DHS’s “See Something, Say Something” campaign: Marine colonel Pete Martino warns of takeover
Article first appeared in Theonemanmarch.
Marine colonel Pete Martino warns citizens:
Homeland Security’s “See Something, Say Something” campaign motivated me to say something. Since that’s the purpose of this tax payer funded behavior modification program, consider this a rare government success story.
I see a world being led by the least among us, while the best continue to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. The biggest threat facing our country is not terrorism, the debt, drugs, poverty, healthcare, immigration, climate change, abortion, gay rights, racism, school shootings, the militarization of the police, the privatization of the military, or even the wave of biological time bombs walking across our southern border and being escorted to Everytown USA. To anyone looking for a campaign slogan:
“It’s the corruption stupid!”
To the saber rattlers looking for the next wars to fight, might I suggest corruption, abuse of power, and ignorance? Ignorance is fought by simply shining a light on the other two, something our mainstream media has forgotten. Thanks to the internet and the citizen journalist, that darkness is being pierced. How can we even have honest debates about the troubles facing our nation when the people in power control the debate, yet lost their credibility long ago? Where is the moral high ground in a bottomless pit? It can be found in pockets of excellence across the country throughout our government institutions. Honest people who simply give a damn (I refuse to call them “whistleblowers”), saw something and said something at the VA, IRS, DHS and the State Department, yet our “leaders” will expend more resources investigating them or conducting bogus investigations more intent on damage control than holding anyone accountable. The fact that no one from any of these institutions has even been arrested as a result of the corruption and abuse of power that we already know about, is proof alone that the President and the Attorney General belong in jail.
What should we expect when the head of Homeland Security publicly states that he is impressed with the “integrity” of his Chief of Staff, a man who testified against his father-in-law (a state senator who went to prison on 137 corruption charges) to keep from going to prison himself? As the NSA turns the whole planet into “The Truman Show”, we’re told to not be alarmed because federally appointed judges are watching them in secret FISA courts. Hopefully, not someone like Judge Samuel Kent who went to prison on charges he abused his power and lied to cover up sexual assaults on two women who worked for him. He told one of them, “I am the Government. I’m the Lion King. It’s good to be king. I’m the Emperor of Galveston, the man wearing the horned hat, guiding the ship.”
Despite basic human fallibility and corruptibility, we allow our “leaders” to claim more and more authority over our lives. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the President has already claimed and exercised the authority to kill any American citizen, without due process, simply by claiming that he or she is a “terrorist”. If you’re not a terrorist, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But what if the most powerful man in the Senate thinks you are, and says so publicly? I’m sure Cliven Bundy is thankful that Harry Reid isn’t the President. Some of our “leaders” should be more careful about the way they throw around the “T-word” lest they be forced to look in the mirror.
It’s quite possible that any armed revolution that some fear is coming, could be avoided by simply fighting a “cold war” on corruption instead. Unconventional battles could be fought at the water coolers, cubicles and conference rooms of our bureaucracies as well as the courts. The weapons would include emails, memos and other documents. The warriors will be the government employees who stand up because they are inspired by and follow the lofty mission statements that provide the moral guidance for all of their agencies’ actions. One of the most crucial steps in the Military Decision Making Process is “Mission Analysis” and involves taking a very comprehensive look at the mission you’ve been given, in order to ensure that you understand completely what is expected of you and your people. Commanders go to great lengths to make them as clear as possible, so that even an individual separated from the group, and in the absence of any further guidance, will know how best to act in any given situation. A commander will also personally write a “Commander’s Intent” which offers even further clarifying guidance. I challenge every government employee to go and read your organization’s mission statement and then act accordingly. If the mission has changed, then demand a new one be written, and update the website so we can all see what it really is.
If more and more honest people who give a damn banded together and took back our institutions, then our “leaders” would suddenly realize that no one is following, and they would be disarmed of their weapon of power which is WE THE PEOPLE who actually run those institutions and drive those Bearcats.
There, I said something. Now, go get your horned hat and take back the ship.
http://theonemanmarch.wordpress.com/
According to a DHS funded report: Sovereign Citizens greatest threat in the U.S.
Back in April, 2014, Brandon Turbeville wrote an article entitled “FBI Visiting Gun Shops To Investigate ‘People Talking About Big Government,” where he reported the fact that FBI Counterterrorism agents were visiting South Carolina gun shops in order to gain information regarding potentially “suspicious” customers. These “suspicious” people were not those suspected of Muslim extremism but Americans who were concerned with big government.
The agent who approached the gun shop discussed in my article was actually quoted as saying “If you see some Middle Eastern guy come in. You don’t have to be so worried about that. What we’re really looking for are people talking about being sovereign such as sovereign citizens or people talking about Big Government.”
At the time, he received a substantial amount of skepticism from those who found the agents words to be too unbelievable to be legitimate.
However, with the revelation of a recent survey conducted by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), all doubt should be removed as to the veracity of the original report.
Because the START survey “Understanding Law Enforcement Intelligence Processes,” has determined that the Sovereign Citizen movement – not Islamic extremism – is the number one threat for domestic terrorism inside the United States.
RT reports that the survey “found that “52 percent of respondents agreed and 34 percent strongly agreed that sovereign citizens were a serious terrorist threat” as opposed to 39 percent of respondents who agreed and 28 percent who strongly agreed that Islamic extremists were the most serious threat.”
The report reads that:
First, law enforcement perceptions about what is a serious threat in their community has changed significantly over time. Law enforcement is much more concerned about sovereign citizens, Islamic extremists, and militia/patriot group members compared to the fringe groups of the far right, including Christian Identity believers, reconstructed traditionalists (i.e., Odinists), idiosyncratic sectarians (i.e., survivalists), and members of doomsday cults. In fact, sovereign citizens were the top concern of law enforcement, but the concern about whether most groups were a serious terrorist threat actually declined for most groups (e.g., the KKK; Christian Identity; Neo-Nazis; Racist Skinheads; Extremist Environmentalists; Extreme Animal Rights Extremists).
This response, of course, is also interesting considering the fact that mainstream media outlets as well as politicians and other commentators have been promoting the idea that there is not only the possibility but the probability that terrorist attacks will occur here in the United States and in Europe as a result of Western-backed death squad fighters returning from the battlefield in Syria and other locations.
Other groups considered potential domestic terrorists include
1. Sovereign Citizens
2. Islamic Extremists/Jihadists
3. Militia/Patriot (Patriot movement)
4. Racist Skinheads
5. Neo-Nazis
6. Extreme Animal Rightists
7. Extreme Environmentalists
8. Ku Klux Klan
9. Left-wing Revolutionaries
10. Extreme Anti-Abortion
11. Black Nationalists
12. Extreme Anti-Tax
13. Extreme Anti-Immigration
14. Christian Identity
15. Idiosyncratic Sectarians
16. Reconstructed Traditions
According to RT
The officers surveyed said the most useful law enforcement entities in combating terrorism include state/local fusion centers, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force(s), the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
In addition, the officers said that the most valuable open-source materials they use to gather information are the Internet, human intelligence sources, and the media.
START is funded by the US Department of Homeland Security with an initial $12 million grant in 2005 which was subsequently renewed in 2008. The DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate supports START but the program also receives funding from other agencies, universities, and private organizations.
Regardless of what one may think of the Sovereign Citizen movement, the fact is that the Homeland Security police state behemoth that was justified under the pretext of protecting Americans from Islamic extremism and al-Qaeda (which is funded and directed by the very same government), is now fully turned inward toward the American people and all who may dissent from the dictates of the State.
For more disturbing info. click here to read New Jersey's division of fire safety bulletin: Sovereign citizens
Below is an excerpt from the bulletin:
"For the most part, the sovereign citizen movement has been nonviolent, and its adherents have engaged in activities that are not illegal, such as renouncing citizenship and self-identifying as sovereign citizens."
Click here to read the FBI's domestic terrorism operations unit introduction to sovereign citizens
Below is an excerpt from the bulletin:
"Sovereign citizens believe the government is operating outside of its jurisdiction and generally do not recognize federal, state, or local laws, policies, or governmental regulations. They subscribe to a number of conspiracy theories, including a prevalent theory which states the United States Government (USG) became bankrupt and began using citizens as collateral in trade agreements with foreign governments.
Sovereign citizens believe the USG is illegitimate and has drifted away from the true intent of the Constitution. As a result, the USG is not perceived to be acting in the interest of the American people. These groups generally do not adhere to federal, state, or local laws. Some sovereign citizens believe federal and state officials have no real authority and will only recognize the local sheriff’s department as the only legitimate government official. Other law enforcement officials are viewed as being oppressive and illegitimate."
http://www.brandonturbeville.com/2014/08/dhs-funded-report-sovereign-citizens.html
FBI refuses to let public know how its drone usage affects their privacy:
The FBI's production of privacy impact assessments (PIAs) lags far behind its deployment of privacy-impacting technology. From facial recognition software to Stingray devices to its drone usage, the FBI has always violated privacy first and assessed the damage later. In some cases, it hasn't bothered to assess the impact at all, despite repeated assurances to questioning lawmakers that the required report (and it is required) is (forever) nearing completion.
Its biometric database, which pulls in photos from all over the place for its facial recognition software to peruse, rolled out without the required PIA in 2012. Two years later, the FBI is still promising Eric Holder that the PIA will be completed literally any month now, even as it hopes to have the system fully operational by the end of the 2014 fiscal year.
It has supposedly cranked out a PIA for its drone use -- again lagging far behind its first reported deployments in "late 2006." But the public apparently isn't allowed to know how the agency's drone use impacts its privacy. Instead of placing the assessment on its website for public viewing (the default method), the FBI has stashed it behind every shady government entity's favorite FOIA exception: b(5).
As Shawn Musgrave reports, the FBI withheld EVERYTHING.
Federal law requires the FBI to assess surveillance technologies for potential privacy and/or civil liberties issues. These technology assessments are typically prepared for public posting and review. When it comes to drones, however, the FBI has redacted these privacy reviews in full…
Even the cover sheets have been withheld. The reviews are recognizable only from their titles as provided on the disc of responsive documents sent in May: “1218644-0 - Drone PIA - Drone PIA.PDF” and “1218644-0 - Drone PIA - Drone PIA-Drone PIA Section 2.PDF.”
While the DOJ does allow for redactions and the withholding of documents for certain reasons ("classified, sensitive otherwise protected information"), it also requires responding agencies to file a document stating their reasons for withholding PIAs. The FBI also withheld this document -- assuming it even exists.
If I was a betting man, I'd say it's going to take a lawsuit to get this assessment released. The government's track record on transparency is horrific, even without the specter of "terrorism" or "drugs" being cited in the FOIA refusal. Since the FBI deals with both, it's a given that it will fight to withhold information that concerns its surveillance programs' impact on the public from the same public whose privacy it's invading. A Privacy Impact Assessment should never be private. While some information will probably need to be redacted, the complete refusal to release this document should be taken as an insult by the public, and as a further indicator of the government's inherent untrustworthiness.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140726/22502628024/fbi-refuses-to-let-public-know-how-its-drone-usage-affects-their-privacy.shtml