{"id":1507,"date":"2005-06-30T12:56:29","date_gmt":"2005-06-30T16:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.test.bradblog.com\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2005-06-30T12:56:29","modified_gmt":"2005-06-30T16:56:29","slug":"white-house-announces-formation-of-domestic-secret-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=1507","title":{"rendered":"White House Announces Formation of Domestic Secret Police"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC, of course, not the American Media, got the headline right<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Bush sets up domestic spy service<\/b><\/p>\n

John Negroponte will oversee the FBI changes US President George W Bush has ordered the creation of a domestic intelligence service within the FBI, as part of a package of 70 new security measures.<\/p>\n

The White House says it is enacting the measures to fight international terrorist groups and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, back over here across the pond, the AP typically downplays any concerns of a new “secret police” under the control of the White House. Their fawning lede for the same story<\/a> seems to laud Bush for his latest actions:<\/p>\n

President Bush, embracing nearly all the recommendations of a White House commission, said Wednesday that he was creating a national security service at the FBI to specialize in intelligence as part of a shake-up of the disparate U.S. spy agencies.<\/div>\n

Washington Post<\/i>, however, in a Page 1 story<\/a> (refreshingly), seems to mostly get it. Even though it takes a graf or two before they get to the troubling part:<\/p>\n

President Bush ordered another shake-up of the nation’s intelligence services yesterday, forming new national security divisions within both the FBI and the Justice Department and, for the first time, putting a broad swath of the FBI under the authority of the nation’s spy chief.
\n…
\nCivil liberties advocates immediately criticized the changes at the FBI, arguing that they represent a radical step toward the creation of a secret police force in the United States. Many Justice prosecutors and FBI agents had also fiercely opposed the changes but were overruled by Bush’s homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, officials said.
\n…
\n“Spies and cops play different roles and operate under different rules for a reason,” said Timothy Edgar, national security counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. “The FBI is effectively being taken over by a spymaster who reports directly to the White House. . . . It’s alarming that the same person who oversees foreign spying will now oversee domestic spying, too.”<\/p>\n

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III played down such concerns. Although Bush’s memo gives Negroponte’s office authority over the FBI’s intelligence program, they said, he will not exercise authority over traditional criminal investigations conducted by the bureau.<\/p>\n

“They’re not going to be directing law enforcement,” Gonzales said at a news conference. “Every law enforcement official within the FBI is going to remain under the supervision and authority of the FBI director and, ultimately, the attorney general.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Ah, well, as long as a good man and torturer like Alberto Gonzales has given his seal of approval and will be watching carefully over matters, we suppose there’s nothing at all to worry about here. Phew…<\/p>\n

Leave it to those America hating liberals at the ACLU to waste our time alarming us about such matters. It’s not as if they were right at all concerning torture at Gitmo! Haven’t you heard? Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said the prisoners are feasting like kings<\/a>, and Rush says Gitmo is a vacation paradise<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.\u201d<\/i> – Martin Niemoeller<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BBC, of course, not the American Media, got the headline right… Bush sets up domestic spy service John Negroponte will oversee the FBI changes US President George W Bush has ordered the creation of a domestic intelligence service within the FBI, as part of a package of 70 new security measures. The White House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","bb-type-bradblog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}