Will Homeland Security Turn Into Homeland Spying?

www.eagleforum.org ^ | July 31, 2002 | Phyllis Schlafly

[Tailgunner Joe]

If Bill Clinton were still in the White House, Republicans would be on the march against Bigger Government and Bigger Spending. Unfortunately, too many prominent Republicans are cottoning up to increased federal control and the increased spending that goes with it.

One of the five components of the Citizen Corps, created by the President in January, is Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System). This is designed to be "a nationwide program to help thousands of American truck drivers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, and utility workers report potential terrorist activity."

Operation TIPS calls on Americans, in their daily course of work activities, to monitor and report "suspicious" activities to a central reporting center. You can bet that all those "suspicious" activities will be entered on a national database available to the prying eyes of federal bureaucrats.

Majority Leader Dick Armey objects; the Homeland legislation his committee just reported out specifically prohibits implementation of Operation TIPS. And the U.S. Postal Service announced that our friendly letter carriers are not going to double as government spies.

When we observe something illegal or potentially dangerous, of course we should sound an alarm, as the airplane passenger did when he saw his seatmate lighting a fuse in his shoe. But common-sense alertness is a far cry from institutionalizing a federal system of informers.

The President's 90-page National Strategy for Homeland Security (NSHS) released on July 16 sets us on the path of morphing driver's licenses into a national ID card, a longtime goal of big-government types who hope that our fears about a repeat of 9/11 give them the opportunity to push this thoroughly un-American idea. Highlighting the diversity of state laws, the NSHS includes a vague requirement to "coordinate suggested minimum standards for state driver's licenses."

Congress actually passed legislation in 1996 requiring driver's licenses to contain a Social Security number that could be read visually or electronically. After the voters found out that this provision would turn driver's licenses into national ID cards, it was repealed in 1999.

The Homeland legislation reported out of Rep. Armey's committee includes this caveat: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the development of a national identification system or card."

Instead of trying to take over driver's licenses, which are and should be under state jurisdiction, the federal government should be cleaning up the irresponsible way it issues visas to people from terrorist countries. We do need an identification system for aliens with smart ID cards to assure that they live up to the terms of their entry and go home when their visa time is up.

The Fourth of July murderer at the Los Angeles airport was in the United States because he took advantage of the now-expired 254(i) amnesty loophole (which, unfortunately, President Bush is trying to get Congress to revive), and his wife won legal residence through Ted Kennedy's Visa Diversity Lottery Law. A good start on Homeland Security would be to deep-six every kind of amnesty and repeal the Diversity Lottery.

Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon were surprised to learn that the NSHS calls for a "plan for military support to civil authorities." Military support, such as through the National Guard, is to include "technical support and assistance to law enforcement, assisting in the restoration of law and order, loaning specialized equipment, and assisting in consequence management."

Those dangerous concepts remind us of the use of the military (including tanks) against civilians that resulted in the 1993 incineration of dozens of children at the Branch Davidian home near Waco, Texas. If U.S. troops are to defend us against terrorists, they should be used to prevent suspicious aliens from coming across our borders, not for police work against U.S. citizens.

Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, the head of Bush's newly established Northern Command for domestic security, said we should review the Posse Comitatus law "if we think it ties our hands." But tying the hands of the military over civilians is what Posse Comitatus is supposed to do.

In 1998 the Clinton Administration proposed a federal regulation called Know Your Customer, which would have turned your friendly local banker into a snoop reporting to the federal database called FinCen any deviation from what the bank decided is your deposits/withdrawal profile. The American people responded with 300,000 angry e-mail criticisms and the regulation was withdrawn.

The Bush Administration's proposed regulations to implement the USA Patriot Act passed last year are even more intrusive. Some people seem to think it's acceptable to profile the bank accounts of law-abiding citizens but not acceptable to profile Middle Eastern Muslim aliens who might hijack an airplane.

Americans must not allow the 9/11 terrorists to turn America into a police state. The job of the Federal Government is to stop suspicious people at the border.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

And what about that DAMN Neighborhood watch.. now thats intrusive and the epitomy of SPYING on your neighbor!!!! </sarcasm

The TIPS program is the SAME thing. People are FREAKING out about NOTHING. If I see strange activity, you can bet your sweet (or sour) A** I'm gonna report it! I could care less about someones hurt wittle feelings!!

Americans as a whole, are a lot more responsible than some would give them credit for. If someone was abusing the system and reporting falsely, that would be insane for a number of reasons!!

[SteamshipTime]

Will Homeland Security Turn Into Homeland Spying?

Does a bear **** in the woods?

[two23]

What is the german word for "fatherland"???
I dislike the title, "Homeland Security" immensly.
Every time I hear it, I cringe.
I know some were opposed to dusting off the label "Civil Defense" because it had such a cold-war ring to it...but "homeland" has some weird hitler echo to it.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I feel this is my HOMELAND. I don't find offense in the word, ..but then I just don't let the small stuff make me lose sleep. Mere' symantecs.

I guess the only word whose "new usage" bothers me,.. is the word "GAY" (which I used to use all the time in my youth) and now a group of people use it to define a sexual preference. That bothers me. Otherwise, nope, homeland security is just fine by me.

Oh wait!!! OPERATION.. every time I hear the word OPERATION as in "Operation Desert Storm" etc, I remember bad experiences with SURGICAL Operations!!! (just kidding,.. you get my point)

:o)

FRegards,..and hey, welcome! I see you are a relatively new person to the forum.

[GaltMeister]

The sccary/wierd part about the TIPS program is that they intend to sign certain people up and 'train' them on what kind of 'suspicious' activity to report. You and I can still call 911, but these 'tipsters' would be specially trained, and would have a special conduit to submit thier reports.

Ever had a nosy neighbor or a rival that would stoop to the level of filing a report of 'suspicious' activity on you? Welcome to the new USA. Couple that with trigger happy jackboot thugs and no-knock entry and you see the tip of that iceberg.

The new Stazi, right here in our own beloved United States.

[widowithfoursons]

Phyllis is on target with this one. If 9/11 had happended when Clinton was POTUS we would be fighting every new and expansive govt idea he had. Let's not forget what could happen down the road if another reprobate administration is in power.

[two23]

Thanks for the welcome! I really like FR--

I'm not **offended** by "Homeland" it's just one of those grate-on-my-nerve-words!
Kinda like when cable news pundits say:
"...at the end of day-----" (meaning "bottom line is--")
(((((arrrrgggg!)))))
Civilian Defense is ok--separates between Civilian and Miltary Defense. We are civilians...that word implying "people"..whereas "homeland" (in my mind) takes the people out of the picture and conjures up images of plain ole real estate.
Now...on its own, "Homeland Security" would seem a quaint term, but start adding items like TIPS, National ID cards, Gun Registration, and search and seizures without warrents and then it reeks a little!

[SUSSA]

I agree that there is nothing to worry about when the government recruits and rewards informers. Castro implemented the TIPs program when he came to power in Cuba, and it seems to work well there too. Every neighborhood, work place, apartment building, school and church should have at least one government informant.

In fact we shouldn't stop there. Government schools should be training children to inform on their parents and relatives. The children can be especially effective in weeding out malcontents who think the government is too big or too powerful.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

What a bunch of paranoid dribble. BOO!!

[SUSSA]

I'm from the government. I'm here to help you. LOL

[Tailgunner Joe]

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I'll believe that when I see it. Can you show me where you found this information? Is it a fact?

[dcwusmc]

Oops. They do. It's called D.A.R.E. Trains kids to be snitches wrt guns, drugs or any other verboten thing...

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I'm from the government. I'm here to help you. LOL <.i>

Would you consider the military a part of the Government..?? Just curious!

[SUSSA]

I knew they would get to that. We need more of it. We can't let people question the political class and get away with it. Children make very effective government informants and we need all the informants we can get.

[SUSSA]

I don't want the military doing domestic police work. Their job is to defend the borders from foreign aggression and to eliminate any foreign power that tries to harm the U.S. Let the military do their job and let the state and local police do theirs.

[dtel]

Is this the actual pamphlet?
I am especially referring to the different "extremist groups" referenced.

[Tailgunner Joe]

It's an old flyer distributed by the Phoenix FBI. See Here

[dcwusmc]

The armed services are part of the government, about the ONLY part of FedGov that the Constitution allows FedGov to do... No, the services are NOT to be used as some sort of domestic police force. Posse Comitatus still rules... BUT having an ORGANIZED snitch program smacks way too much of the old USSR or Germany, either under uncle Adolph or under the Stasi.... If you or I see anything that looks like a terrorist activity and we cannot stop it alone, we know how to dial a phone. But training squads of snitches is not now nor ever should be an American way of doing things. I recall some other thread where you were ready to trade away your liberty for a (false) sense of security. Which is fine by me, as long as you leave MY liberty alone. Deal? You go live on base or in some internment camp where you can be as secure as you like. Leave the rest of us out of it!