US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies

smh ^ | 7/15/2002 | Ritt Goldstein

[TLBSHOW]

US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies

The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.

The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".

Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.

As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.

Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits.

A pilot program, described on the government Web site www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage. Assuming the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.

Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports.

Present Justice Department procedures mean that informant reports will enter databases for future reference and/or action. The information will then be broadly available within the department, related agencies and local police forces. The targeted individual will remain unaware of the existence of the report and of its contents.

The Patriot Act already provides for a person's home to be searched without that person being informed that a search was ever performed, or of any surveillance devices that were implanted.

At state and local levels the TIPS program will be co-ordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which

was given sweeping new powers, including internment, as part of the Reagan Administration's national security initiatives. Many key figures of the Reagan era are part of the Bush Administration.

The creation of a US "shadow government", operating in secret, was another Reagan national security initiative.

[rwfromkansas]

I enjoyed a good laugh at that one. Thanks! :)

[rwfromkansas]

and libertarian scare-mongering as well....:)

[Allegra]

My, oh my....some of the posts to this thread make me think I accidentally took a left on the information highway and went to DU.

[ratdog]

OH LORD,

Tell me there will never be another Democrat President. !
 

Not that I disagree, but I'm not trusting of the Republican ones, either!

[ratdog]

I'm sorry about your dog.

[ratdog]

Creating another ineffectual program to deal with problems is what the Democrats excel at.
 

Not to mention, spending money.

[B4Ranch]

Would you care to retract your bold statements of criticism or care to sign up? Is this the Republican method or the Gestapo?>

	"A national system for concerned workers to report suspicious activity."

		Operation TIPS - the Terrorism Information and Prevention System - will be a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity. Operation TIPS, a project of the U.S. Department of Justice, will begin as a pilot program in 10 cities that will be selected. Operation TIPS, involving 1 million workers in the pilot stage, will be a national reporting system that allows these workers, whose routines make them well-positioned to recognize unusual events, to report suspicious activity. Every participant in this new program will be given an Operation TIPS information sticker to be affixed to the cab of their vehicle or placed in some other public location so that the toll-free reporting number is readily available. Everywhere in America, a concerned worker can call a toll-free number and be connected directly to a hotline routing calls to the proper law enforcement agency or other responder organizations when appropriate. Operation TIPS is coming in August 2002. Volunteer now! Privacy Policy | USA Freedom Corps | Other Resources
Join Now! Frequently Asked Questions E-News About Citizen Corps Community Emergency Response Teams Neighborhood Watch Program Volunteers in Police Service Medical Reserve Corps Operation TIPS Citizen Corps Councils Get the free Citizens' Preparedness Guidebook

[MinorityRepublican]

Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.

While President Bush is a decent man, and I am not afraid of him personally, but his actions will only empower future American Presidents. Just imagine what Hiliary! will do with this kind of power.

In a way, it would have been better if Hiliary! was president because this kind of crap would never pass Congress and be approved by the American public in general.

But since President Bush is an honorable man, he may end up taking our freedoms in the long run such as this very Patriot Act showed us. Even though the President did not meant to do any harm indirectly, the presidents in the future will only further abuse their power, especially if the government is getting bigger and more powerful.

[B Knotts]

He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there,

ROFL. What a bozo.

[Polybius]

Dear god is this Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany?

If I see five Arab men video-taping my town's water treatment plant, I should:

A. Report "suspicious activity" to the authorities.

B. Do nothing as reporting the activity will turn America into the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany.

[socal_parrot]

parrot...socal_parrot.

All I want is an Aston Martin with a machine gun in the front and a hose that shoots an oil slick out the back and I'm in! Oh...and a shoe phone.

[Betty Jo]

draco, it is US law.See the link to the governement website up above.Go read US law.

[weikel]

You can report them without being a permanent "informant". Being a permanent informant is unnecassary to report terrorist it is neccasary for a gestapo system.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Is this a paid position? I know a bunch of Aholes that I would love to turn in just to see 'em twist, but that would be wrong. Now if I were getting paid to do it then my conscience wouldn't hurt so bad.LOL

[Squantos]

If I catch Al-Quedaians or Islamakazi's there won't be much left to turn in if I do it right.........:o)

Stay Safe !

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...clicking on this article's source's web site reveals the source as anti-US...

The Sydney Morning Herald is not "anti-US", Draco.

Liberal, yes. Anti-American, no.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...I'm reviewing applications for public health positions; one guy is a Bangladeshi-trained physician who practiced medicine in both Iran and Iraq in the 80s and 90s. Probably a nice guy with the best of intentions, but ...

Hey, make the call. Or, tell him you'll make the call, unless he gives you a hundred bucks.

That's the way informants often work, right?

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..notice the anti-Bush slant in this Australian article...basically calling Bush Hitler...

That's completely untrue. There is no such slant anywhere in the article.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

I don't want to burst any bubbles here, but during WWII Americans were requested to be local spies also. The German Bund was alive and well here. Americans were asked to report to the FBI if they saw any one with a two way radio, carrier pigeons, Mail from foreign country (that required snooping) and anything out of the ordinary.

I lived in New Jersey near Bell Telephone Laboratories where they were working on the Atom Bomb. I baby sat for a scientist working on it (they had triplets) and I was asked to snoop on them and listen to phone calls (their side). I liked these people but we were at war and I told what I saw to my father who was then contacted by the FBI. I was a pre teen and but I knew how important this was. I never heard or saw anything out of line so I didn't have much to say. I was told what to look for.

I wouldn't worry too much we need to keep our eyes open for any suspicious stuff. We are all in this together. Terrorists are sneaky and deadly. It would be insane to close our eyes to those around us who may harm us at any time, in any way they want.

After the war it all seemed like a bad dream. It did go away.

[genefromjersey]

So ?

Citizens are being asked to report suspicious activities to their government. What's new about that - except formalizing it ?

What makes this into a "national gestapo" ?