies trying to master some have a tendency to blame the hammer ing fewer rulers. The most viable option
new gadget? The answer lies someplace when the nail goes in crooked. The gun- is a higher degree of self-government, and
in between. rights debate coined an interesting term, checks and balances throughout.
Some researchers, like Erving Goffman, “It’s the criminals, stupid.” While falling The imbalance in power can only be
conclude that surveillance can subcon- prey to sloganeering is always a danger maintained or exacerbated if two things
sciously coerce people, leading to docile, when analyzing such a complex issue, that happen. One, if we allow those who rule
stay-below-the-radar behavior from those sentiment remains solid. us to take away the instruments by which
who are surveilled — meaning possibly Imagine what would happen if, in re- our freedom can be maintained. Two, if
fewer societal problems. sponse to the development of better guns, we forget that we must require both re-
Such an acquiescent attitude might we passed laws that attempted to control sponsibility and accountability of anyone
become common under constant surveil- access to these firearms, laws that ulti- who purports to protect us. Your safety and
lance. One could also argue that the urge mately resulted in only two groups having security has always been, and will always
to become famous, if even for a moment, those weapons: the State and the crooks. be, your responsibility. Let’s make sure we
will drive the type of semi-ludicrous be- This would not prevent the technology, don’t forget that.
havior that is a staple of reality television the guns in this case, from being misused. And for heaven’s sake, let’s keep
in the population at large. Instead, we’d just be left with large groups watching the watchers. If we fail to do
Brin describes the tendency to put these of people ripe for violence with no alterna- so, all the checks and balances built into
issues into “yes/no” terms as a devil’s di- tive. That place exists. In the United States the system — from the Fourth Amend-
chotomy. It’s either “big brother is out to it’s called the inner city. ment prohibition against unreasonable
get us!” or “without complete transpar- The same analysis can be applied to searches and seizures to habeas corpus
ency the terrorists will win!” Hogwash. the proliferation of surveillance tech, and — will ultimately be totally lost along
When one allows a vibrant panorama of the State’s tendency to abuse it, as can with freedom. ■
choices to be reduced to such an absurd be applied to most
and simplistic yes-or-no debate, he miss- other concerns about
es the point completely. The question of
surveillance technology is more compli-
the State abusing its
power: understand EXTRA COPIES AVAILABLE
cated than simply good or bad. It is en- that the State, and ➧ Additional copies of this issue of
tirely possible that increased surveillance our tendency to trust THE NEW AMERICAN are available at
can lead to positive results on occasion. it and its agents too quantity-discount prices. To order, visit
Does that mean that everyone should just much, is the problem! www.thenewamerican.com/marketplace/
“roll over” and accept more invasive sur- When we lament the or see the card between pages 38-39.
THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007 17
20. SURVEILLANCE
To Protect America,
PROTECT PRIVACY
President Bush used the
NSA’s Threat Operations
Center as his venue to call
for making the recently
enacted Protect America
Act permanent.
AP Images
With President Bush seeking to extend the “Protect America Act” indefinitely, it is time to
examine how making this legislation permanent would affect our right to privacy.
by Warren Mass this land, it will be in the guise of fight- largely by the White House, the new
ing a foreign enemy.” Madison’s words law, officials say, provides a legal
O
n September 19, President Bush, alluded to the time-honored principle that framework for warrantless monitor-
in a carefully orchestrated media a people who normally would guard their ing that was already being conducted
event obviously designed to pro- freedom jealously, often are willing to by the National Security Agency out-
mote his legislative agenda, addressed sacrifice some of that freedom if they can side of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence
members of the press at the Threat Opera- be convinced that a foreign enemy poses Surveillance Act (FISA).
tions Center of the National Security Agen- a greater threat.
cy at Ft. Meade, Maryland. Specifically, As to how that pertains to the Protect A few excerpts from the act provide a
he discussed the recently enacted “Protect America Act, which effectively destroys sense of how this surveillance is to be
America Act,” which he had signed into the Fourth Amendment’s prohibitions accomplished:
law a month and a half earlier. against unreasonable searches and sei-
The thrust of his remarks, however, was zures and the issuance of warrants with- Sec. 105B. (a) … the Director of Na-
not to celebrate the legislation’s passage. out probable cause, an excellent summary tional Intelligence and the Attorney
Instead, Mr. Bush lamented the fact that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor General, may for periods of up to
“the law expires on February 1st — that’s of August 7, two days after President Bush one year authorize the acquisition of
135 days from [September 19]. The threat signed the bill into law: foreign intelligence information con-
from al Qaeda is not going to expire in 135 cerning persons reasonably believed
days.” The US government now has greater to be outside the United States if the
The president (or his speechwriters) authority to eavesdrop without war- Director of National Intelligence and
played the al-Qaeda card to full advan- rants on American citizens’ telephone the Attorney General determine …
tage. Now might be a good time to recall calls and e-mails after President Bush that —
the warning once uttered by James Madi- signed new surveillance legislation (3) the acquisition involves obtain-
son: “If tyranny and oppression come to into law on [August 5]. Authored ing the foreign intelligence informa-
18 THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007
21. tion from or with the assistance of
a communications service provider,
The New American
custodian … who has access to
communications, either as they are
transmitted or while they are stored,
or equipment that is being or may
be used to transmit or store such
communications.
The difference between the traditional
search-warrant process protected under the
Fourth Amendment and the Protect America
Act is significant. The Fourth Amendment
provides that “no Warrants shall issue, but
upon probable cause, supported by Oath
or affirmation, and particularly describing
the place to be searched, and the persons
or things to be seized.” The act, in contrast,
provides that “a certification [to conduct a
search] under subsection (a) is not required
to identify the specific facilities, places,
premises, or property at which the acquisi-
New content, new look ...
tion of foreign intelligence information will
be directed.” (Emphasis added.)
As such, the Protect America Act sends
us back in the direction of the writs of as- TheNewAmerican.com
sistance (general search warrants) granted
by British authorities under King George
III. These writs became a bone of conten-
tion that contributed to the American War
for Independence.
Place Your
In seeking to garner support for making
the Protect America Act permanent, the
president made a point of stressing that
“al Qaeda is not going to expire in 135
days.” When our Founding Fathers wrote
the Fourth Amendment to guard against
Ad Here!
the excesses they had suffered under the
British writs of assistance, they apparently
feared that the government’s potential to
invade our privacy would never expire.
Readers concerned that the direction
proposed by President Bush will threaten
Americans’ rights to privacy can oppose the
extension of the misnamed Protect Amer-
ica Act by visiting http://capwiz.com/jbs/
Four sizes and
issues/alert/?alertid=10327561&type=CO locations to
and using the information found there to
write a letter to your representative in the choose from.
House and to your senators. The model
letter calls attention to the fact that the
Protect America Act allows the federal
government to eavesdrop on the commu-
nications of U.S. citizens without a court
warrant, and asks for your representatives’
response concerning their intentions when
Online Advertising Now Available!
this issue comes to a vote. ■ For more information visit
TheNewAmerican.com
THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007
22. ECONOMY
Taking
AP Images
Delight in
Deception
Alan Greenspan
now admits that
he regularly
deceived Congress
with “purposeful
obfuscation” during
his nearly 19-year
reign as chairman
of the Federal
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Reserve System.
Alan Greenspan admits deception,
but Big Media embraces his
“purposeful obfuscation” and
continues gushing adoration.
by William F. Jasper policies affecting the national and global Maria Bartiromo: What is it?
economies. This blatant deception — in Alan Greenspan: It’s a — a lan-
F
ormer Federal Reserve Chairman essence, lying — Greenspan brazenly, but guage of purposeful obfuscation to
Alan Greenspan lives a charmed casually, described as “purposeful obfus- avoid certain questions coming up,
life. Besides pulling down an $8.5 cation” and “destructive syntax.” which you know you can’t answer,
million advance on his memoir, The Age Were his interviewers outraged by this and saying — “I will not answer or ba-
of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World shocking confession? Far from it; the rev- sically no comment is, in fact, an an-
(topped only by Bill Clinton’s $10 million elation only seemed to deepen their awe swer.” So, you end up with when, say,
advance), he recently was treated to an and fascination. The September 17 on- a congressman asks you a question,
orgy of media hype and hoopla usually re- screen performance of CNBC’s Bartiromo and don’t wanna say, “No comment,”
served for screen idols and rock stars. was especially embarrassing to watch. Ms. or “I won’t answer,” or something
This hype continued even though dur- Bartiromo, supposedly the consummate like that. So, I proceed with four or
ing his dozens of media appearances in news professional, wavered between star- five sentences which get increasingly
September, the fabled “Maestro” of cen- struck hero-worship and giggling girlie obscure. The congressman thinks I
tral banking made at least two damning flirtation. answered the question and goes onto
confessions that should have sparked uni- Here is the crucial exchange between the next one. [Emphasis added.]
versal outrage and a torrent of condemn- the breathless Bartiromo and Greenspan:
ing headlines and editorials. However, Likewise, in his September 13 interview
Greenspan’s admissions seem to have Maria Bartiromo: All of these on 60 Minutes, Greenspan proudly parad-
caused nary a ripple of discontent in his important economic events you are ed his record of deceit and misdirection.
sea of media admirers. overseeing — the most important CBS’ Leslie Stahl tells us that “in public
institution, and leading things. And Greenspan was inscrutable whenever Con-
Condoning Deception then not only are you dealing with gress asked about interest rates. He resort-
In interviews on two high-profile televi- these crises, but then you’ve got to ed to an indecipherable, Delphic dialect
sion programs — with Maria Bartiromo convey what’s going on to people. known as ‘Fed-speak.’” The 60 Minutes
on CNBC and with Leslie Stahl on CBS’ That means Congress, the president, transcript then proceeds with this account
60 Minutes — Greenspan admitted, with the media, the public. So what? You of their conversation:
smug satisfaction, to willfully deceiving come up with Green-speak.
Congress when addressing them under Alan Greenspan: Otherwise “I would engage in some form of
oath about some of the most important Fed known as Fed-speak. syntax destruction, which sounded as
20 THE NEW AMERICAN • OCTOBER 29, 2007
