Just how easy is it to be marked as a domestic extremist, terrorist or enemy of the state?
A report out of the UK highlights how easy it really is to become a target of tyranny:
An immigration officer tried to rid himself of his wife by adding her name to a list of terrorist suspects.
He used his access to security databases to include his wife on a watch list of people banned from boarding flights into Britain because their presence in the country is ‘not conducive to the public good’.
As a result the woman was unable for three years to return from Pakistan after traveling to the country to visit family.
…
He is understood to have applied for a promotion that would have meant a higher level of security clearance.
During the vetting process the name of his wife was discovered on the suspect list, to the surprise of security staff.
When questioned, the officer confessed to his alteration of the lists and was sacked.
The UK and US share lists across agencies, and given that the United States is spearheading the war on terror, in all likelihood the many watch lists that exist within our own security infrastructure are frighteningly susceptible to corruption and illegal tampering. There are probably thousands of individuals with the security clearance to modify these databases. Those unlucky enough to be added to the lists are never told, thus they are guilty until proven innocent, often learning of their guilt only after arriving at the airport.
In a previous post we facetiously mused that the Terrorist Watch List May Exceed the US Population by 2019. Our view is based on the rate at which citizens of the US and other nations were being added to the variety of terror watch lists, no-fly lists and other secret databases maintained by global intelligence agencies. According to our report, the lists saw an increase of 1000% between 2006 and 2010, topping some one million people deemed to be domestic extremists or possible terrorist threats.
At first glance, the public would dismiss the possibility that hundreds of millions will eventually end up on the lists as pure conjecture. Why would the government, randomly and without cause, add innocent people to a list that could not only prevent their ability to travel, but to acquire employment as well? The general consensus among the populace is that if they are not engaged in extremist or terrorist behaviors and actions, they have nothing to worry about.
The problem with blind compliance and acceptance is that according to security entities within our government the definition for what constitutes extremist behavior is quite broad, as evidenced by the 2010 leaked MIAC report, which advised law enforcement to be on the lookout for, among other things, bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties. That report, coupled with a recent policy change within DHS that says security services have altered their criteria so that a single-source tip, as long as it is deemed credible, can lead to a name being placed on the watch list, suggests that anyone, for any reason, could potentially be branded an enemy of the state.
And, once you’re added to a list it is nearly impossible to be removed as we have seen in the case of the women added to the watch list by her husband in the UK and the story of 7 year old John Anderson, whose parents discovered he was a threat to the flying public in 2004 and was reportedly still on the list in 2008.
They (TSA agents) need to wear t-shirts that say “Not only am I a TSA agent, I’m also president of my howeowner’s association”.
😉
This doesn’t surprise me one bit. The more power you allow the government to have the more they abuse it.
glad he got fired…here in the US..he would have gotten a promotion…no, im not being sarcastic.
I would love to see the names and addresses of every TSA agent posted on the internet….now that would make my day!
I’m sure Michael Savage, who is also banned from the UK, will have something to say about this on his radio show tonight.
Sounds to me he was sacking someone else.
All who comment here or on ZH, Infowars, et al, are most likely on the list. ACH TUNG!!! WE VILL NOT ALLOW CRITICISM OF ZE GOVERNMENT, DER FUHRER, OR THE BERNANKAKA.
Comments…..
CPS is the same, here in the small town I live in a CPS worker took a ladies kids away for two years; later the courts ruled it was a personal vendetta….
He broke the law, kept his wife in another country for years… and all he gets is sacked? If a “civilian” had done that they would be sitting in jail right now on more than conspiracy charges.
Power corrupts. I happen to have felt the personal attacks of government employees empowered by a run away police state.
It’s all fun and games until your FBI neighbor is running a background check on you and intercepting your internet communications because he doesn’t like your dog. It’s all fun and games until people you work with know what you buy, the contents of your personal email accounts, and comments you’ve made “anonymously” to sites such as this one and you become the primary subject of office gossip.
Sounds like tin-foil hat Hollywood stuff right? Well it isn’t. These people are like children, mad with power, and given all the technological means to surveil and profile you at will.
Don’t even talk about the 4th amendment or warrants – the constitution is in the garbage and we are living in a police state. The witch hunts began after 9/11 but now that Wikileaks has happened it is increased 10 fold. Those in powere have secrets, horrible secrets, that they want to keep hidden at all costs. They have authorized every element of government and even the man on the street to spy on fucking everyone all the time – and they’re doing it as we speak.
The only thing you can do is stay off the radar. Stay off everyone’s radar. You have no way of knowing whether your neighbor works for the NSA or not (or maybe he retired and moved out to po-dunk Middle America but still has connections). Once you’re on one of the lists, you’re NEVER getting off. They will profile you based on spending patterns, internet activity (intercepting all plain text packets), travel patterns using your cell phone to track you etc. It’s simple for them to do this. Human intelligence they are bad at, but electronic? Forget about it.
It’s far too late for me. I will never be free again. Even if I moved to another Western nation they would share intelligence about me and my political beliefs and my profile. I will never enjoy privacy again. This is a dangerous road you are on and most of you are not prepared for the consequences.
And you’ll say, “get back on the meds, tin foil hatter.” But you don’t get it. I was naive about the police/suveillance state we live in for far too long and I’ve dug myself into a hole that I can never escape from. Do not idle under the illusion that you are free or that if you haven’t anything to hide you haven’t anything to fear.
Learn to defend yourselves. Encrypt fucking everything. Use TOR – or get the fuck off the internet. This is nothing but a surveillance dragnet and they are hunting for YOU. Now go back to spending your unemployment checks on Miller Light and watching football and embracing your undocumented citizen brothers from Mexico as the elites usher in the new world order which will enslave your descendants forever.
“given that the United States is spearheading the war on terror” – please, make it “war” on “terror.”
By writing “war on terror” without dong something to point out the ludicrous nature of that term, you simply propagate the government meme, which I think runs counter to your objectives.
As in the recent case in the news about the Canadian from British Columbia trying to fly to Hawaii.  Not only was it a legit case of mistaken identity… the border guard then forged a false confession … and instead of being fired… was relocated to Utah
Mike,I agree with your point about being shot at or arrested. Also a good point about us knoniwg in hindsight. I don’t really see a scenario where an event and subsequent over-reaction happens (though our gov’t is unpredictable). Great comment.