Sunday, August 31, 2014

Old, Disappearing Surveillance State Stories Archived


LOU SABOTER-- Before there were chips, there were home incarceration bracelets--the forerunners!

But we're getting more civilized!

----


http://www.greenbaynewschron.com/page.html?article=121552

Your cell phone is now a tracking device

By K. D. Seefeld
News-Chronicle
Those who give up liberty for the sake of security deserve neither liberty nor security.
--- Ben Franklin

A few days ago, Governor Doyle signed legislation to improve 911 service for cell phones. According to the Wisconsin Legislature/Associated Press, the bill creates a new surcharge (if you didn’t know, surcharge is another word for TAX), on monthly cell phone bills to help cover a federally mandated program (which is contrary to the Constitution and the tenth amendment) allowing law enforcement to pinpoint 911 calls from mobile phones. (It doesn’t matter if you need an ambulance; law enforcement will be involved.)

In the name of improving safety and protection, what Doyle actually signed was a bill turning your cell phone into a tracking device.

For the record, it wouldn’t make any difference who was governor, this bill along with the .08 blood alcohol level law was nothing short of blackmail and coercion by the federales imposed on the states.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that cell phone makers imbed tracking technology, Enhanced 911 (E911), in the phones so that wireless carriers can monitor your phone's whereabouts - even when the phone is turned off.

Why would the government want to know where your phone is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? We were led to believe the legislation would improve 911 service. How many people are going to call 911 when their phone is turned off? Answer: Approximately zero.

Your wireless carrier will know where you and your phone are at all times. Will your carrier share their tracking information with commercial services?

McDonalds or Starbucks might like to know when you are near by so they can e-text your phone a 10% off coupon. Seriously, this can and will happen.

Tracking you through your cell phone creates valuable information. The information can be stored and used to profile your preferences and create a history of your movements. Once that information is stored, unscrupulous carriers or hackers can steal or sell it.

However, the most bothersome issue goes back to law enforcement. An iBrief by Aaron Futch and Christine Soares of Duke University explains:

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the privacy groups that had earlier expressed concern over the implementation of the E911 standard found that as the U.S. commitment to the war against terrorism deepens, the need to track terrorists operating within the United States may lead intelligence and law enforcement to seek a greater degree of access to E911 tracking information than they would have needed before the attacks.

As we have seen, the government’s desire to track terrorists has become a war on the freedom of the citizens. The E911 legislation is another intrusion into our privacy by a government that is becoming more of a police-state everyday.

Suppose, unknowingly, you had been in the vicinity of an armed robbery when it occurred. The only information the cops have from witnesses is a suspect 6’ tall, medium build, and wearing jeans and a shirt. With E911 technology and the required assistance of wireless carriers, the cops could get a listing of every cell phone user in that vicinity at the time of the crime.

Remember, you were in the vicinity and you had your cell phone with you. You are 6’ tall. You have a medium build. You own a pair of jeans and a shirt. Hello, suspect.

Farfetched? Not really. Now, suppose your name is Jose Luis Alvarez. According to an article in the Miami Herald the other day, Jose Luis Alvarez has been detained at Miami International Airport perhaps 50 times because a fugitive shares his name. Detained means held, questioned, searched, and investigated.

Your cell phone has indicated that you could be Jose Luis Alvarez the fugitive, and you, Mr. 6’ foot tall, medium build, owner of jeans and a shirt are Jose Luis Alvarez, regular detained Joe.

So, what to do about protecting your cell phone/tracking device privacy? You could spend 24 bucks on a thing called the Mcloak or email 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and complain to the big guy.

You may want to consider the former since the Secret Service collects and keeps all emails sent to the latter.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23372564-details/Britons+'could+be+microchipped+like+dogs+in+a+decade'/article.do

Britons 'could be microchipped like dogs in a decade'
30.10.06

Human beings may be forced to be 'microchipped' like pet dogs, a shocking official report into the rise of the Big Brother state has warned.

The microchips - which are implanted under the skin - allow the wearer's movements to be tracked and store personal information about them.

They could be used by companies who want to keep tabs on an employee's movements or by Governments who want a foolproof way of identifying their citizens - and storing information about them.

The prospect of 'chip-citizens' - with its terrifying echoes of George Orwell's 'Big Brother' police state in the book 1984 - was raised in an official report for Britain's Information Commissioner Richard Thomas into the spread of surveillance technology.

The report, drawn up by a team of respected academics, claims that Britain is a world-leader in the use of surveillance technology and its citizens the most spied-upon in the free world.

It paints a frightening picture of what Britain might be like in ten years time unless steps are taken to regulate the use of CCTV and other spy technologies.

The reports editors Dr David Murakami Wood, managing editor of the journal Surveillance and Society and Dr Kirstie Ball, an Open University lecturer in Organisation Studies, claim that by 2016 our almost every movement, purchase and communication could be monitored by a complex network of interlinking surveillance technologies.

The most contentious prediction is the spread in the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

The RFID chips - which can be detected and read by radio waves - are already used in new UK passports and are also used the Oyster card system to access the London Transport network.

For the past six years European countries have been using RFID chips to identify pet animals.

Already used in America

However, its use in humans has already been trialled in America, where the chips were implanted in 70 mentally-ill elderly people in order to track their movements.

And earlier this year a security company in Ohio chipped two of its employees to allow them to enter a secure area. The glass-encased chips were planted in the recipients' upper right arms and 'read' by a device similar to a credit card reader.

In their Report on the Surveillance Society, the authors now warn: "The call for everyone to be implanted is now being seriously debated."

The authors also highlight the Government's huge enthusiasm for CCTV, pointing out that during the 1990s the Home Office spent 78 per cent of its crime prevention budget - a total of £500 million - on installing the cameras.

There are now 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain and the average Briton is caught on camera an astonishing 300 times every day.

This huge enthusiasm comes despite official Home Office statistics showing that CCTV cameras have 'little effect on crime levels'.

They write: "The surveillance society has come about us without us realising", adding: "Some of it is essential for providing the services we need: health, benefits, education. Some of it is more questionable. Some of it may be unjustified, intrusive and oppressive."

Yesterday Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, whose office is investigating the Post Office, HSBC, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland over claims they dumped sensitive customer details in the street, said: "Many of these schemes are public sector driven, and the individual has no choice over whether or not to take part."

"People are being scrutinised and having their lives tracked, and are not even aware of it."

He has also voiced his concern about the consequences of companies, or Government agencies, building up too much personal information about someone.

He said: "It can stigmatise people. I have worries about technology being used to identify classes of people who present some kind of risk to society. And I think there are real anxieties about that."

Yesterday a spokesman for civil liberties campaigners Liberty said: "We have got nothing about these surveillance technologies in themselves, but it is their potential uses about which there are legitimate fears. Unless their uses are regulated properly, people really could find themselves living in a surveillance society.

"There is a rather scary underlying feeling that people may worry that these microchips are less about being a human being than becoming a barcoded product."


http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17127.html

Implantable Spy Chip Gets Green Light from U.S.

Tim McDonald
April 05, 2002

A Florida company Thursday said that it will begin marketing and selling a
microchip that can be implanted under the skin, after receiving the
go-ahead from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

The FDA advised the company, Applied Digital Solutions (Nasdaq: ADSX) ,
that its biochip, called "VeriChip," is not considered a medical device
and therefore is not subject to FDA regulation.


FDA officials said that as long as the biochip is used for identification
purposes only, it will not have to meet strict FDA guidelines. The ruling
saves the product from having to undergo the agency's rigorous and lengthy
safety testing procedures.
"The FDA said that VeriChip has no medical function, and Applied Digital
Solutions is now free to sell, market and insert the chips in
individuals," company spokesperson Matthew Cossolotto told NewsFactor.

'Distinction Without a Difference'

Although the company has advertised the VeriChip in the past as a
potential method of storing a person's complete medical history, at this
stage the device will contain only a number to be used for identification.

However, that ID code can be transmitted via Internet or phone to a secure
data storage site, where it can be cross-referenced, allowing authorized
personnel to obtain detailed medical information.

"In some ways, it's kind of a distinction without a
difference," Cossolotto said. "We could have, and we might in the future,
put more information on the chip. But right now we're very happy to put
just the ID verification code and start getting it into the marketplace."

The company said it has targeted VeriChip and its
"life-enhancing" technology toward patients who may arrive at hospitals
unconscious or unable to speak, as well as at workers who need
top-security clearance.

The biochip also could prove valuable for tracking children, Alzheimer's
patients and convicted felons on parole.

Similar technology has been used in the last few years to keep track of
pets.

Politicians, Felons and Kidnap Victims

A South Florida man, Jeff Jacobs, is expected to be the first recipient of
the VeriChip. The plight of the Jacobs family has been well
publicized: Jacobs, a 41-year-old dentist, must take up to 10 medications
a day for a variety of ailments, including cancer and a degenerative
spinal condition.

According to his family, Jacobs has arrived at emergency rooms several
times unable to speak.

The company also said the chip could be combined with a global positioning
system (GPS) and used for security purposes by potential kidnap victims.

ADS, which has estimated that the worldwide market for security chips will
reach US$450 million by 2007, already has deals in place in South America.

Brazilian politician Antonio de Cunha Lima has been trying to become the
first South American to use the implant chip, according to published
reports. Brazil has the fourth highest kidnap rate in the world, after
Colombia, Mexico and Indonesia.

First Florida, Then the World

The company, which first announced the chip in December 2001, said it will
launch the product in the next three weeks, first in Florida and then
nationwide and internationally.

The biochip is a miniature, implantable radio frequency identification
device (RFID) roughly the size of a grain of rice. It is composed of
"FDA-accepted materials," according to the company, and each chip contains
a unique verification number.

That number is "captured" by passing a scanner over the chip, causing a
small amount of radio frequency energy to pass through the skin and
activate the dormant chip. The chip then transmits the verification number
on a radio frequency of 125 KHz.

A doctor is required to perform the implant procedure, which can be done
for free at certified clinics under local anesthesia, according to ADS
officials. The chip itself is expected to sell for around US$200. The
scanner will cost up to $3,000, although ADS said it is considering giving
them away to hospitals and medical clinics.

'Mark of the Beast'

The VeriChip is not without controversy. It has been challenged by privacy
and political advocates, who say that if the chip were to fall into the
wrong hands, totalitarian regimes could use it to track political
dissidents.

The technology also could be used as a tool in a national ID system -- an
idea that has waned in popularity since peaking right after the September
11th terrorist attacks.

A March survey by Gartner Dataquest showed that 41 percent of those
surveyed in the United States oppose a national ID system, while just 26
percent support one.

Also, some religious sects have said the biochip is the "Mark of the
Beast" from the Book of Revelations. They claim that a graphic the company
used early in the product's life cycle "clearly" resembled the satanic
numbers "666."

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/11655005.htm

Posted on Sun, May. 15, 2005
LA jail latest to use radio tags to track inmates

DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Inmates can run, but they can't hide - not so long as a radio-linked wristband remains attached, pinpointing their location within a few feet.

Removing or breaking the bracelet sets off a computer alarm, alerting guards to a possible prison escape. It's an emerging technology that could transform the way convicts are managed, contained and monitored.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Sunday it will adopt the technology for the nation's largest jail system, using an updated version of the devices tested at California's Calipatria State Prison, a remote desert facility 35 miles north of the Mexican border - the first in the nation to track its inmates electronically.

The concept has since been exported to other states.

LA county will spend $1.5 million to help control about 1,900 inmates and protect guards in one unit of the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, beginning early next year.

If it works well, it may be expanded to the 6,000 residents of LA County's Central Jail and then to other facilities, said Marc Klugman, chief of the sheriff's department's Correctional Services Division.

California state corrections officials may also consider increased use of the still-developing systems.

Beyond tracking inmates around cell blocks, the technology has the potential to create virtual prisons outside detention facilities that would let work release crews roam within an electronic fence easily moved wherever it is needed, said Harinder Singh, executive officer of the California Department of Corrections' technology transfer committee.

Michigan's Bureau of Juvenile Justice has had a $1 million system at a maximum-security 200-ward prison since 2003, and is installing it at a second detention facility. The technology also is being used at a minimum-security prison in Chillicothe, Ohio, and at Logan Correctional Center north of Springfield, Ill., home to 1,900 medium-security inmates.

Calipatria spokesman Lt. Ray Madden recalls an assault two years ago when investigators retraced inmates' movements using the computerized system installed in the minimum-security unit. They soon centered on an unlikely suspect - a disabled inmate who wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"He parked his walker outside the building, went in and stabbed somebody, then went back and picked up his walker," Madden said. "He was hard-pressed to say he wasn't inside, because we could track him through the building."

LA County jails' revolving-door population poses the toughest test yet for the technology. The facilities house about 18,000 inmates on a given day, but nearly 200,000 people pass through the system each year, some for a few hours, others for months. Several thousand each day must be moved to and from court appearances.

Last year alone there were an estimated 1,330 violent incidents that injured 88 jail employees and 1,742 inmates. Five prisoners were killed.

"It's just mind-boggling what these guys have to deal with," said Greg Oester, president of Technology Systems International Inc., which installs the TSI PRISM systems. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company is a subsidiary of Alanco Technologies Inc.

Previously, the company has worked with much more captive audiences - prison inmates serving multi-year sentences so long that electronic bracelets can be locked on until the batteries die. For jails such as in LA County, it's had to develop a quick-release version.

Alanco estimates there is $1.5 billion in potential sales for the technology if it were used throughout the federal, state and county prison and jail systems nationwide.

Singh praised TSI's product but thinks other technology could soon surpass the system's versatility.

He's intrigued by the Wheels of Zeus Inc. system developed by a Los Gatos firm headed by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak that uses radio frequencies indoors but switches to Global Positioning System satellites outdoors.

Though wOz is marketing its product for people who want to monitor the locations of people, pets or possessions, company officials met last month with Singh to discuss adapting the technology to corrections.

Inmates could be tracked not only within prisons or jails, or inside moveable electronic fences, but to and from courthouses or other locations, Singh said, providing more tracking mobility. Transmitters could be mounted on vehicles and shifted with work crews, letting them move freely while still being monitored by satellites.

Singh expects more correctional facilities to adopt tracking systems as the technology improves, and more competition as the market expands.

"They know we have the customers," he quipped.

California's increased use of technology has been stalled by several years of budget cuts and paralyzing turnovers in prison leadership, said both Singh and Youth and Adult Corrections Secretary Roderick Hickman. The prison system is now going through a sweeping bureaucratic reorganization that will take months, but Hickman and Singh say technology is a key to reform.

Singh's committee hasn't met since October 2002 because of the budget and bureaucratic uncertainty, but he anticipates efforts will get underway this fall to set priorities for which technology can best help transform the massive, troubled prison system.

"There's going to be opportunities for all kinds of new innovations. This might be one of them," Hickman said.

ON THE NET

TSI Inc.: http://www.tsilink.com/

Alanco Technologies Inc.: www.alanco.com

Wheels of Zeus: http://www.woz.com/2005/index.html

Logan Correctional Center: http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/facilities/instaddress.shtml

California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency: http://www.yaca.ca.gov

California Department of Corrections: http://www.corr.ca.gov

 http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/11655005.htm

Posted on Sun, May. 15, 2005
LA jail latest to use radio tags to track inmates

DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Inmates can run, but they can't hide - not so long as a radio-linked wristband remains attached, pinpointing their location within a few feet.

Removing or breaking the bracelet sets off a computer alarm, alerting guards to a possible prison escape. It's an emerging technology that could transform the way convicts are managed, contained and monitored.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Sunday it will adopt the technology for the nation's largest jail system, using an updated version of the devices tested at California's Calipatria State Prison, a remote desert facility 35 miles north of the Mexican border - the first in the nation to track its inmates electronically.

The concept has since been exported to other states.

LA county will spend $1.5 million to help control about 1,900 inmates and protect guards in one unit of the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, beginning early next year.

If it works well, it may be expanded to the 6,000 residents of LA County's Central Jail and then to other facilities, said Marc Klugman, chief of the sheriff's department's Correctional Services Division.

California state corrections officials may also consider increased use of the still-developing systems.

Beyond tracking inmates around cell blocks, the technology has the potential to create virtual prisons outside detention facilities that would let work release crews roam within an electronic fence easily moved wherever it is needed, said Harinder Singh, executive officer of the California Department of Corrections' technology transfer committee.

Michigan's Bureau of Juvenile Justice has had a $1 million system at a maximum-security 200-ward prison since 2003, and is installing it at a second detention facility. The technology also is being used at a minimum-security prison in Chillicothe, Ohio, and at Logan Correctional Center north of Springfield, Ill., home to 1,900 medium-security inmates.

Calipatria spokesman Lt. Ray Madden recalls an assault two years ago when investigators retraced inmates' movements using the computerized system installed in the minimum-security unit. They soon centered on an unlikely suspect - a disabled inmate who wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"He parked his walker outside the building, went in and stabbed somebody, then went back and picked up his walker," Madden said. "He was hard-pressed to say he wasn't inside, because we could track him through the building."

LA County jails' revolving-door population poses the toughest test yet for the technology. The facilities house about 18,000 inmates on a given day, but nearly 200,000 people pass through the system each year, some for a few hours, others for months. Several thousand each day must be moved to and from court appearances.

Last year alone there were an estimated 1,330 violent incidents that injured 88 jail employees and 1,742 inmates. Five prisoners were killed.

"It's just mind-boggling what these guys have to deal with," said Greg Oester, president of Technology Systems International Inc., which installs the TSI PRISM systems. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company is a subsidiary of Alanco Technologies Inc.

Previously, the company has worked with much more captive audiences - prison inmates serving multi-year sentences so long that electronic bracelets can be locked on until the batteries die. For jails such as in LA County, it's had to develop a quick-release version.

Alanco estimates there is $1.5 billion in potential sales for the technology if it were used throughout the federal, state and county prison and jail systems nationwide.

Singh praised TSI's product but thinks other technology could soon surpass the system's versatility.

He's intrigued by the Wheels of Zeus Inc. system developed by a Los Gatos firm headed by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak that uses radio frequencies indoors but switches to Global Positioning System satellites outdoors.

Though wOz is marketing its product for people who want to monitor the locations of people, pets or possessions, company officials met last month with Singh to discuss adapting the technology to corrections.

Inmates could be tracked not only within prisons or jails, or inside moveable electronic fences, but to and from courthouses or other locations, Singh said, providing more tracking mobility. Transmitters could be mounted on vehicles and shifted with work crews, letting them move freely while still being monitored by satellites.

Singh expects more correctional facilities to adopt tracking systems as the technology improves, and more competition as the market expands.

"They know we have the customers," he quipped.

California's increased use of technology has been stalled by several years of budget cuts and paralyzing turnovers in prison leadership, said both Singh and Youth and Adult Corrections Secretary Roderick Hickman. The prison system is now going through a sweeping bureaucratic reorganization that will take months, but Hickman and Singh say technology is a key to reform.

Singh's committee hasn't met since October 2002 because of the budget and bureaucratic uncertainty, but he anticipates efforts will get underway this fall to set priorities for which technology can best help transform the massive, troubled prison system.

"There's going to be opportunities for all kinds of new innovations. This might be one of them," Hickman said.

ON THE NET

TSI Inc.: http://www.tsilink.com/

Alanco Technologies Inc.: www.alanco.com

Wheels of Zeus: http://www.woz.com/2005/index.html

Logan Correctional Center: http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/facilities/instaddress.shtml

California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency: http://www.yaca.ca.gov

California Department of Corrections: http://www.corr.ca.gov

http://www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,841827,00.html

Surgical tags plan for sex offenders

Silicon chip to be inserted under skin

Martin Bright, home affairs editor
Sunday November 17, 2002
The Observer

Britain is considering a controversial scheme to implant surgically electronic tags in convicted paedophiles amid fears that the extent of the abuse of children has been massively underestimated.
Documents obtained by The Observer reveal the Government could track paedophiles by satellite, with a system similar to that used to locate stolen cars.

The tags can be put beneath the skin under local anaesthetic and would also be able to monitor the heart rate and blood pressure of the abuser, alerting staff to the possibility that another attack was imminent.

A letter from Hilary Benn, the Minister responsible for the supervision of sex offenders in the community, reveals the Home Office's electronic monitoring team is already developing technology to track paedophiles constantly. The team is now investigating the 'implant tag' after it was alerted to its capabilities by a campaign group for victims of paedophiles.

Tracker, the company which runs Britain's largest stolen vehicle monitoring network, has already been approached about paedophile monitoring and computer company Compaq has been asked to develop the software.

Compaq Software Solutions has developed similar technology for Nasa to monitor remotely the bodily functions of astronauts. In the case of paedophiles, the technology would not measure sexual excitement, but would monitor the offender's state of nervousness and fear.

Technology currently used can tell only whether an offender is where he is supposed to be, which is usually a curfew address. New 'reverse tags' can also monitor whether an offender is approaching a former victim's house or a high-risk area such as a school, but it can not track every movement.

In a letter to Labour MP Andrew Mackinley, Benn wrote: 'The Electronic Monitoring Team is... looking actively at the possibilities for using tracking technology to monitor offenders' whereabouts as they move from one place to another. To date... the team is unaware of any available technology which uses bodily implants to track offenders' movements or which can measure bodily functions to predict likely criminal activity. Such future improvements are, however, worthy of consideration if it can be demonstrated to be feasible and reliable in delivering improvements in public protection.'

Ministers would need to pass new legislation to oblige offenders to be surgically fitted with the tags.

Civil liberties groups expressed horror at the proposals last night. 'Implanting tracking devices provides a very frightening vision for the future. We already know that the rules protecting our privacy are inadequate. Where would this stop?' said John Wadham, director of Liberty. 'This would be used initially for sex offenders, but we would soon find that other marginalised groups, such as asylum seekers, would find they were forced to have implants.'

The implant tag has been proposed by Phoenix Survivors, a group of child abuse victims who were traded as child prostitutes in the north-west of England. Their name is taken from Operation Phoenix, an investigation into the activities of 72-year-old Stanley Claridge.

Claridge's stepdaughter and Phoenix Survivors' spokeswoman Shy Keenan said: 'I am sick to death of it being acceptable that I am a victim because these people have to have their human rights. These people live outside the law and cannot be controlled, so you have to know what they are doing all the time.'

The news of the implant tags comes after the first wave of arrests from a list of 7,000 suspected British paedophiles was passed to British police by investigators from the US Postal Inspection Service.

Credit card details had been traced to British customers of a portal on the internet, which gave access to hundreds of child porn sites. An investigation by Northumbria police as part of the nationwide Operation Ore led to the seizure of hard drives from more than 100 computers. Police in the North East had been given around 70 names from the list of 7,000 to arrest. In all, 56 men and four women were arrested. They were not picked up by the usual vetting procedures because most had no previous criminal record.

The computer files seized included the scenes of the rape of children as young as two. One man had 12,000 images of child abuse on his computer. As a result, Northumbria Police has estimated that the numbers of people on the Sex Offenders' Register in the area will increase by 10 per cent. If the hit-rate of the Northumbria investigation is replicated across the country, it could lead to as many as 5,000 arrests.

http://www.okgazette.com/news/templates/cover.asp?articleid=423&zoneid=7
http://www.okgazette.com/news/anmviewer.asp?a=423&print=yes

The watchers
Wednesday, April 05, 2006 - Ben Fenwick

It’s supposed to protect you from predators spying on your computer habits, but a bill Microsoft Corp. helped write for Oklahoma will open your personal information to warrantless searches, according to a computer privacy expert and a state representative.

Called the “Computer Spyware Protection Act,” House Bill 2083 would create fines of up to a million dollars for anyone using viruses or surreptitious computer techniques to break on to someone’s computer without that person’s knowledge and acceptance, according to the bill’s state Senate author, Clark Jolley.

“The bill has a clear prohibition on anything going in without your permission. You have to grant permission,” said Jolley, R-Edmond. “You can look at your license agreement. It will say whether they have the ability to take that information or not.”

But therein lies the catch.

If you click that “accept” button on the routine user’s agreement, the proposed law would allow any company from whom you bought upgradable software the freedom to come onto your computer for “detection or prevention of the unauthorized use of or fraudulent or other illegal activities in connection with a network, service, or computer software, including scanning for and removing computer software prescribed under this act.”

That means that Microsoft (or another company with such software) can erase spyware or viruses. But if you have, say, a pirated copy of Excel — Microsoft (or companies with similar software) can erase it, or anything else they want to erase, and not be held liable for it. Additionally, that phrase “fraudulent or other illegal activities” means they can:

—Let the local district attorney know that you wrote a hot check last month.

—Let the attorney general know that you play online poker.

—Let the tax commission know you bought cartons of cigarettes and didn’t pay the state tax on them.

—Read anything on your hard drive, such as your name, home address, personal identification code, passwords, Social Security number … etc., etc., etc.

“I think in broad terms that is still a form of spying,” said Marc Rotenberg, attorney and executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. “Some people say, ‘Well, it’s justified.’ I’m not so clear that should be the case. Particularly if the reason you are passing legislation is to cover that activity.”

The bill is scheduled to go back before the House for another vote. Will the Oklahoma House, on behalf of all computer users in the state of Oklahoma, click “accept”?

Where did you go yesterday?

Computer users first accepted updates when anti-virus makers, such as Symantec Corp. or McAfee, began back in the Nineties offering regular updates in an attempt to stay current with the alarming number of viruses introduced over the Internet. This was followed by Windows ME and 2000 allowing updates to their programs via downloads. By the time Windows XP came out, regular online updates became part of the product one purchased.

At around the same time, the Napster phenomenon pushed music corporations, courts and lawmakers into taking action against online file sharing of music. Hip, computer-savvy listeners traded pirated MP3 recordings beyond count, leading to action by the music industry to go on a search and destroy mission against the online music traders, even in Oklahoma. In 2000, Oklahoma State University police seized a student’s computer containing thousands of downloaded songs after he was traced by a recording industry group.

Anti-spyware bill author Jolley said that’s what people like the OSU student get for sharing their information online.

“You have to look at the other side of that issue,” Jolley said. “When they agreed to put their files online, they literally agreed to allow people to come on their computers and search the files online. On a P-to-P (peer-to-peer) network, you are inviting other people to see what you have. That’s a risk you run by participating in file share.”

Jolley said his spyware bill is supposed to stop “phishers” from stealing one’s identity off of one’s computer, is supposed to stop “Trojan horse” viruses from being installed on the computer and is supposed to make illegal a host of other techniques for spying on a user’s personal information.

“It prohibits them from taking things as basic as your home address, your first name, your first initial in combination with your last name, your passwords, any personal identification numbers you have, any biometric information, any Social Security, tax IDs, drivers licenses, account balances, overdraft histories — there is a clear prohibition on that,” Jolley said.

Indeed, Sections 4 and 5 of the act specifically forbid anyone from doing so without the user’s permission.

However, Section 6 of the act says such a prohibition “shall not apply” to “telecommunications carrier, cable operator, computer hardware or software provider or provider of information service” and won’t apply to those companies in cases of “detection or prevention of the unauthorized use of or fraudulent or other illegal activities.”

Which means software companies updating a user’s software or the cable company monitoring that user’s activities on a broadband modem hookup can turn over that user’s history of writing hot checks to the district attorney if the company feels like it, said Rotenberg.

“You go back to the old-fashioned wiretap laws,” Rotenberg said. “There was an exception to allow telephone companies to listen in on telephone calls. The theory was that it was necessary to make sure that the service was working. Part of what’s going on here is to significantly expand that exemption to a whole range of companies that might have reason for looking on your computer. The statute will give them authority to do so. I think it’s too broad. I think the users in the end need to be able to allow that themselves.”

Jolley insists his proposed law would not allow Microsoft, Symantec or Cox Communications to become “Big Brother.”

“The goal of this is not to allow any company to go through and scan your computer,” Jolley said. “If they are, it has to be for a specific purpose. If you don’t want them doing that, don’t agree to (the user’s agreement).”

Which means, when a user accepts Microsoft’s Windows operating system on that new computer, or Norton AntiVirus, or Apple’s operating system or a host of other online-upgradable programs, that user agrees to being watched by the company.

Who on Earth would write such a law? It wasn’t Jolley, or anyone in Oklahoma.

Archive of Criminalizing Dissent Stories that are Disappearing




LOU SABOTER--Just to preserve history. Enjoy.

Criminalizing Dissent

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4142012

Miami Probes Police Crushing of Trade Protests
Fri January 16, 2004 02:19 PM ET

By Michael Christie
MIAMI (Reuters) - A civilian panel, facing mistrust among activists, promised an unbiased investigation as it opened a probe of police brutality and infringements of civil rights during protests last year outside a regional free trade meeting in Miami.

The Civilian Investigative Panel of the City of Miami held its first hearing on Thursday night, and heard from activists who said police arrested without cause, fired rubber bullets indiscriminately and kept people in handcuffs for 12 hours during the Nov. 17-21 Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting.

But many activists said they would not cooperate because of mistrust, and demanded a panel member resign because he had praised Police Chief John Timoney for saving Miami from the riots that marred the 1999 Seattle world trade talks.

"The AFL-CIO, the entire labor movement and I am personally committed to making sure this brutality never happens again," said Fred Frost, head of the South Florida AFL-CIO, a trade union federation with 13 million members nationwide.

"I hope this panel restores my faith and my civil rights."

More than 200 people were arrested during the FTAA meeting, at which trade ministers from the Americas failed to make much progress in creating what would be the world's biggest trade zone.

The bulk of the arrests came on Nov. 20, when a mass rally organized by trade unions, environmentalists, civil rights activists and others turned into street skirmishes.

Ranks of riot police fired volleys of rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray to drive away largely peaceful marchers.

Police say they reacted, with restraint, when "anarchists" began to throw stones and other missiles.

Protester Nikki Hartman told the investigative panel she was shot several times, and wounded in the head.

"I can't tell you who shot me. I can't tell you because they weren't identified. And I can't tell you because my back was turned," Hartman said.

Others told of elderly Holocaust survivors thrown to the ground and kneed in the back before being handcuffed. They had been trying to find their way back to buses that police had initially agreed to allow into town but then barred.

The AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union told the panel they would be filing lawsuits against Miami.

The panel's next session is scheduled for Feb. 5, when it will hear from police.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-10-09-indymedia_x.htm

Web-hosting firm gives Feds hard drives
By T.A. Badger, Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — A Texas Internet company said Friday it gave U.S. government officials the hard drives from a pair of its Web servers leased to online journalists and others.
San Antonio-based Rackspace Managed Hosting said it turned over the equipment after receiving a court order under an international treaty governing investigations of crimes such as terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering.

Officials from the Independent Media Center, whose London office leased the Web servers for affiliates in more than two dozen countries, says it has been kept in the dark about what the U.S. investigators might be looking for.

"We don't know what court made the order or why, and we don't know the (federal) agency involved," said Hep Sano, an IMC spokeswoman in San Francisco.

The IMC, better known as Indymedia, is a loosely organized collective of online journalists and others posting information to Web sites.

Indymedia describes itself as "a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate and passionate tellings of truth."

Its central Web site on Friday included stories about a lesbian activist's murder in Sierra Leone, protests against welfare reform in Germany and last weekend's march in Washington against the Iraq war.

The hard drives surrendered in London hosted Internet sites for a disparate group of Indymedia outlets. Most were based in Europe, but a few were from South America and one is in western Massachusetts.

Officials from the U.S. Justice Department in Washington did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Rackspace says the Indymedia investigation did not arise in the United States, and that the company is "acting as a good corporate citizen" and that the court order it received prohibits further comment.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201568.html

Police Log Confirms FBI Role In Arrests
Group Detained, Questioned During D.C. War Protest

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 3, 2007; B01

A secret FBI intelligence unit helped detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington parking garage in April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political and religious beliefs, newly uncovered documents and interviews show.

For years, law enforcement authorities suggested it never happened. The FBI and D.C. police said they had no records of such an incident. And police told a federal court that no FBI agents were present when officers arrested more than 20 protesters that afternoon for trespassing; police viewed them as suspicious for milling around the parking garage entrance.

But a civil lawsuit, filed by the protesters, recently unearthed D.C. police logs that confirm the FBI's role in the incident. Lawyers for the demonstrators said the logs, which police say they just found, bolster their allegations of civil rights violations.

The probable cause to arrest the protesters as they retrieved food from their parked van? They were wearing black -- a color choice the FBI and police associated with anarchists, according to the police records.

FBI agents dressed in street clothes separated members to question them one by one about protests they attended, whom they had spent time with recently, what political views they espoused and the significance of their tattoos and slogans, according to interviews and court records.

The revelations, combined with protester accounts, provide the first public evidence that Washington-based FBI personnel used their intelligence-gathering powers in the District to collect purely political intelligence. Ultimately, the protesters were not prosecuted because there wasn't sufficient evidence of trespassing, and their arrest records were expunged.

Similar intelligence-gathering operations have been reported in New York, where a local police intelligence unit tried to infiltrate groups planning to protest at the Republican National Convention in 2004, and in Colorado, where records surfaced showing that the FBI collected names and license plates of people protesting timber industry practices at a 2002 industry convention.

Several federal courts have ruled that intelligence agencies can monitor domestic groups only when there is reason to believe the group is engaged in criminal activity. Experts in police conduct say it is hard to imagine how asking questions about a person's political views would be appropriate in a trespassing case.

The Washington case centers on activities that took place April 20, 2002 -- a day of three cacophonic but generally orderly rallies that drew an estimated 75,000 people to the Mall. They included groups demonstrating against the prospect of war in Iraq, numerous supporters of the war, and Palestinians and others rallying for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and for peace in the Middle East.

The police logs for that day show how events developed: Secret Service agents had some concern about a group near the JBG Co. building's garage at 1275 K St. NW just after 5 p.m.

"Intell 53 advises that five members of the anarchist group have entered a parking garage," reads an entry from 5:12 p.m.

Ten minutes later, an entry notes the FBI's role.

"FBI, JOCC advises that an FBI intell team is responding to area of 13th and K/L Streets regarding a report of alleged anarchists in the vicinity," it reads. "There are reportedly 15 anarchists at 13th and K being interviewed. The subjects reportedly had a passkey to a building, but it's unknown how they came to be in possession of it."

The entry notes that D.C. police also were at the site. The protesters were detained at the garage for more than an hour, logs show, until police decided to arrest them for alleged unlawful entry.

D.C. police officials acknowledged in 2003 that the department had a secret intelligence unit that infiltrated and monitored protest groups in the Washington area, even if authorities had no evidence of criminal activity. The practice drew complaints from the D.C. Council, and police promised to develop guidelines.

The Partnership for Civil Justice, a civil liberties group, helped 11 protesters sue D.C. police in 2003 and the FBI last year, alleging that the questioning and detentions violated their civil rights.

In response to the suit, D.C. police at first said that no police intelligence officials were involved in the arrests. Last year, city officials revealed under additional questioning that five members of the police intelligence unit were present.

The plaintiffs argue that the newly released police logs make clear that the FBI, working hand in hand with local police, is engaged in a concerted effort to spy on and intimidate U.S. citizens who are lawfully exercising their free-speech rights. They contend that this is a national effort that abuses the FBI's broad counterterrorism powers and equates political speech with a risk to national security.

"It really is a secret police: This is an effort to suppress political dissent," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice. "If this was happening in another country that the U.S. was targeting, U.S. officials at the highest levels would be decrying this as a violation of human rights,"

FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman said the agency stands by its assertion in court filings that it maintains no records of the incident.

A law enforcement official familiar with joint operations during protests said it would be typical for the FBI to hand over records of questioning to the lead agency -- in this case, the D.C. police.

D.C. police said authorities only recently found the logs of police responses to that day's events. That discovery came after three years of police assurances in federal court that no such records or logs existed showing the FBI's role.

The records turned up on the eve of a deposition in which a police records technician was to be questioned about the existence of a routine log that his office is responsible for maintaining during any mass protest in Washington.

Sgt. Joe Gentile, a D.C. police spokesman, referred questions to the D.C. attorney general's office.

Traci Hughes, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said the city's lawyers never intentionally misrepresent evidence to the court and come forward when discrepancies turn up.

"We have to rely upon information that the client gives us," Hughes said, adding that police turned over the log as soon as they learned it existed.

In November, as the Partnership for Civil Justice continued to try to get police records of the event, the FBI officials argued that the lawsuit against the agency should be dismissed. They said that the bureau had no relevant records and that if the FBI ever had any records, they had been disposed of when protesters' arrest records were expunged, or "they remain unidentifiable for other reasons." Justice Department attorneys noted, however, that questioning people in a criminal investigation was not improper.

In their lawsuit, the partnership and protesters said the FBI's political and religious questioning was "wholly unrelated to any legitimate activities of law enforcement" and violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment. They noted that some of the protesters had parked their van in the garage and were merely retrieving food.

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company

ACLU Seeking FBI Files on Activist Probes
By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press Writer

9:49 PM PST, December 1, 2004

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking information from the FBI on why bureau task forces set up to combat terrorism also looked into anti-war, animal rights and environmental groups.

Dozens of organizations have been subjected to scrutiny, according to the ACLU, which was filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the FBI on Thursday to try to find out why.

"We think it's clear that the public is interested in the possible return of FBI spying on political and religious groups," said Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal counsel.

The FBI denies singling out individuals or groups for surveillance or investigation based solely on activities protected by the Constitution's guarantees of free speech.

Officials say agents adhere strictly to Justice Department guidelines requiring evidence of criminal activity or indications that a person may know something about a crime.

"Any investigation conducted by the FBI is done under the attorney general's guidelines and in full compliance with the guidelines," FBI spokesman Bill Carter said.

There are terrorism task forces in 100 cities and with more than 3,700 members, including at least 2,000 FBI agents, state and local police, and other federal law enforcement officials. More than half of the task forces were formed after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The ACLU was seeking FBI files on a broad range of individuals and groups that have been interviewed, investigated or subjected to searches by the task forces. The requests also seek information on how the task forces are funded, to determine if they are rewarded with government money by labeling high numbers of cases as related to terrorism, Beeson said.

"What we're afraid is happening is that these cities and towns can get federal anti-terrorism money by identifying local groups as threats in their areas," Beeson said.

The ACLU provided a list of examples, including the Quaker-affiliated American Friends Service Committee that had been monitored by Denver police and was listed as an "active case" by a local terrorism task force.

Others who contend they were improperly monitored or investigated include Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, the Washington-based Campaign for Labor Rights and a number of peace and environmental activists.

The information requests were being filed with FBI headquarters in Washington as well as field offices in Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, New York, Virginia and Massachusetts, Beeson said. ACLU affiliates in California and New Jersey have previously filed lawsuits seeking similar information.

If the FBI declines to turn over the information, the ACLU can sue in federal court.

* __

On the Net:

American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62753-2003Sep11.html

Judge Orders D.C. to Release Report on IMF Arrests

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 12, 2003; Page B01


A federal judge called upon District Mayor Anthony A. Williams and Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey yesterday to publicly admit that police wrongfully arrested as many as 400 people during demonstrations at a downtown park last year.

"The mayor and the chief of police should step up to the plate and tell the citizens what they did wrong that day in Pershing Park," U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said during a hearing on four lawsuits filed by many of those caught up in the mass arrests.

"If the city has gone so far as to investigate this matter and recognize it was wrong when hundreds of people were arrested . . . I think the citizens need to know what happened," Sullivan said.

The judge's remarks were the latest development in a controversy that began Sept. 27, 2002, when riot police surrounded the park, at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and then arrested people in the crowd during antiwar and anti-globalization demonstrations.

The lawsuits allege that, on the first morning of tense protests against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, police surrounded protesters as well as uninvolved bystanders, blocked them from leaving the park, and arrested them without first giving an order to disperse.

The arrests were for failing to obey a police order. The plaintiffs are accusing D.C. police and U.S. Park Police of civil rights violations.

During the hearing, Sullivan repeatedly asked the District government's attorney about news accounts that an internal police investigation had found violations of arrest procedure and possible violations of free speech rights by authorities.

The District's attorney, corporation counsel lawyer Thomas Koger, acknowledged that the report found that the arrests violated general police orders.

Williams (D) has not released the report, dated Jan. 25. He and Ramsey did not attend the hearing.

Yesterday, Sullivan ordered the city to deliver a copy of the report to him and to all attorneys in the case by noon today. The judge said he will consider any requests by the city to keep parts of the report confidential.

"Why shouldn't the public know what you concluded in your investigation?" Sullivan asked Koger. "Think about the lack of public confidence if the mayor and chief say, 'We investigated, we were wrong, but we're not going to tell you what we did wrong.' "

In an interview later, Williams said he wants to be "cooperative and helpful" but said he disagreed that the city has failed to accept responsibility for any mistakes.

"We have acknowledged the seriousness of the situation," Williams said, adding, "We want to learn the lessons from this experience."

D.C. Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) publicly summarized some of the report's findings in late February, saying they confirm allegations made by protesters and legal-aid groups. Among other things, Patterson said, the report revealed that police never intended to scatter the crowd but had planned to make arrests.

Patterson has criticized the mayor for not making the report public. She has said that it is up to Williams to release the findings.

Tony Bullock, Williams's spokesman, said the mayor will deliver the report to the judge promptly. But he said the city cannot release some of the report's sensitive information to the public, such as details about police personnel disciplined by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility as a result of the findings.

"To say the entire event was improper would be a mischaracterization," Bullock said. "But we're not saying there's no wrongdoing."

Ramsey said yesterday that he will be happy to provide the judge with the internal report. He declined to comment on the findings because the matter is now the subject of litigation.

"I just hope the judge hasn't made up his mind yet in an ongoing case," he said.

Last fall, Ramsey asserted that police "gave [the people arrested in the park] all the warning we feel we needed to give them." After Patterson went public with some of the report's findings, Ramsey acknowledged that it was unclear whether police gave the crowd an order to disperse, but he maintained that there was adequate reason to arrest the protesters.

He said he was offering no apologies and added, "Here are folks that come in and say they want to take over the city."

Patterson, whose Judiciary Committee is investigating the police force's protest practices, said she agreed with Sullivan's exhortations and had made them herself.

"Nobody in the Williams administration has acknowledged the level of wrongdoing, the violations of basic civil liberties, that seems clear on its face," Patterson said. "That's what caused me concern."


© 2003 The Washington Post Company

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/10620060.htm

Posted on Tue, Jan. 11, 2005
Inauguration will feature 'unprecedented security'

By FRANK DAVIES

Knight Ridder Newspapers


WASHINGTON - The first inauguration since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will lock down much of the nation's capital with "unprecedented security," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced Tuesday.

An army of 6,000-plus police officers, more than 2,500 military personnel and thousands of Secret Service and other agents from 60 agencies will employ the latest high-tech gear and surveillance to protect the 55th inaugural on Jan. 20.

"Security will be the highest levels it has ever been for any inauguration," Ridge said. "We will have 24-7 surveillance of key inaugural facilities."

While he knew of no specific threats targeting President Bush's second inaugural, Ridge added that an inauguration is "the most visible manifestation of our democracy."

To protect the swearing-in ceremony on the west side of the Capitol and the parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, security teams will use chemical sensors, jet fighter patrols overhead and dozens of bomb-sniffing dogs. Agents in a new command center in suburban Fairfax County, equipped with giant plasma screens and three-dimensional maps, will monitor all events.

Many of the plans and tactics were used at last year's national political conventions, the state funeral for Ronald Reagan and the opening of the World War II Memorial.

One innovation is a bomb-jamming device used in Iraq to foil the detonation of explosives. Army Maj. Gen. Galen Jackman, in charge of coordinating much of the security, said bomb squads, emergency medical teams and even an engineering unit to deal with collapsed buildings will be on standby.

"This is the center of gravity for our country," Jackman said. "We do not underestimate our enemies."

Large swaths of downtown Washington will be closed to traffic, and parking garage use and truck deliveries will be tightly restricted. Two Metro subway stations will be closed much of the day. The no-fly zone for private planes will be extended to a radius of 23 miles from the city's center.

Many of the major law and lobbying firms along the parade route are cutting back on traditional parties because of anticipated problems for guests and deliveries getting through checkpoints.

Several groups plan to protest Bush's second term, and D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey said protesters and other members of the public would have access to the parade route, subject to screenings and searches.

But protest signs cannot be attached to anything that could be a weapon, the Secret Service announced. No picnic baskets, large backpacks, strollers or umbrellas will be allowed along the parade route.

Despite the widespread cooperation between 60 different agencies, there was one source of friction Tuesday. Unlike previous such events, the Bush administration is refusing to reimburse the District of Columbia for costs associated with the inauguration.

That could amount to $11.9 million that has to come from other local sources or federal grants for long-range security measures, complained Mayor Anthony Williams.

"There is still a disconnect between the federal government and the district over the cost of the inauguration," said P.J. Crowley, a former Pentagon spokesman and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

While D.C. residents and workers are chafing over some of the restrictions during inauguration week, most have become used to the heightened security since 2001. The era when presidents walked the parade route or rode in open carriages and cars is long past.

"It's critical that the inauguration goes safely," said Michael Greenberger, who heads the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland.

"Any balancing between public participation and the safety of the president and other officials will come down on the side of safety," Greenberger said.

(Davies reports for The Miami Herald.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61700-2005Jan9.html

Metro Officers Keep a Keen Eye on Riders
New Behavioral Profiling Techniques, TSA Training Help Target Suspicious Subway Passengers

By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 10, 2005; Page A06


Metro police officers are using new behavioral profiling techniques as they patrol subway stations, identifying suspicious riders and pulling them aside for questioning.

The officers are targeting people who avoid eye contact, loiter or appear to be looking around transit stations more than other passengers, officials said. Anyone identified as suspicious will be stopped and questioned about what they are doing and where they are going.

As part of their preparations for tighter security during the presidential inauguration, the officers have been trained by the Transportation Security Administration to take notice of the same behavioral characteristics and patterns that airport security officials watch for.

"It is effective," said Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein, who noted that a few pickpockets have been caught over the past six months as officers in uniform and plain clothes have been applying their special observation skills.

A similar observation regime at Boston's Logan International Airport has been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of an African American ACLU employee who said he was stopped and questioned by police for no reason after arriving on a flight from the West Coast. Security experts say race is not reason alone to approach someone.

Metro is also planning to place more of its 380-officer force on patrol in stations during the inauguration and to close two stations. The TSA will lend Metro bomb-sniffing dogs and may deploy airport security screeners to test bags and luggage with explosive-detection devices at the stations. The screeners will not be called upon to inspect every Metro rider but rather to operate machines that detect explosive residue on unattended bags, said an official familiar with the plans. The official was not sure whether Metro would use new handheld explosive-detection machines or more traditional machines, which heat fibers on a cotton swab that was swiped around a bag.

"A handful [of screeners] will be placed in strategic locations throughout the area," Farbstein said.

The train bombings in Madrid in March prompted Metro Police Chief Polly Hanson to seek the TSA's assistance months ago because of concern that such attacks could be copied in Washington's transit system, which handles about 650,000 riders per day.

The TSA is working with the Secret Service, which is overseeing inauguration security, on plans to bring in as many as 500 airport screeners from across the country to assist with the security, according to people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are not final. The TSA employees will screen people along the parade routes and other locations using metal-detection equipment.

TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield declined to discuss the agency's plans for behavior-observation training at airports but confirmed the agency had trained Metro police. He said the agency has offered to assist Metro for the inauguration, but many of the details, such as how many screeners and bomb-sniffing dogs would be assigned to Metro stations, are to be left to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

"We're providing assets," Hatfield said. "We're looking to WMATA for how they want them deployed and how they want to use them."

Law enforcement agencies at airports have increasingly used behavioral profiling methods after a deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport in July 2002, when a gunman killed two people and wounded three others near the El Al ticket counter.

The Massachusetts State Police has come under criticism for its program at Logan airport after its treatment of ACLU employee King Downing, who said he was threatened with arrest after refusing to show his identification. His belongings also were searched. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boston against the state police, alleging illegal search and seizure.

"You can't use this very subjective sense of who's suspicious as a substitute for what the law would otherwise require . . . such as a basis for suspicion that someone is engaged in criminal conduct," said John Reinstein, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts State Police referred questions about its program to the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan airport. The port authority said its behavior-pattern recognition program has been effective, but it did not provide details on how many arrests had resulted.

"Logan's Behavior Pattern Recognition program is specifically designed to ensure the protection of everyone's constitutional and civil rights," the agency said in a statement. "Racial profiling is not an effective law enforcement tool and plays no role in behavior pattern recognition."

Security experts say such techniques can be useful in a transit system if deployed by well-trained law enforcement officers, but they must be able to explain to travelers why they are being questioned. "If a police officer asks you a question, they have to have a reasonable suspicion that they can articulate. . . . We don't live in a national ID-requirement society," said Charles Slepian, chief executive of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center, a security-related think tank for the public and private sectors.

Isaac Yeffet, former security official with Israel's El Al airline, said such strategies are best conducted covertly, with officers out of uniform, and they should be considered just one of many security tools. "This can help, but this is only one item from series of items that the security has to cover," Yeffet said.

Staff writer Lyndsey Layton contributed to this report.



© 2005 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050118-105234-1449r.htm

Missiles deployed for inauguration


By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


The military has deployed anti-aircraft missiles within range of the Capitol as part of security enhancements for tomorrow's presidential inauguration.
The missile deployment comes even though the FBI and Homeland Security Department concluded in a recent threat assessment that there is no credible information showing that terrorists have targeted inaugural events.
Army Avenger missile systems, a Humvee-mounted version of the Stinger anti-aircraft missile, were deployed in the weekend at several locations in the Washington area, including the northern tip of Bolling Air Force Base in Southeast.

"It is a NORAD deployment," said Army Maj. Maria Quon, a spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the joint U.S.-Canadian defense system developed during the Cold War.
Maj. Quon said that in addition to the Avengers, military and security agencies have deployed F-16, F-15 and support aircraft and radar and communications systems.
The combat jets are flying round-the-clock patrols to deal with any aircraft threats to tomorrow's ceremonies. Additionally, the Air Force is flying E-3 airborne warning and control aircraft that are conducting surveillance missions and would help guide interceptor jets to targets.
The Avengers and other weapons are part of an "interagency multilayered air defense of the national capital region," Maj. Quon said. She declined to comment on the locations of the weapons and equipment.
However, past deployments included Fort Lesley J. McNair in Southwest and the grounds of the Pentagon.
The Stinger missiles could be used against any aircraft that attempts to attack or strays into restricted airspace over the Washington area.
A seven-page Jan. 11 threat assessment concluded that "at this time, there is no credible information indicating that domestic or international terrorist groups are targeting the inauguration."
"However, the inauguration may be an attractive target if al Qaeda has made a strategic decision to show that it has the ability to disrupt the American democratic process," the report said. "Moreover, given the heavy media attention and the political nature of the inauguration, an opportunity arises for terrorist groups to capitalize on the publicity an act of terrorism would generate."
The report said Washington remains "at or near the top" of al Qaeda's list of targets.
"In the national capitol region (NCR), there is a loose network of individuals who are, at the very least, sympathetic to Sunni extremism," the report said.
"While the Sunni extremist presence in the NCR appears largely limited to training, fund-raising and facilitation of overseas activities, this presence could give the Sunni extremist movement a potential operational capability in the region."
The report said recent threat reporting warned that al Qaeda studied the use of limousines as car bombs.
"Limousines have a large storage capacity and might be able to gain access to otherwise restricted areas," the report said.
The report said using aircraft in attacks is "part of al Qaeda's strategy."
"Al Qaeda operatives have also explored conducting an attack against U.S. interests using helicopters," the report said, noting that helicopters could be an alternative to airplane attacks because of their maneuverability and nonthreatening appearance in urban areas.
The missile deployment was part of security enhancements put in place for what the Homeland Security Department has designated a "special security event."
The U.S. Secret Service is in charge of security for the inauguration.


Archive of Disappearing Bioterrorism Stories




LOU SABOTER -- this is just to keep this stuff out there.

Bioterrorism

http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20030818-092302-8652r.htm

NIH, neighbors at odds over fence, germ lab

By Judith Person
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The effects of terrorism are straining the relationship between the National Institutes of Health and residents who live adjacent to the agency's sprawling Bethesda campus.
Problems began soon after the September 11 attacks, when federal officials made plans to protect the 327-acre facility with a security fence, which also would block residents' access to grassy fields and a Metro station. The situation intensified when the agency began discussing plans to build a laboratory to research germs and pathogens that could be used in biological attacks.
"We live in a different world now," said Tom Gallagher, director of NIH's office of community liaison. "Our challenge, since we need a fence, is how do you make a fence a friendly thing?"
Agency officials say they have tried. They designed the 9-foot-tall, cast-iron fence so residents in the Edgewood-Glenwood community, on the campus' southwest border, could still play soccer and go sledding. They also paved a bike path and spent about $360,000 to replace lights that residents said were shining into their homes.
The agency made the changes though it meant less security for some vehicles and an on-campus playground for children of NIH employees.
Agency officials think the changes were worthwhile because the neighbors are the agency's best security.
"They become our eyes and ears to watch for trouble," Mr. Gallagher said.
Still, the neighbors say the changes are not enough.
"To be truthful, NIH continues to let the community down," said Stephen Sawicki, president of the Edgewood-Glenwood Citizens' Association.
Association members are most upset because they think the lab could become a target for terrorist attacks and because the fence has blocked their shortcut to the Medical Center Metro station.
Lorraine Driscoll, who routinely walks across the campus to the metro stop, said that when the fence is finished her mile-long walk will be twice the length.
"That seems to go over the threshold," she said.
NIH has offered use of an employee shuttle, but neighbors say that will not help.
The campus was built in 1938 and has become one of the world's foremost medical research centers. The agency is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, whose mission is to provide leadership and guidance to the international scientific community. NIH has about 17,000 employees.
"We have asked NIH [officials] for three things and gotten nothing," said Mrs. Driscoll, president of the Huntington Terrace Citizens' Association. "We asked that they not build the fence. But, if there had to be a fence, we asked that they let the neighbors continue walking across campus to the Metro. Third, we asked that they not build a large, Level 3 biohazard lab in our densely populated neighborhood. NIH has not accommodated any of these requests."
She also said the agency is not required to go through public hearings to receive building permits, though officials have routinely met with residents to discuss the fence project.
Mr. Gallagher could not be reached late yesterday to discuss this.
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission has served as an adviser on the issue and has held public meetings.
The commission made recommendations to the National Capital Planning Commission, which has not commented on the project.

Schools to Develop Bioterrorism Vaccines
Univ. of Md. to Lead Multi-School Effort to Develop Vaccines to Protect Against Bioterrorism

The Associated Press

BALTIMORE Sept. 5 —
The University of Maryland School of Medicine has been chosen to lead a multi-school effort to develop vaccines to protect against bioterrorism, the school announced Thursday.

The Middle Atlantic region will receive a five-year, $42 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Besides creating vaccines to guard against anthrax, smallpox and West Nile virus, they will study antibodies that could produce short-term protection.


"The events of 9-11 and the anthrax attacks that followed made it clear that there are nefarious people out there," Dr. Myron M. Levine, who is the regional leader. "We have also come to realize that we are extremely vulnerable and to a great extent unprepared for biological attacks. It is critical for us to develop preventive vaccines to protect ourselves."

Levine of the University of Maryland School of Medicine will be in charge of the collaboration of 16 research institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, George Washington University, West Virginia University and University of Pittsburgh. He will guide more than 60 scientists at three facilities in the region.

"Its like being an orchestra leader," Levine said. "It's my job to try to get everyone to play together to make a very special sound."

The regional researchers will study viruses that cause hemorrhage fever, such as ebola and Marburg, and target E. coli and shigella, bacteria considered to be threats because a small amount causes severe illness.

Researches will also design better diagnostic tests and needle-free vaccinations for fast response to a biological attack or infectious disease outbreak.

University of Maryland, Baltimore president David J. Ramsay said the university has established itself as a national leader in homeland security and biodefense research.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Center for Vaccine Development had clinical trials on the effectiveness of the nation's smallpox vaccine.

Eight centers, with a lead institute and affiliated schools, will share about $350 million over five years.

The other centers are Duke University, Harvard Medical School, New York State Department of Health, University of Chicago, University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Washington and Washington University in St. Louis.


Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Archive of Disappearing FEMA/incarceration/resettlement/internment Camp Stories



LOU SABOTER--Just making sure this stuff stays out there.

Fema Camp Stuff

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/24/AR2007022401231.html

Facility Holding Terrorism Inmates Limits Communication

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 25, 2007; A07

The Justice Department has quietly opened a new prison unit in Indiana that houses a hodgepodge of second-tier terrorism inmates, most of them Arab Muslims, whose ability to communicate with the outside world has been tightly restricted.

At the Communications Management Unit, or CMU, in Terre Haute, Ind., all telephone calls and mail are monitored, the number of phone calls limited and visits are restricted to a total of four hours per month, according to special rules enforced by the Justice Department's U.S. Bureau of Prisons. All inmate conversations must be conducted in English unless otherwise negotiated.

The unit appears to be a less restrictive version of the "supermax" facility in Florence, Colo., which holds some of the United States' most notorious terrorists, including al-Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui and Unabomber Theodore J. Kaczynski.

The Indiana unit, by contrast, is part of a medium-security facility and includes inmates set to be released in as little as two years. Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said the unit's population will not be limited to inmates convicted of terrorism-related cases, though all of the prisoners fit that definition.

Prison officials said they already seek to fully monitor the mail and other communications of all 213 "terrorist inmates" in the system. "By concentrating resources in this fashion, it will greatly enhance the agency's capabilities for language translation, content analysis and intelligence sharing," the bureau said in a summary of the CMU.

The unit, in Terre Haute's former death row, has received 17 inmates since it was launched in December and eventually will hold five times that number, officials said.

Defense lawyers and prisoner advocates complain that the unit's communication restrictions are unduly harsh for inmates not considered high security risks. They also say that the ethnic makeup of the CMU's population may indicate racial profiling. "If they really believed these people are serious terrorists, they wouldn't be in this unit," said David Fathi, staff counsel for the National Prison Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "They'd be in Colorado with [Atlanta Olympics bomber] Eric Rudolph and the Unabomber and the rest of the people that the Bureau of Prisons thinks are serious threats."

The prison bureau has come under sharp criticism in recent months for failing to adequately monitor terrorist inmates' communications. The Justice Department's inspector general reported in October that three terrorists imprisoned for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing had sent nearly 100 letters to alleged terrorists overseas from the maximum-security facility in Colorado.

"The inclusion of this unit is one of the many things we're doing to improve our monitoring capabilities," Billingsley said.

According to prison records, current residents at Terre Haute include five members of the so-called Lackawanna Six, a group of Yemeni natives from Upstate New York who attended an al-Qaeda training camp. The unit also houses Randall Royer, a defendant prosecuted as part of the "Virginia jihad" case in Alexandria, and Enaam M. Arnaout, an Islamic charity director who pleaded guilty to diverting money to Islamic military groups in Bosnia and Chechnya.

The only non-Muslim inmates are an unidentified Colombian militant and Zvonko Busic, 61, former leader of a Croatian extremist group that hijacked a jetliner and set off a bomb that killed a police officer in 1976, according to prison records and defense lawyers.

Another CMU resident is Rafil Dhafir, 58, an Iraqi-born physician from Syracuse, N.Y., who was sentenced to 22 years for defrauding charity donors and conspiring to violate U.S. economic sanctions against Saddam Hussein's government.

In a recent letter to supporters, Dhafir recounted his abrupt, heavily guarded transfer to Terre Haute in December and described it as part of "a nationwide operation to put Muslims/Arabs in one place so that we can be closely monitored regarding our communications."

"We are all concerned about the close intrusion on our communications," Dhafir wrote. "We knew all along that our calls, mail and visits were monitored, but with the new system we will have absolutely no privacy including our visits. This is causing a great deal of anxiety and resentment especially among those whose families speak no English."

Dhafir wrote that prison officials "are allowing us total freedom for our religious activities" and appear to be working with inmates to improve conditions.

Prisoner advocates and prisons officials generally agree that the bureau is within its rights to monitor prisoners' mail, phone calls and visits. They differ on whether the intensive use of these tactics is justified for these inmates.

Some lawyers and prison advocates said there are important problems with the CMU, including a lack of public notice about its formation and a lack of clarity about how inmates are chosen to be sent there.

Washington lawyer Carmen Hernandez, who represents Busic and is president-elect of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, noted that being sent to the unit is not considered a punitive measure by prisons officials. As a result, authorities do not have to provide hearings and other procedures that are required when punishments are to be administered.

"They claim it's not a punitive measure, but when you start restricting access, it certainly would appear to be punitive," Hernandez said. "If you're going to restrict people's liberties beyond what they already are, it ought to be for a good, particularized reason, and there does not appear to be one here."

Howard Kieffer, a Santa Ana, Calif., defense lawyer who runs a Web site focused on federal prisons, also argues that the unit "screams racial profiling."

"It's highly suspect that basically all of the people in this program are of Middle Eastern descent," Kieffer said.

Billingsley said inmates are not placed in the unit based on ethnicity or religion. She said the facility will eventually house a variety of prisoners, including sex offenders who attempt to communicate with victims and others who have abused mail or phone privileges.

"What they all have in common is a demonstrated need to more closely monitor their communications," Billingsley said.

During a tour of the Colorado prison last week, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said the monitoring problems there had been solved, although prison guards say the facility remains understaffed.

Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company

http://www.kxly.com/common/getStory.asp?id=26857
ASSOCIATED PRESS
by (2/25/2003 3:52:00 PM)

Concentration Camps in Okanagon County?

Okanogan County Commissioner Dave Schulz says he's convinced his county is a designated home for a ``concentration camp'' in case of civil unrest.
Schulz says he has copies of documents, although he hasn't been able to confirm the rumor.

Federal officials say they have no idea where the commissioner got the notion of civilian detention camps.

A Federal Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman says it sounds like an urban legend and a Pentagon spokesman says he's not aware of any planned camps in Okanogan County or elsewhere.

Rumors of planned U.S. detention facilities appear on dozens of Web sites.

Schulz says he thinks the plan has been written in the event of a national emergency where martial law is necessary, and hopes it never becomes necessary.


©2000-2002 KXLY Broadcasting Group. All Rights Reserved.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030724/nyth139_1.html

Press Release Source: The Daedalus Project, Inc.; AT&T Government Solutions; Radian Inc.

As SARS, Bioterror Fears Grow, Prototype Isolation and Treatment Facility to Be Built in Pittsburgh Area Beginning Mid-August
Thursday July 24, 12:00 pm ET
150-Bed Prototype of 500-Bed Facility to Be Assembled From Polymer Composite Panels
The Daedalus Project, Inc.; AT&T Government Solutions; Radian Inc. Collaborate on Demonstration project

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Three northern Virginia companies today announced plans to assemble a prototype facility outside of Pittsburgh next month that could be used for isolating patients in the event of a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction, containing a SARS outbreak, or providing shelter for victims of natural disasters.

Assembly of the approximately 6,000 square-foot, 150-bed building, called an Emergency Isolation and Treatment System (EITS), will begin in mid-August and will be open to the public during the last week of August.

The Daedalus Project, Inc., of Alexandria, Va., (www.daedalusproject.com) developed the polymer composite panels to meet the requirement for low-cost housing in developing countries. Corporate partners in the project include AT&T Government Solutions, of Vienna, Va., which is providing leading edge voice and data communications, and Radian, Inc., also of Alexandria, Va., which is providing engineering and technical support. The group is currently seeking a hospital supply company to join the consortium.

The EITS project is part of federally-funded effort that is being conducted through the Allegheny County Bureau of Emergency Service, and RISC, Inc., a non-profit organization located in the county. The prototype will be assembled on the grounds of a Westinghouse facility in Monroeville, Pa., outside of Pittsburgh.

The companies involved said the EITS, a 150-bed prototype of a 500-bed facility, could be used to provide observation, quarantine, isolation, and treatment to victims of weapons of mass destruction, outbreaks of infectious diseases (such as SARS), temporary shelter in the event of a natural disaster, and a variety of other purposes for which the facility will be evaluated. The lightweight polymer panels used to construct the facility are easily assembled and have applicability to a broad range of structures, both temporary and permanent. They are impervious to all types of infestation and contamination and may be re-used or recycled. Additionally, EITS is field-site deployable.

"This government-funded effort is based, among other things, upon the simple economic notion that response to emergencies implies recovery, which entails costs," said Dr. Edward McCulloch, president of Daedalus. He pointed out that the cost to decontaminate the Hart Senate Office building after the anthrax contamination were estimated to be upwards of $30 million and that the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, D.C. has yet to reopen and the costs are not yet known.

"The prevailing approach of pressing schools, public buildings or sports complexes into service in the event of emergency is very costly," he said. "Similarly, the fragile economic profile of many hospitals makes them very vulnerable to the impact of contaminating emergency wards or the loss of revenue from having to close a section during long-term reconstruction. Those events could also have devastating effects upon hospital insurers. The costs of the fully-functional emergency isolation and treatment facility are anticipated to be less than 5 percent of a modern hospital."

"Communications and information sharing are essential components of any emergency facility," said Michael Polmar, AT&T Government Solutions sales vice president, National Information Systems. "That's where AT&T Government Solutions comes in. Our experience as a solutions integrator and networking leader is invaluable for projects requiring the full range of IT capabilities. We believe this temporary building approach is a very viable alternative for public officials trying to respond and prepare for a range of requirements that will be evaluated within this facility -- including temporary command and control centers."

Radian's President, Richard P. Dacey, said, "Radian is delighted to participate in this project and to coordinate all aspects of the non-medical life support systems. We intend to assist in developing the full national potential of this most valuable and essential project."

In preparation for next month's construction, a prototype section of the EITS has been assembled and is undergoing modification at the Radian facility in Newington, Va.

Other participants in the EITS project are Composite Technologies Company LLC of Dayton, Ohio; Alban Cat (Caterpillar) Rental Solutions of Elkridge, Md.; Optimus Corp. of Silver Spring, Md.; Marconi's Broadband Routing & Switching group, headquartered in Pittsburgh; Avaya Inc., of Basking Ridge, N.J.; StageRight, Inc. of Clare, Mich.; and Dialogic Communications of Franklin, Tenn.

AT&T Government Solutions, headquartered in Vienna, Va., is a long-standing, trusted source of information technology solutions for federal, state and local governments, integrating unmatched network resources and professional service expertise with innovative technologies from AT&T Labs and industry-leading partners. Best known for network leadership in voice, data, video and managed services, AT&T Government Solutions is a proven solutions integrator, with professional service expertise in areas such as enterprise architecture, business transformation, knowledge management, training, program management, systems engineering and security. www.att.com/gov.

Radian Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Engineered Support Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: EASI - News) is a defense contractor supplying advanced systems integration, physical security and access control, and logistic support, with its corporate offices located in Alexandria, Va. Radian is a recognized leader, providing full-service engineering and logistic support to the U.S. Defense Department for electrical power systems, environmental control systems, water supply/distribution systems and fully-integrated systems for detection and mitigation of weapons of mass destruction. Radian designs and manufactures mobile and air transportable 1Mw power generation and distribution solutions for the military. Radian www.radian.com maintains several GSA Schedules for government procurement and access to its technical services.

(Photo http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: The Daedalus Project, Inc.; AT&T Government Solutions; Radian Inc.

http://www.freep.com/news/metro/civil20_20020720.htm

Arabs in U.S. could be held, official warns


Rights unit member foresees detainment

July 20, 2002

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

A member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission said in Detroit on Friday he
could foresee a scenario in which the public would demand internment camps
for ArabAmericans if Arab terrorists strike again in this country.

If there's a future terrorist attack in America "and they come from the same
ethnic group that attacked the World Trade Center, you can forget about
civil rights," commission member Peter Kirsanow said.

The reason, he said, is that "the public would be less concerned about any
perceived erosion of civil liberties than they are about protecting their
own lives."

Kirsanow, who was appointed to the commission last year by President George
W. Bush, said after the session that he personally doesn't support such
camps and the government would never envision them. He said he was merely
saying public opinion would so strongly favor the idea that it would be
difficult to prevent. There would be a "groundswell of opinion" for the
detainment, he said.

The remarks came during a raucous commission hearing in Detroit in which
Kirsanow and another conservative member, Jennifer Braceras, defended U.S.
antiterrorism efforts after Sept. 11.

"They had their own political agenda," said Kary Moss, executive director of
the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, referring to
Braceras and Kirsanow.

A White House spokesman said Friday night that he could not respond
specifically to Kirsanow's comments without seeing a full transcript of
them, but said that the possibility of Arab internment camps has never been
discussed at the White House.

"The president has said repeatedly and often that this is not a war against
Arabs or Islam, this is a war against terror," White House spokesman Scott
Stanzel said. "We have very close allies in the Arab world who are integral
partners in the war against terrorism. . . . The president has said that
ours is a war against evil and extremists and that the teachings of Islam
are the teachings of peace and good."

Stanzel said that as of Friday he was "still looking into the matter" of
Kirsanow's comments.

The seven-member commission, based in Washington, D.C., was at the Omni
Hotel in Detroit for its monthly meeting, and heard testimony from
Arab-American leaders who said the government abused civil rights following
Sept. 11.

"It's becoming really ugly," said Imad Hamad, regional director of the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, during his testimony.

Hamad and others expressed concern about mass interviews of Arab men, secret
immigration hearings and profiling of drivers and airplane passengers.

Kirsanow was unmoved, arguing that Arab and Muslim Americans should accept
the country's new antiterrorism laws and complain less about infringements
to their civil rights.

If there's another attack by Arabs on U.S. soil, "not too many people will
be crying in their beer if there are more detentions, more stops, more
profiling," Kirsanow said.

"There will be a groundswell of public opinion to banish civil rights. So
the best thing we can do to preserve them is by keeping the country safe."

At one point during the hearing, Roland Hwang, a Lansing attorney, recalled
how Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II and said this
country needs to prevent that from happening again.

It was at this point that Kirsanow broached the possibility of a rising
public sentiment for internment camps if the U.S. were attacked again.

Braceras, another Bush appointee, said:"There's no constitutional right not
to be inconvenienced or even embarrassed."

Kirsanow, a Cleveland labor attorney, is the former head of the conservative
Center for New Black Leadership.

After the meeting, Hamad said he felt insulted by some of the commission's
remarks.

Braceras said she didn't intend to upset the Arab-American community of
metro Detroit, the largest concentration in the United States. "I was trying
to be a devil's advocate," she said.




Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO at 734-432-6501 or warikoo@freepress.com.


http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/8/6/182408.shtml

Draft FEMA Bid Notice


[Editor's Note: The following is a replica of the draft bid proposal on FEMA's Web site.]

DRAFT
SUBJECT: STANDBY TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISASTER RELATED OPERATIONS

POC: Ms. Linda A. Sudhoff, Contracting Officer, (202) 646-4672, Linda.sudhoff@fema.gov; Ms. Virna L. Evans, Contract Specialist, (202) 646-7591, Virna.evans@fema.gov

DESC: NAICS 541990 (Professional, Scientific and Technical Services) applies to this acquisition, with a size standard of $6.0 million. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) intends to award three (3), Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity, Task Order contracts starting in fiscal year 2003, subject to the availability of funds. Each basic ID/IQ contract will have an ordering period of five years. The basic ID/IQ contract will be structured to allow for the issuance of Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF), Time and Materials (T&M), and Firm Fixed Price (FFP) task orders. The method used to allocate task orders will include: consideration of experience, workload, and the firm's performance on other task orders. The estimated cost for services is approximately $300 million per five-year contract.

The selected firms will be required to provide services associated with Standby Technical Assistance for the purpose of providing technical support, consultant and project management resources to perform disaster related operations in accordance with the statutory authorities of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. § 5121 et seq. ("the Stafford Act"), PL 93-288, as amended. The program activities of the Stafford Act are highly visible and require coordination with Federal, State, and local governments and/or voluntary organizations.

The selected firm shall be required to provide the necessary resources to adequately support disaster operations throughout FEMA Regions I - X. The resources and support includes technical assistance, consultant services and project management services. The Contractor will provide technical assistance to support the Public Assistance Program and provide project management resources and expertise to support the Disaster Housing Program. Additionally, the Contractor will provide support in efforts such as catastrophic planning; develop training materials; provide technical support for the Community Block Grant; provide technical support for the Fire Management Program; and other program areas of the Stafford Act. The Contractor shall provide support capability for all types of disasters with emphasis on riverine and coastal flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, and tsunamis. The Contractor shall provide technical assistance and project management resources on large, unusual, high-dollar value, and controversial or complex projects. The Contractor shall provide technical assistance and project management resources to the Recovery Division and its Regional counterparts. The goals and objectives of this requirement are to provide: technical assistance and consultant services; project management resources; forms, handbooks, criteria guidelines, and reports relating to disaster operations; training for personnel; and optimal customer satisfaction by providing exemplary service. The Contractor shall have personnel on-site at the disaster office within 48 hours of tasking notification. Due to the nature of FEMA's work, the Contractor must be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Selections will be in conformance with the provisions of Public Law 92-582 and based on the criteria and evaluation points. Responding firms and proposed teams should demonstrate specialized experience and technical competence in the following areas:

1. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS (40 POINTS). The firm must have expertise in the disciplines listed below. The number in parenthesis ( ) next to the skill indicates the estimated maximum number of personnel per skill which may be required at any given time, with the exception of surge requirements. There will be a need for First, Mid and Senior Levels in many of the listed skills. The expected Senior Level skill usage is estimated at 30 percent and Mid Level at 40 percent. A Senior Level professional shall possess either a professional registration (such as Professional Engineer and Certified Public Accountant) and a minimum of ten (10) years of experience in their field of expertise with complex projects of similar size and scope as this contract, or a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree or equivalent (i.e., 4-year degree) and fifteen (15) years of experience in their field of expertise. A Mid Level professional shall possess either a professional registration and a minimum of five (5) years of experience in their field of expertise with complex projects of similar size and scope as this contract, or a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree or equivalent and ten (10) years of experience in their field of expertise with complex projects of similar size and scope as this contract. A First Level professional shall require a BS degree or equivalent and a minimum of two (2) years of experience in their field of expertise. Senior and Mid Level professionals are expected to have specific knowledge in their field of expertise on any Federal regulatory requirements, e.g., an Environmental Planner must be familiar with Federal environmental regulatory requirements. The primary skills are listed in descending order of importance: Civil Engineer (50); Structural Engineer (40); Construction Inspector (20); Architect (14); Sanitary Engineer (12); Flood Insurance Adjuster (12); Engineering Technician (12); Estimator (12); Environmental Planner (10); Soils/Geotechnical Engineer (6); Insurance Specialist (5); Environmental Engineer (4); Program Manager (4); Architectural Historian (4); Historical Architect (4); Planner, General (4); Accountant (4); Certified Public Accountant (4); Accountant (4); Coastal Engineer (3); Mechanical Engineer (3); Electrical Engineer (3); Financial Analyst (3); Arborist (3); Real Estate Specialist (3); and Procurement Specialist (3). The firm must also have, on an as needed basis, one (1) each of the following skills: Geologist; Principal; Landscape Architect; Horticulturist; Art Conservator; Appraiser; Archaeologist; Biologist; Chemical Engineer; Draftsman; Graphic Artist; Hydrologist; Technical Writer; Surveying Technician; Surveyor; Telecommunications Specialist; GIS Specialist; Computer Specialist; Wetlands Specialist; Health Scientist; and Word Processor.

2. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCE (50 POINTS). The firm must demonstrate successful specialized experience of firm and key personnel in the following (tasks are listed in descending order of importance):

(a) Project management of contract of like size and type. Experience should include planning project management services including services for phase of design and construction - from beginning through project completion and closeout. Experience should include providing technical engineering services, project planning, emergency procurements, budget adherence and cost control, scheduling, identification and adherence to project time constraints while meeting quality requirements. Project management includes monitoring of project performance as well as related subcontracts. The experience must demonstrate capability of establishing group housing developments (designing, developing, constructing, and acquisition of property) and maintenance of complex(s) for periods exceeding 2 years (max. 15 pts); (b) Developing the cost estimate for disaster related damages for damage survey reporting and related activity (cost estimate of major construction projects). Other related activity include: evaluating projects for compliance with environmental regulations and preparing environmental documents (environmental assessments or environmental impact statements); conducting historical or archeological reviews, biological and endangered species surveys, or insurance adjustment (all hazards); developing hazard mitigation alternatives for projects; developing cost benefit analyses; and evaluating hazardous waste and debris removal issues, etc. (max. 15 pts);

(c) providing a technical review of appeals (max. 3 pts);

(d) estimating disaster related damages (max. 3 pts);

(e) financial analysis of budgets for State and local government entities or projects (max. 3 pts);

(f) providing technical or management expertise to coordinate on-site contract management activity (max. 3 pts);

(g) preparing handbooks, criteria, guidelines, reports, or other related technical engineering assistance (max. 3 pts);

(h) developing and conducting training courses (max. 3 pts);

(i) performing floodplain management (max. 2 pts).

3. CAPACITY TO ACCOMPLISH WORK WITHIN REQUIRED TIME (40 POINTS). The firm must demonstrate (tasks are listed in descending order of importance) the ability to: a) provide and coordinate the activities of teams of professionals with expertise in restoring damaged infrastructure systems (e.g., roads, schools, hospitals, and power and water systems); and to provide project management staff with the expertise to support major capital projects; i.e., technical advice or assistance, project and construction management, property management, and mobilization and de-mobilization of resources; (b) have personnel on-site within 48 hours of notification; (c) field up to 250 professionals, simultaneously, for technical assistance support taskings from within the skills listed under Criteria #1; (d) have staffing capability to respond to two concurrent project management assignments (namely temporary housing missions) and provide adequate staff (defined as 100 professionals from within the skills listed under Criteria #1) to continue temporary housing missions at four concurrent disaster field office operations; and, (e) field and conduct initial training for up to 100 additional professionals beyond requirements listed above, concurrently, for two months, to meet surge requirements.

4. PAST PERFORMANCE (50 POINTS). The offer's past performance on contracts with Government agencies and private industry in terms of project management, cost control, quality control and compliance with performance schedules. Submittals must include the names, affiliations and telephone numbers for five references. The references must be within the past five years and be related in scope and magnitude. The Government reserves the right to use information outside of the response in evaluating past performance.

5. LOCATION IN THE GEOGRAPHIC AREA OF THE PROJECTS AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE LOCALITY OF THE PROJECTS (20 POINTS). a) Location (10 Points). In order to facilitate management and timely deployment, the firm must have at least one permanent and adequately staffed and equipped office located in the Washington Metropolitan area, and two (2) additional offices in other geographic locations within the United States with the capability supporting deployment operations in the event that one area is incapacitated. An adequately staffed office is defined as one that is capable of satisfactorily performing the necessary project management operations and administrative tasks (personnel, finance and accounting, logistics, task order assignment coordination, communications, etc.,) to sustain the field representatives and for the duration of the contract. b) The Firm must be knowledgeable on high disaster risk localities (10 points). The firm must demonstrate in-house expertise with all types of disasters to include flood, hurricane, earthquake and typhoon type disasters.

Engineering firms interested in performing this work are to submit one (1) original and seven (7) copies of their Standard Forms (SFs) 254 and 255 showing project experience and personnel, which will perform the work. Strict adherence to the submission instructions will be enforced. Firms not performing all work in-house must identify subcontractors in their submittal. Qualifications of subcontractors will be considered only in the evaluation for rating Criteria #1 and #2 as appropriate Firms using subcontractors must submit separate SFs 254 and 255 for each subcontractor. The submittal, including subcontractors, must not exceed thirty (30) pages, 8 1/2" x 11" front side only. Charts and drawings will be counted. All pages following the first thirty (30) pages will be discarded upon receipt. All submittals, to include portions from subcontractors, must use a type pitch that is twelve characters per inch for ease of reading and evaluation. All other material such as brochures or samples of work, attachments or extra pages will be discarded upon receipt.

Joint ventures must include a copy of the legal joint venture signed by an authorized officer from each of the firms comprising the joint venture with the chief executive of each entity identified. Copies of agreements between firms participating in a prime/subcontractor relationship must also be included in the submittal. The joint venture and the prime/subcontractor documents will be subject to the page limitation set forth above. All interested large firms are reminded that the successful firm will be expected to place subcontracts to the maximum practicable extent with small and disadvantaged firms in accordance with Public Law 95-507. If a large business firm is selected, a small business subcontracting plan, describing how it will manage their subcontractors and ensure quality control, will be required prior to award.

The Government intends to enter into a voluntary partnership arrangement with the awardees and its subcontractors on this procurement. Our objective is to identify and achieve reciprocal goals, insure effective and efficient contract performance, and resolve disputes in a timely, professional and non-adversarial manner through the use of voluntary Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methodologies. Responses must reference "EMW-2002-TAC, Technical Assistance Contract", on the face of all forms. No other announcement is anticipated for this requirement. To assure consideration, all information must be received by the Contracting Officer no later than 3:00 PM local time, at FEMA, 500 C Street, S.W., Room 350, Washington, DC 20472, on Jan 15, 2003. Late submissions will be subject to the provisions of FAR Part 14.304. This is not a Request for Proposal. *****

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.410718.0.mass_evacuation_plan_for_london.php

Mass evacuation plan for London
By Local London Reporter

Plans have been drawn up for a massive evacuation of London in the event of a major terrorist attack.

Government experts have drafted a proposal that would relocate Londoners to ‘rest and reception’ areas in the Home Counties, in the event of the Capital suffering from a chemical or biological terrorist attack.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling confirmed the evacuation plan, following a report in the Sunday Times.

Mr Darling said the Government was looking at ‘various scenarios’ involving moving people out of London and areas around major airports.

The plans would involve Londoners being ferried out of the city to safe areas using special rail, tube, and road transport.

The confirmation of Government plans to evacuate London in response to a major terrorist attack comes after emergency services held a massive exercise in the centre of the city, to test their response to such an incident.

An attack was simulated at Bank Tube station, and police, fire, and ambulance services spent several hours yesterday removing ‘victims’ from the station, and decontaminating them.

Hundreds of emergency services workers donned protective suits for the exercise, which was hailed a success.

12:37pm Monday 8th September 2003