Feds See the Document Leak as an Opportunity for Surveillance and Control

Reason ^ | 4.17.2023 7:00 AM | J.D. TUCCILLE

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Another day, another government blunder used as an excuse to tighten the screws on the public in hopes of reducing the fallout from official incompetence. That's a fair takeaway from efforts by the Biden administration and security agencies to lean on the media for reporting the contents of the recent intelligence leaks, and to plan expanded internet surveillance to catch inevitable future leakers.

Stop Looking at Me!

"We do believe that social media companies have a responsibility to their users and to the country to manage the private sector infrastructure that they create and now operate," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded last week to questions about a massive leak of military documents detailing everything from Pentagon assessments of Ukraine's prospects in its war with Russia to apparent U.S. spying on its allies. "We normally urge companies to avoid facilitating those circulation of material detrimental to public safety and national security."

Strictly speaking, it's the job of governments to keep their own secrets. Private individuals and organizations have no responsibility to look away from information revealed to the world by random Air National Guard I.T. workers entrusted with sensitive intelligence. But when you're a government flack trying to explain away the latest in a series of screw-ups, it must be tempting to wag your finger at a world that so stubbornly refuses to ignore your bouts of institutional Tourette syndrome. Of course, the surveillance state has some clever ideas for fixing the problem.

"The Biden administration is looking at expanding how it monitors social media sites and chatrooms after U.S. intelligence agencies failed to spot classified Pentagon documents circulating online for weeks, according to a senior administration official and a congressional official briefed on the matter," NBC News's Carol E. Lee, Ken Dilanian, and Dan De Luce report.

[Sacajaweau]

someone wasn’t doing their job for this to happen.

[Starboard]

But they will ignore all leaks fed by high level officials to their media allies.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Naah, likely was deliberate.

[mass55th]

When did they ever need an excuse?

[Sacajaweau]

I bet they had him on the hook....and said....let’s see how far he goes...then they lost him...then they had to pretend they didn’t lose him...

[alternatives?]

There is never a reason to reduce government power, only increase.

[Red Badger]

Feds See _____(Fill In The Blank)______as an Opportunity for Surveillance and Control...................

[fortes fortuna juvat]

There is never a reason to reduce government power, only increase.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.’s Concluding Remarks at Hillsdale College

I’ll leave you with three thoughts:

1. Any power that government takes from the people, it will never return voluntarily.

2. Every power that government takes, it will ultimately be abused to the maximum extent possible.

3. Nobody ever complied their way out of totalitarianism. The only thing we can do is resist.

Hard to believe, but this man is a DEMOCRAT !

[blackdog]

That’s all our bureaucrats and political overlords see at every opportunity.