The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers.
Administration officials say the program will give domestic security and emergency preparedness agencies new capabilities in dealing with a range of threats, from illegal immigration and terrorism to hurricanes and forest fires. But the program, described yesterday by the Wall Street Journal, quickly provoked opposition from civil liberties advocates, who said the government is crossing a well-established line against the use of military assets in domestic law enforcement.
But civil liberties groups quickly condemned the move, which Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, a nonprofit activist group, likened to "Big Brother in the sky." "They want to turn these enormous spy capabilities, built to be used against overseas enemies, onto Americans," Martin said. "They are laying the bricks one at a time for a police state." (my em)
I remember reading a SciFi novel about a group of American "insurgents" after the satellite-imagery police state became a reality. The title was "CenterForce" and it was written in 1974 by T.A.Waters. I still have it. You'll know why I bought it when you see the cover. You can get it from Amazon for 95¢.
Everybody'll be OK if they just stay on their knees and eat their grass. Those who dare to stand up and speak out will be Enemies of the State.
Just another brick in the wall.
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