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Friday, February 08, 2008

Corporate jackboots in the night
Posted by Jill | 11:33 AM
Holy shit:

Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does—and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to “shoot to kill” in the event of martial law.
InfraGard is “a child of the FBI,” says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.

FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on August 9, 2005. At that time, the group had less than half as many members as it does today. “To date, there are more than 11,000 members of InfraGard,” he said. “From our perspective that amounts to 11,000 contacts . . . and 11,000 partners in our mission to protect America.” He added a little later, “Those of you in the private sector are the first line of defense.”

He urged InfraGard members to contact the FBI if they “note suspicious activity or an unusual event.” And he said they could sic the FBI on “disgruntled employees who will use knowledge gained on the job against their employers.”

In an interview with InfraGard after the conference, which is featured prominently on the InfraGard members’ website, Mueller says: “It’s a great program.”

The ACLU is not so sanguine.

“There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations—some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers—into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI,” the ACLU warned in its August 2004 report The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.

InfraGard is not readily accessible to the general public. Its communications with the FBI and Homeland Security are beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act under the “trade secrets” exemption, its website says. And any conversation with the public or the media is supposed to be carefully rehearsed.

“The interests of InfraGard must be protected whenever presented to non-InfraGard members,” the website states. “During interviews with members of the press, controlling the image of InfraGard being presented can be difficult. Proper preparation for the interview will minimize the risk of embarrassment. . . . The InfraGard leadership and the local FBI representative should review the submitted questions, agree on the predilection of the answers, and identify the appropriate interviewee. . . . Tailor answers to the expected audience. . . . Questions concerning sensitive information should be avoided.”

One of the advantages of InfraGard, according to its leading members, is that the FBI gives them a heads-up on a secure portal about any threatening information related to infrastructure disruption or terrorism.

The InfraGard website advertises this. In its list of benefits of joining InfraGard, it states: “Gain access to an FBI secure communication network complete with VPN encrypted website, webmail, listservs, message boards, and much more.”

InfraGard members receive “almost daily updates” on threats “emanating from both domestic sources and overseas,” Hershman says.

“We get very easy access to secure information that only goes to InfraGard members,” Schneck says. “People are happy to be in the know.”

[snip]

On May 9, 2007, George Bush issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 entitled “National Continuity Policy.” In it, he instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security to coordinate with “private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as appropriate, in order to provide for the delivery of essential services during an emergency.”

Asked if the InfraGard National Members Alliance was involved with these plans, Schneck said it was “not directly participating at this point.” Hershman, chairman of the group’s advisory board, however, said that it was.

InfraGard members, sometimes hundreds at a time, have been used in “national emergency preparation drills,” Schneck acknowledges.

“In case something happens, everybody is ready,” says Norm Arendt, the head of the Madison, Wisconsin, chapter of InfraGard, and the safety director for the consulting firm Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. “There’s been lots of discussions about what happens under an emergency.”

One business owner in the United States tells me that InfraGard members are being advised on how to prepare for a martial law situation—and what their role might be. He showed me his InfraGard card, with his name and e-mail address on the front, along with the InfraGard logo and its slogan, “Partnership for Protection.” On the back of the card were the emergency numbers that Schneck mentioned.


I think we ought to ask Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton what they think of this.

(h/t)

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6 Comments:
Blogger Bob said...
Jimmy Carter wrote about the power of presidential directives & executive orders a long time ago with regard to positive steps the president could take on civil rights. A new Democratic president hopefully will review all of Bush's unilateral acts, like this one, & just sign them out of existence.
2/8/08, 2:18 PM  
Blogger J said...
Can this even be true? God, it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but one that's so scary as to not even be possible.
2/8/08, 6:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Jesus Fucking Christ On A Toasted Brioche!!
2/8/08, 8:41 PM  
Blogger Melina said...
boy thats bad...really bad..
thats secret police, and in the event of anything going wrong, the community could be full of enforcers who represent something that we dont even know about.
Bob, what you say is sorta like the way that my family is...like, oh yes, Hillary will suddenly be herself again when she gets into office...
like, the swiftboaters wont take huge ads saying "do you know what your president is doing to YOUR security"...and painting it as a necessary thing!
I hope that all of this crap will be signed away but I'm starting to think that we may need a master list to make sure.
I don't trust any of 'em...there is too much secret security stuff going on.
2/9/08, 9:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I don't personally know anything about Infraguard.
I almost always think the ACLU has the right take on things. But: one of the sanest and most even-handed voices on the Net (for over fifteen years), Jim Lippard, has apparently been a member of the Arizona Infraguard for some time. His firsthand take is worth considering, because sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.
I am under no illusion that Jim's anecdotal defense demonstrates that there is no skulduggery anywhere in the Infraguard; but perhaps it shows that the Infraguard is not inherently and completely illegitimate.

Your mileage will continue to be your mileage. Threats described on the Net may be closer than they appear.
Some settling of contents may have occurred during shipping and handling.
Void where prohibited.
2/9/08, 1:17 PM  
Blogger Porlock Junior said...
Bob is right, but I think more needs to be made of it.

The Dem candidate needs to Do A Spitzer, and promise it ahead of time, and carry it out. By that, I don't mean going after malefactors of great wealth and even getting some squared away in jail cells; that can safely be left to Attorney General Edwards.

No, the deal is how Spitzer spent his Inauguration day a mere year ago. Got up early, went to the office, worked on schedules and other papers, then went to the inauguration. Got sworn in, went back to the office, and starting issuing Executive Orders and the like.

Do it! The First Ten Hours!

First on the list, of course, out of respect for tradition, has to be the Reproductive Ping Pong Order: canceling the gag order and refusal of federal support for anybody who won't lie about abortion. Whatever one thinks of Bill Clinton's record, he did this, and it needs to be repeated.

But there are so many! Gitmo, obeying the United States existing law on torture, this weird fascist thing in today's posting... an embarrassment of riches, no?

And so, we also need a contest to encourage nominations for the things to be exterminated by stroke of pen while the Important People are dancing the night away.

It occurs to me that Jimmy Carter would do this if he were being inaugurated. (Say! ---- oh, I guess not, he wouldn't accept a draft at his age.) Can this younger generation live up to his standards?
2/11/08, 2:36 AM  
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