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US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies
smh ^ | 7/15/2002 | Ritt Goldstein

Posted on 07/14/2002 1:17:47 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: spies; tips
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To: TLBSHOW
About the author: Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in the movement for US law enforcement accountability. He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there, saying he was the victim of life-threatening assaults in retaliation for his accountability efforts. His application has been supported by the European Parliament, five of Sweden's seven big political parties, clergy, and Amnesty and other rights groups.
21 posted on 07/14/2002 1:50:51 PM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: TLBSHOW
Is that Colonel Flagg from MASH, or if you tell me will you have to kill me?
22 posted on 07/14/2002 1:50:57 PM PDT by APBaer
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To: TLBSHOW
Somebody you don't like? Just turn them in. The Feds will take care of them for you. Think incrementalism. Scary, isn't it?
Step bt step, inch by inch....
23 posted on 07/14/2002 1:54:26 PM PDT by concerned about politics
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To: Clara Lou
From the .gov site mentioned in the article:


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.
24 posted on 07/14/2002 1:55:03 PM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: weikel
Dear god is this Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany?

We have long ago lost the right to criticize the former Soviet Union.

25 posted on 07/14/2002 1:56:40 PM PDT by Lazamataz
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To: Clara Lou; Mulder
This thread could be a classic.....where is Fox Mulder??
26 posted on 07/14/2002 1:57:55 PM PDT by Dog
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To: Clara Lou
About the author: Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in the movement for US law enforcement accountability. He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there, saying he was the victim of life-threatening assaults in retaliation for his accountability efforts. His application has been supported by the European Parliament, five of Sweden's seven big political parties, clergy, and Amnesty and other rights groups.

Oh. Never mind then. This is some nutcake Eurotrash flake.

I'll believe this when it is second-sourced.

27 posted on 07/14/2002 1:58:17 PM PDT by Lazamataz
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To: gunshy
I'm with you. I think it would be better if we just let terrorists murder tens, hundreds, or thousands of us at random.
28 posted on 07/14/2002 2:00:24 PM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: Lazamataz
"I'll believe this when it is second-sourced."

See post 24, and the web site.

Neighborhood Watch meets the Committee For the Defense of the Revolution.
29 posted on 07/14/2002 2:00:56 PM PDT by APBaer
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To: TLBSHOW
" to report suspiscious activity "

How about non-citizens applying for Homeland Security jobs? 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 ...
30 posted on 07/14/2002 2:01:17 PM PDT by AngrySpud
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To: Lazamataz
http://www.citizencorps.gov/tips.html
31 posted on 07/14/2002 2:01:44 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
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To: APBaer
Operation TIPS is coming in August 2002.
Volunteer now!

32 posted on 07/14/2002 2:02:25 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
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To: mrsmith
Funny. More lefty scare-mongering about the mysterious US of A.
33 posted on 07/14/2002 2:02:48 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: TLBSHOW
If I were all of you I would reserve my judgement before I open your mouth. This report has not been confirmed by anyone yet. We should consider giving the bennifit of the doubt.
34 posted on 07/14/2002 2:02:53 PM PDT by illbenice
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To: Dog
This thread could be a classic.....where is Fox Mulder??

We both know who will targeted by Reichland Security.

And it won't be the Arabs.

35 posted on 07/14/2002 2:02:53 PM PDT by Mulder
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To: TLBSHOW
Dude, where do I sign up?
36 posted on 07/14/2002 2:03:37 PM PDT by Classicaliberalconservative
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To: Mulder
If you are interested in participating for Citizen Corps, please provide your contact information below, then click "Submit." We will send you e-mail updates and more program details as soon as they become available.
Which program or programs are you interested in?


Operation TIPS


First Name:
Middle Initial:
Last Name:
Address:
City:
State: Select a State
Zip Code:
E-mail Address:
Occupation:

By submitting this form, the sender consents to release of his or her name, address and contact information to the entity in which the submitter has indicated an interest. If you do not agree, please click on "Cancel" below.



Privacy Policy | USA Freedom Corps | Other Resources

37 posted on 07/14/2002 2:04:34 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
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To: Dog
Some of these posts are just unbelievable. They'd be funny if they weren't so sad. I'm sure Israeli citizens never report suspicious behavior. /utter disgust
38 posted on 07/14/2002 2:06:41 PM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: TLBSHOW
Stalin is smiling.
39 posted on 07/14/2002 2:06:47 PM PDT by Jonathon Spectre
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To: TLBSHOW
Hoo boy.

Can snappy brown shirts and highly-polished black boots be far behind?

40 posted on 07/14/2002 2:07:03 PM PDT by Lazamataz
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