Posted on 07/19/2002 11:30:41 AM PDT by WindMinstrel
House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.), in his markup of legislation to create a Homeland Security Department, yesterday rejected a national identification card and scrapped a program that would use volunteers in domestic surveillance, according to The Washington Times.
Armey, chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, included language in his markup of the legislation to prohibit the Justice Department from initiating the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, also called Operation TIPS.
Armey's bill also would create a "privacy officer" in the Homeland Security Department, which he said was the first ever established by law in a Cabinet agency. Armey said this person would "ensure technology research and new regulations from the department respect the civil liberties our citizens enjoy."
The TIPS program would have allowed volunteers, including letter carriers and utility workers whose routines make them well-positioned to recognize suspect activities, to report suspect behavior to the Justice Department. It was scheduled to begin next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants initially participating in the program.
Robert A. Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies, has written, "Every 20th-century dictator appointed civilian armies to watch over their neighbors. The Bush administration would do well not to follow in those footsteps." Beyond the obvious privacy implications of TIPS, Levy explains that the program almost certainly won't work. "In fact, it is more likely to be counterproductive. With limited resources to battle terrorists, federal, state, and local authorities definitely don't need an avalanche of worthless tips. Maybe there will be a nugget or two of useful information somewhere in the heap. But law-enforcement officials won't ever get to the nuggets without wading through the rubbish. Naturally, that's not to say citizens should keep it to themselves when they observe suspect behavior in plain view. But the answer isn't a legion of federal emissaries serving essentially as undercover agents. Terrorists are not stupid. They will not invite a letter carrier in to spot the latest weaponry. That means the meter readers and letter carriers will, for the most part, be observing ordinary Americans doing ordinary things. The fear is that more zealous or malevolent informants will somehow find a national-security risk lurking behind everyday conduct -- an assessment that will occasionally be driven by outright prejudice or personal vendetta."
At a Capitol Hill briefing last week, Levy, Timothy Lynch, and Charlotte A. Twight discussed profiling and national IDs.
Are you a Domestic Terrorist?
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* Do you consider yourself to be a "defender" of the U.S. Constitution against the federal government and the UN? !! CAUTION !!
According to the information sheet (available in .pdf format, above) created by the Phoenix, AZ, FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, these situations could get you branded as a potential domestic terrorist. This sheet was designed to "assist uniformed patrol officers in identifying potential domestic terrorism." |
OK, but Armey is a Republican, therefore spineless, and this will get compromised out of existence.
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