Spying and Lying by the Pentagon

"Most people just don't understand how pervasive government surveillance is. If you place an international phone call, the odds that the [U.S.] National Security Agency are looking is very good. If it goes by oceanic fiber-optic cable, they are listening to it. If it goes by satellite, they are listening to it. If it is a radio broadcast or a cell phone conversation, in principle, they could listen to it. Frankly, they can get what they want."

John Pike (U.S. military analyst)

John Pike made that observation in late February 2002, a mere five months after nearly 3,000 individuals were killed by the explosive force of fuel-laden jets plowing into the World Trade Center and the subsequent collapse of the Twin Towers.

But more than buildings were brought down that September 11. Historical protections of speech, assembly, protest, and privacy enjoyed by U.S. citizens and legal residents ("U.S. persons"), also came under attack as a stampeded Congress, goaded by a panicked and paranoid administration, abdicated its constitutional role--rather, its constitutional duty--to prevent the undue concentration of power in the Chief Executive. The immediate result was the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorists Act of 2001"--better known by its acronym, USA PATRIOT Act

This law, as has become more and more clear over the last three months, was but the initial move by the Bush administration in what has become an extended and coordinated attack on the civil liberties of U.S. persons in the name of national security and--ironically--in the name of bringing democracy and civil liberties to Iraq.

The extent of this frontal assault suggests the depth of the ideological aversion of many Bush advisors and confidents to the underlying principles on which the entire American democratic experiment rests. These include protecting the rights of all citizens, especially those of various minorities, against an overbearing majority; providing basic services and infrastructure on an equitable basis, and being responsive to the concerns and safety of the people. In short, it seems that key administration figures and confidants have difficulty with the proposition that "government of the people and for the people" refers to all the people.


A Bit of History

The very structure of government outlined in the Constitution reflects another principle that was quite real in the American colonies in the 1700s: skepticism of executive power, whether king or president, which the Founding Fathers distrusted. After 9/11, in part due to the uncertainty of possible additional attacks, skepticism among today's electorate all but disappeared--regrettably but understandably. But what should have been a short-term reaction--akin to what triggers the "fight or flight" instinct--was prolonged and so magnified by administration rhetoric and "alerts" that the public failed to reclaim its role as the ultimate arbiter of the balance between freedom and security which is at the heart of the social contract.

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