It appears that the mainstream media has finally decided to start covering the National Applications Office, the office the Bush administration and friends have been trying to open as a part of the new Department of Homeland Security. Its main function, if the Bush administration wins, will be to use military satellites for domestic law enforcement (for more details, read this).
The National Applications Office grand opening has been delayed several times now due largely to the efforts made by Rep. Jane Harmon of California. On June 25th, Newsweek gave us this update:
On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment denying money for the new domestic intelligence operation—cryptically named the "National Applications Office"—until the Homeland Security secretary certifies that any programs undertaken by the center will "comply with all existing laws, including all applicable privacy and civil liberties standards."
Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on intelligence, told Newsweek that majorities in both the House and Senate intend to block all funding for the domestic intelligence center at least until August, when the Government Accountability Office, an investigative agency that works for Congress, completes a report examining civil-liberties and privacy issues related to the domestic use of picture-taking spy satellites...
A Homeland Security official said that the administration had hoped to begin full operations of the National Applications Office, which would be located at a secret facility somewhere in the Washington, D.C., area, in October. But Harman said that full congressional funding for the new center almost certainly would be held up until after the presidential election in November.
While I'm thankful that Rep. Jane Harmon has been on top of this issue and is actively shutting it down (for now), the fact that it is Jane Harmon doing the squashing scares me. The reason is that Jane Harmon is the Congressional representative for Torrance and El Segundo, CA which she describes as "satellite central". And yet, despite the fact that she represents "satellite central", whose financial interests would benefit from the opening of the National Applications Office, she is still putting her foot down.
Why?
As the representative for companies such as Boeing, Raytheon, Northrup Grumman and other huge military industrial complex institutions, she has access to view and understand these technologies and she said in a 2007 hearing that the capabilities of these satellites give her great concern (watch her testimony about her concerns here). This doesn't surprise me. Look at the type of detail us peasants can now access by signing onto Google maps or Mapquest. Can you even imagine what kind of capabilities our military has?
So we're safe for now. It might be a good idea to give your Congressman and Senators a buzz to let them know to keep up the good work on this one.
3 comments:
Jesus, here's something I didn't even know about. I'd write to Mark Souder, but he's more worried about the increasing THC levels in rope than the deteriorating condition of U.S. civil liberties. And his office staff is probably tired of seeing my name on every single ACLU and Brave New Foundation petition.
I think I'll just start building a giant laser.
I'm trying to think of way to tie offshore drilling into this, then maybe they'll talk about it.
It's understandable that the economy is the number one issue, since that's a 24/7 deal, but that is a tool, just like this stuff, for control. They're all linked.
Jonathan- Even though your own Congressman may be worthless, you could still give Jane Harmon's office a call and let her know that you support her efforts...
But get started on that laser anyway
Randal- I absolutely agree with you. Everything that is happening to this country is linked... Iraq, the economy, the EPA corruption, the economy, the spying - everything. And it all seems to lead to very rich people accumulating as much wealth as they can get their hands on before George W. Bush leaves office and keeping the public from doing anything about it.
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