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Forum Post: Pentagon bracing for public dissent over climate and energy shocks

Posted 10 years ago on June 15, 2013, 6:42 p.m. EST by PeterKropotkin (1050) from Oakland, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

By Nafeez Ahmed

Top secret US National Security Agency (NSA) documents disclosed by the Guardian have shocked the world with revelations of a comprehensive US-based surveillance system with direct access to Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants. New Zealand court records suggest that data harvested by the NSA's Prism system has been fed into the Five Eyes intelligence alliance whose members also include the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

But why have Western security agencies developed such an unprecedented capacity to spy on their own domestic populations? Since the 2008 economic crash, security agencies have increasingly spied on political activists, especially environmental groups, on behalf of corporate interests. This activity is linked to the last decade of US defence planning, which has been increasingly concerned by the risk of civil unrest at home triggered by catastrophic events linked to climate change, energy shocks or economic crisis - or all three.

Just last month, unilateral changes to US military laws formally granted the Pentagon extraordinary powers to intervene in a domestic "emergency" or "civil disturbance":

"Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances."

Other documents show that the "extraordinary emergencies" the Pentagon is worried about include a range of environmental and related disasters.

In 2006, the US National Security Strategy warned that:

"Environmental destruction, whether caused by human behavior or cataclysmic mega-disasters such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, or tsunamis. Problems of this scope may overwhelm the capacity of local authorities to respond, and may even overtax national militaries, requiring a larger international response."

Two years later, the Department of Defense's (DoD) Army Modernisation Strategy described the arrival of a new "era of persistent conflict" due to competition for "depleting natural resources and overseas markets" fuelling "future resource wars over water, food and energy." The report predicted a resurgence of:

"... anti-government and radical ideologies that potentially threaten government stability."

In the same year, a report by the US Army's Strategic Studies Institute warned that a series of domestic crises could provoke large-scale civil unrest. The path to "disruptive domestic shock" could include traditional threats such as deployment of WMDs, alongside "catastrophic natural and human disasters" or "pervasive public health emergencies" coinciding with "unforeseen economic collapse." Such crises could lead to "loss of functioning political and legal order" leading to "purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency...

"DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States. Further, DoD would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance."

That year, the Pentagon had begun developing a 20,000 strong troop force who would be on-hand to respond to "domestic catastrophes" and civil unrest - the programme was reportedly based on a 2005 homeland security strategy which emphasised "preparing for multiple, simultaneous mass casualty incidents."

The following year, a US Army-funded RAND Corp study called for a US force presence specifically to deal with civil unrest.

Such fears were further solidified in a detailed 2010 study by the US Joint Forces Command - designed to inform "joint concept development and experimentation throughout the Department of Defense" - setting out the US military's definitive vision for future trends and potential global threats. Climate change, the study said, would lead to increased risk of:

"... tsunamis, typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and other natural catastrophes... Furthermore, if such a catastrophe occurs within the United States itself - particularly when the nation's economy is in a fragile state or where US military bases or key civilian infrastructure are broadly affected - the damage to US security could be considerable."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/jun/14/climate-change-energy-shocks-nsa-prism

39 Comments

39 Comments


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[-] 6 points by Renneye (3874) 10 years ago

So, you guys just want this thread off the radar, huh? Why?

Speaks volumes.

[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Why The Ban ?! Solidarity with this excellent post !! So http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/jun/14/climate-change-energy-shocks-nsa-prism & see author's site http://iprd.org.uk/ !!!

fiat lux

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23769) 10 years ago

Good question. And, where's PeterKropotkin? He's an important contributor here.

[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Word on the forum is PK has been banned !!! I'm NOT happy about that !!

I agree with you bw and vote for reinstatement, asap ! And also consider :

multum in parvo ...

[-] 1 points by frovikleka (2563) from Island Heights, NJ 10 years ago

Whoever banned Peter either has his head up his ass, or has an agenda that is antithetical to Occupy's

~Odin~

[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Dudes above and below - ChillTF out lol. You're both right BUT WTF kinda 99% workers would we be IF we bottled out ?! You get me ?!! PK is a big boy and we stand with him but we all have to keep going !!! Here - try some blue-grass (musical variety only, lol & sigh)

Re. non-musical ... ==========###~~~' .. ~{:-p)

defense de fumer, lol ...

[-] 2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

I'm growing more and more suspect on the ambitions/actions of this forum, Odin.

[-] 2 points by frovikleka (2563) from Island Heights, NJ 10 years ago

Don't be disillusioned yet. Let's work on correcting this. I am busy now, but will follow up later on this. I suspect that the moderator that was appointed betrayed the trust of the people who put this forum up. His aim is to bring this back to a partisan forum, and i for one will not let that happen

~Odin~

[-] 2 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Yep but could have just been an over-zealous moment too. We can forgive but we won't forget and in solidarity and also in keeping with PK's excellent and informative forum-post, I append the following :

There's ''power'' in ''breaking ranks'' & there's power in maintaining the ranks too. We need a 99% rank and file cadre - self-appointed and autonomous yet acting in concert with love for The 99% in our <3s.

dum spiro, spero ...

[-] 2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

Okay. In you, I can trust.

[-] 1 points by frovikleka (2563) from Island Heights, NJ 10 years ago

Thanks

~Odin~

[+] -4 points by Whetherman9999 (-6) 10 years ago

Shooz and girlfriday are paid either by the public employee unions or the left wing of the Democratic Party to troll and destroy free thought.

Look to the money to get your answers.

[-] 1 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

The ''left wing of the Democratic Party'' - LOLOLOL - Oh my, that hurt my sides !!!

Copious chuckles & chortles still echo, as chance of such would be a fine thing !!

Here, open your mind & soften your <3 & get with The 99% but only IF you dare !

e tenebris, lux ...

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[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

large corporations govern us

[-] -2 points by Whetherman9999 (-6) 10 years ago

And 100s of 1000s of folks work for those same corporations. Halliburton, the big enemy has an average wage of $85000/yr. you REALLY believe the average Halliburton employee hares the company and his job?

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

entropy makes destruction efficient to produce

capitalism likes efficiency

[-] 3 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 10 years ago

Apparently he's been banned. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. WTF??

He PM'ed me when he noticed this post wasn't showing up and I told him to reply to my latest comment to see if I got it. I didn't and this post was nowhere to be seen on the forum, so apparently something must have rubbed the puppet-masters the wrong way.

[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Thanx mods IF sanity has been restored here & I'm very strongly recommending "Surviving Progress" to all. It is a 2011 Canadian documentary film loosely based on the excellent li'l book 'A Short History of Progress', by Ronald Wright & will simply speak for itself but I'm not sure how long it'll be available for :

pax, amor et lux ...

[-] 4 points by Renneye (3874) 10 years ago

Why were these posts by regular user's like gnomunny, shadz, and a couple of other regulars, who don't normally get their posts removed, 'manually' removed from this thread?

Why was this thread banned? And why has PeterKropotkin been banned?

[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

To answer you last question - it'd now appear not and I'm also very strongly recommending - "Surviving Progress" to you. It is a 2011 Canadian documentary film loosely based on the excellent book 'A Short History of Progress', by Ronald Wright and it will simply speak for itself but I'm not sure how long it'll be available for and you'll fully get its relevance here in the context of the subject of PK's linked article :

pax ...

[-] 5 points by Renneye (3874) 10 years ago

Oh lordy!! I hope this means Peter is no longer banned. And I'll throw in 'hchc' (OTP) as well...just for good measure.

Thanks for another of your amazing finds, Shadz...and yes, I'll have a look at "Surviving Progress". Just as soon as I recover from this rather bewildering turn of events...pleasantly surprising as it is. Holy moly!!

[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Yep. Solidarity @ PK & OTP too & to follow and also fyi, please try to also consider :

The excellent talk & 'Q&A' will move and inspire and fits on this thread & my prior links.

fiat lux ...

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[-] 9 points by Renneye (3874) 10 years ago

Hahahahah! Thanks kindly for reminding me of my faux pas regarding your obvious 'impotent'...a-hem...I mean limited abilities here, 'T'. I could come back with one of my alliteration word plays. Lets see..maybe something like...."Provincial Putz" ~.^

Blazing Saddles scene - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZtQofXRSSw

But, seriously...

It has been a concern of mine since the inception of OWS.

I'm quite aware of the socialist/communist indoctrination and the group-think required that lays the foundation of such political systems...and society as a whole is walking a fine line, at the moment, making it easier for the champions of socialism/communism to hijack the system people truly would like to be a part of, and govern themselves.

The current indoctrination currently being precipitated by the political 'globocrats' that laud socialism/communism are community, unity, solidarity, group-think, putting the 'whole' before the individual, etc. A kind of collectivism that vilifies the individual.

In a 'People's Society' governed by 'Self-Rule', we will need to be, and share, a 'community', a kinship, solidarity, etc. But, I think it is possible to have community, where it will be necessary for us to work together in a society, and still not lose our individuality. It doesn't need to be either/or.

I would agree completely that OWS has gone beyond moderating a few rules to now practicing outright censorship. sighhh

[-] 3 points by Middleaged (5140) 10 years ago

The 6th paragraph has a grammar problem, fragment. I can't give a point until corrected.

Late add: self regulating Industries:

Here is a list of Industries that don't self regulate:

1) Auditors & Ratings Agencies

2) Accountants

3) Federal Economists

4) US Tax Accountants

5) US Corporate Lawyers (fat chance, eh?)

6) Financial Managers working princely benefits for Executives

7) Wall Street Traders & Managers picking accounts for winners

8) Traders working the market with computers and naked short trades

9) Investors that have seen the corruption

10) But, Private Banking will not police itself... there is no mechanism or interest in policing itself. It does not have a self regulating agency. It doesn't belong to any regulatory system. Private banking can create risk and fraud and whatever else... no one is there to report or comment.

11) Have you ever heard of a corporate association that regulates corporations across the board?? No. That is because they are state managed. But states don't put any requirements on the corporations that fall under the state.

[-] 2 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

the NSA will keep it on file

I hope

records are always a public resource

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[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

You mean that Trashy & incarnations has ''become accustomed to'' it, lol !!! However, as 'he' and his bots have all the hallmarks of 'paid dis-info agents' AND as he's a conservative reactionary who has a ongoing, long-standing grudge against OWS and jart (due in part to his li'l bit of {spybot?} code being rejected in the early days of OWS - he's the understandable and justifiable exception !! Alors - parlez vous Francais et qu'est ce que tu pense ?!

A Vast, systemic, industrial scale, leviathan surveillance system - "The Stasi in East Germany would have drooled over this capability" Thomas Drake - Former NSA Senior Executive.

caveat et temet nosce ...

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[-] 6 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

You're a fkn hypocrite Trashy !!! Your mealy mouthed, self-serving words mean shit as YOU have been trying to censure and obstruct and deface anything that YOU consider to be - that censorious concept, ''Conspiracy Theory'' !! It's ALL a fkn conspiracy 'T' - especially you ... lololol !

nosce te ipsum ...

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[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Tr@shy Troll - ''Truth spoken with bad intent - beats ALL the lies you can invent'' (Wm. Blake, 'Auguries Of Innocence'*)

Any country whose population has been trained to just accept the government’s word and to shun those who question it is a country without liberty in its future or truth in its present due to the lies in its past !!!

In other words, as truth becomes uncomfortable for government and the functionaries of its 'Ministry of Propaganda' - the truth is redefined as conspiracy theory, by which is meant an absurd and laughable explanation that we should ignore. For example, when piles of carefully researched books & released government documents and testimony of eye witnesses made it clear that Oswald was not President John F. Kennedy’s assassin (or a ''Lone Wolf'', lol), the voluminous research, government documents and verified testimony was simply dismissed as a “conspiracy theory” - by those with vested interests !!

Therefore and also in other words, the truth of the event was unacceptable to the authorities and to the Ministry of Propaganda that represents the interests of authorities. In America today - and increasingly throughout the Western world, actual facts & true explanations have now been relegated to the realm of mere kookiness & only people who believe lies are socially approved and accepted as patriotic citizens or reasonable people. Well .. ''fuck that for a game of soldiers'', as they would say here around my yard !

Finally, though you still work to assiduously undermine this forum for your corporate masters Trashy and would like OWS and this forum to fade away - as attested by your own words on numerous past occasions ... We Are Still Here !!! Did you see May Day & where were you ?!! You are an incorrigible ''Lone Wolf'' and a fkn joke, matey ! Here's some ''Conspiracy Theories'' for you :

'Riechstag Fire' - Conspiracy ; 'Gulf Of Tonkin Incident' - Conspiracy ; 'PRISM' - Conspiracy ; 'Iraq War' - Conspiracy ; 2008 GFC - Conspiracy ; G8/Davos/Bilderberg - Conspiracy and LIBOR ?!!! You name it in human affairs & somewhere people have 'conspired' to make it so !! Your preference for the 'consensus reality' is the product of the pre-propagandised, pro-establishment, conservative, reactionary, hive mind !

gnothi seauton ...

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[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 10 years ago

Your knowledge of this field, Trashy - is clearly wide, varied and obsessive !!! I think you are or were into the wilder realms yourself and now are trying to act like a convert to sanity, lolol !! Get a grip - even IF it's just to have a wank ! & btw ...

verum ex absurdo ...

[-] 3 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

So, you got nailed again, Thras?

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[-] 3 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 10 years ago

Good post, PK. I'll periodically bump this banned post so anyone wanting to see it will have the chance. (banned? WTF?)

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

I sent a query to the site asking why this post had been removed - I got an answer back that the spam filter probably did it - and that the post had been un-removed.

Sometimes it just takes asking a question? Rather then just speculate - Hey?

[-] 3 points by Renneye (3874) 10 years ago

Thanks for the foresight, and taking the time to inquire about this very important forum post, DKA.

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

No prob - just saw the chatter and wondered what it was all about - so I asked the site.

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[-] 3 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 10 years ago

And explain why he was banned.

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[-] 4 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 10 years ago

A number of us have noticed that. Not you specifically, but the total lack of rhyme or reason. Odin's the prime example. He's probably the closest thing to true OWS than anyone on here and he's been banned three or four times that I can recall. Hell, with the big drop-off in forum regulars you'd think the guys running this site would be encouraging people to stay.

[-] 2 points by PeterKropotkin (1050) from Oakland, CA 10 years ago

The study also warned of a possible shortfall in global oil output by 2015: "A severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion of production and refining capacity. While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions."

That year the DoD's Quadrennial Defense Review seconded such concerns, while recognising that "climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked."

Also in 2010, the Pentagon ran war games to explore the implications of "large scale economic breakdown" in the US impacting on food supplies and other essential services, as well as how to maintain "domestic order amid civil unrest."

Speaking about the group's conclusions at giant US defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton's conference facility in Virginia, Lt Col. Mark Elfendahl - then chief of the Joint and Army Concepts Division - highlighted homeland operations as a way to legitimise the US military budget: "An increased focus on domestic activities might be a way of justifying whatever Army force structure the country can still afford."

Two months earlier, Elfendahl explained in a DoD roundtable that future planning was needed:

"Because technology is changing so rapidly, because there's so much uncertainty in the world, both economically and politically, and because the threats are so adaptive and networked, because they live within the populations in many cases."

The 2010 exercises were part of the US Army's annual Unified Quest programme which more recently, based on expert input from across the Pentagon, has explored the prospect that "ecological disasters and a weak economy" (as the "recovery won't take root until 2020") will fuel migration to urban areas, ramping up social tensions in the US homeland as well as within and between "resource-starved nations."

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was a computer systems administrator for Booz Allen Hamilton, where he directly handled the NSA's IT systems, including the Prism surveillance system. According to Booz Allen's 2011 Annual Report, the corporation has overseen Unified Quest "for more than a decade" to help "military and civilian leaders envision the future."

The latest war games, the report reveals, focused on "detailed, realistic scenarios with hypothetical 'roads to crisis'", including "homeland operations" resulting from "a high-magnitude natural disaster" among other scenarios, in the context of:

"... converging global trends [which] may change the current security landscape and future operating environment... At the end of the two-day event, senior leaders were better prepared to understand new required capabilities and force design requirements to make homeland operations more effective."

It is therefore not surprising that the increasing privatisation of intelligence has coincided with the proliferation of domestic surveillance operations against political activists, particularly those linked to environmental and social justice protest groups.

Department of Homeland Security documents released in April prove a "systematic effort" by the agency "to surveil and disrupt peaceful demonstrations" linked to Occupy Wall Street, according to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF).

Similarly, FBI documents confirmed "a strategic partnership between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector" designed to produce intelligence on behalf of "the corporate security community." A PCJF spokesperson remarked that the documents show "federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America."

In particular, domestic surveillance has systematically targeted peaceful environment activists including anti-fracking activists across the US, such as the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Rising Tide North America, the People's Oil & Gas Collaborative, and Greenpeace. Similar trends are at play in the UK, where the case of undercover policeman Mark Kennedy revealed the extent of the state's involvement in monitoring the environmental direct action movement.

A University of Bath study citing the Kennedy case, and based on confidential sources, found that a whole range of corporations - such as McDonald's, Nestle and the oil major Shell, "use covert methods to gather intelligence on activist groups, counter criticism of their strategies and practices, and evade accountability."

Indeed, Kennedy's case was just the tip of the iceberg - internal police documents obtained by the Guardian in 2009 revealed that environment activists had been routinely categorised as "domestic extremists" targeting "national infrastructure" as part of a wider strategy tracking protest groups and protestors.

Superintendent Steve Pearl, then head of the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (Nectu), confirmed at that time how his unit worked with thousands of companies in the private sector. Nectu, according to Pearl, was set up by the Home Office because it was "getting really pressured by big business - pharmaceuticals in particular, and the banks." He added that environmental protestors were being brought "more on the radar." The programme continues today, despite police acknowledgements that environmentalists have not been involved in "violent acts."

The Pentagon knows that environmental, economic and other crises could provoke widespread public anger toward government and corporations in coming years. The revelations on the NSA's global surveillance programmes are just the latest indication that as business as usual creates instability at home and abroad, and as disillusionment with the status quo escalates, Western publics are being increasingly viewed as potential enemies that must be policed by the state.

[-] 1 points by jph (2652) 10 years ago

yup, this is why the expansion of the corporate/military state,. The 1% see it coming, only they are unwilling to prepare for a humane/sustainable decent from the energy peek, they intend to use the growing noise to consolidate power, as they always do,. .

Degrowth, Permaculture, Slow Money, Relocalize; before it is too late to get out from under the giant boot they are building.

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

my guess is land is available to build these facilities

and people put in proposals to build projects

because they need jobs

they ought to be building public health care buildings

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[-] 0 points by itsmyblood (10) 10 years ago

the pentagon can brace all they want they are not ready for what they wish to unleash, they are forgetting one thing. real motherfuckers don't give a fuck. trust me they are not ready.

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