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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Mandy
Simon, (202) 675-2312 media@dcaclu.org
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Intelligence Community’s Enormous Use Of Private Contractors Raises Civil Liberties Concerns, Says ACLU
WASHINGTON - July 20 - Private
contractors play an enormous role in our country's national security
apparatus, according to the Washington Post today. According to today's
story, the second in a series by the Post entitled Top Secret America,
contractors have been used for a wide range of intelligence jobs,
including surveillance and interrogation of detainees, where civil
liberties are greatly implicated.
The following can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office:
"The massive use of private contractors in our intelligence community further exacerbates the lack of control, oversight and accountability that already plagues our intelligence apparatus. The excessive use of contractors puts more distance between the government and those carrying out intelligence work and infuses the profit motive into a calculation that should be focused on effectiveness and adhering to the rule of law."
4 Comments so far
Show AllFor the military industrial complex, which hold the bulk of huge contract money, it doesn't get any better.
The never ending war on terror, creates more terrorists, because they move from every country we invade.
And the warrant less surveillance community , 3200 agency's, and 300 billion plus dollars a year, are protected by the immunity in the patriot act.
No oversight, no accountability, they can say there is 50000 potential terrorists globally that want to hit us again, and 5000 live in the USA, doctor evidence, and who would know the better at the next contract renewal.
Now , you may question my numbers I said 300 billion , why?
Lets do some simple math , the Washington post said there were 800000 analyst with the highest level security clearance.
I know for a fact , that this kind of clearance gets a 70000/year job in Tampa Florida.
Do the math 800000 x 70000 = 56,000,000,000 a year for these 8000000 people. 56 billion, thats just salary's, then what about infrastructure and support, the pay for all the CEOs and executives for these companys. I am probably way low on the 300 billion a year number.
All the money and unconstitutional activity, and a kid still gets on a plane with an underwear bomb, and thats after the kids parents informed the FBI that thier kid was involved with terrorists.
Are you f-n kidding me. we have to shut down the money for these wars and the pentagon, and warrant less surveillance ASAP to save our country and our constitutional rights.
Terrorists are a global law enforcement problem, we need to focus on building a better system for global law enforcement efforts while protecting all country's constitutional rights,
Ya , there are going to be attacks and death, but we will have to grow a back bone , and protect our constitution.
Either that , or get for ID chip to be stuck in your ass.
Or stop invading foreign countries for the oil and solve the problem.
"Ya , there are going to be attacks and death, but we will have to grow a back bone , and protect our constitution."
I have a hard time believing that the massive national security state that the WaPo describes really has anything to do with preventing terrorism. According to the WaPo, the National Counterterrorism Center analyzes 5,000 bits of "terrorism-related" information EVERY DAY. Now, really? Are we really expected to believe that there are 5,000 legitimate terrorist threats to deal with every single day? That's 1.8 million terrorist threats a year ... bullshit!! I just don't believe it.
At best, I would guess that there are one or two actual, legitimate terrorist threats every day. That's just a guess, of course, but I'd put money down that it is a lot closer to the mark than five frigging thousand.
So what are these 5,000 bits of information that the NCC has to analyze every day? I guess they are probably intercepted phone calls and emails among people just like you and me. Perhaps they are analyzing Google users who are doing research and use search terms like "al-Qaeda."
What they have instituted is a massive totalitarian surveillance system, in which we all have to assume at all times that they are listening and reading everything we say/write.
I just can't belive that it has taken an article in the Washington Post for the world at large - including the ACLU - to realize that the US is run by a cabal of crooks who are profeteering from "terrorism" - Seriously, people! Does the ACLU really think that their 'call to arms' is going to accomplish anything? We're well past that point.