Forum Post: Disturbed by American Bar Association Article on Homeland Security Deputization

Article: The Homeland Security Deputization Dilemma, by Jon D. Michaels, Administrative & Regulatory Law News, Fall 2011, American Bar Association

The issue of homeland security is germane because of the merger of state and corporate power. I remember listening to talk radio about these programs and listening with a truckload of skepticism. Apparently, there is a widespread practice of homeland security deputizing U.S. citizens to SPY on us.

These include: (a) hot dog vendors, (b) FedEx drivers; (c) tech support personnel; and (d) beauty-supply wholesalers (shocks me too).

Telecom Industry: Terrorist Surveillance Program to listen in on millions of international telephone conversations and read millions of international e-mail correspondences of Americans. This used to require court authorization as required in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The second program is "NSA call-data program" that all the major telecoms agreed to provide NSA with stores of electronic and telephonic metadata, including telephone numbers, IP addresses, e-mail accounts, etc. The NSA compiles and analyzes the metadata.

Parcel Couriers: UPS and United States Postal Service have resisted all threats, offers of lucrative government contracts, and entreaties to spy on U.S. citizens. However, FedEx is a "partner" with homeland security and inspects and opens packages at the government's request WITHOUT A COURT ORDER.

Retail Merchants: tech support inspect laptops for "suspicion" material and beauty-supply wholesalers report large purchases of certain products.

Doormen and Maintenance Workers: your doorman might be an agent of the government. They report on activities of individuals. Maintenance workers describe what they find in people's homes/flats/apartments. These individuals have greater access to electronic and physical spaces than law enforcement personnel.

Hero: Qwest. When Qwest Communications rejected the government's offers to spy on Americans, it lost hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts. The government retaliated against Qwest.