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Post 9-11 FBI power to demand hundreds of thousands of Americans' private records without any oversight by a court or Congress, impacting citizens more that one might realize, is now under review in Congress.
Over a thousand American citizens alleging Cointelpro-style intimidation, harassment, assault and worse, of which law enforcement refuse to respond, believe their treatment is due to their name highlighted in the FBI secret database.
Any citizen's name can be added to the FBI "watch list." Had a falling out with a neighbor, co-worker or lover? Beware. You could be accused of being a terrorist, added to the soft-kill hit list, and experience an ongoing life of covertly manufactured hell on Earth by post 9-11 'counterintelligence' tactics.
In the video below, two former Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, Lisa Graves and Bruce Fein, share their views on how expanded, unchecked power that the Bush administration instated immediately after the New York City mass murder on September 11, 2001, threatens Constitutional rights.
This "spying" treatment diverts resources from genuine threats.
The secret database keeping people's personal information, including bank details, is presently accessible to over 10,000 government employees.
Opening dialogue about restoring pre-9/11 Constitutional Rights
The video below opens a window onto one of several controversial post-9/11 expansions of executive branch powers. The Bill of Rights Defense Committee, BORDC hopes local showings of this video will open a dialogue nationwide about whether the power needs to be curbed to protect U.S. residents' constitutional rights. With the Patrio Act under review in Congress now, time is right for such dialogue and action to restore Constitutional rights.
BORDC provides the weekly updates of news related to Constitutional Rights such as this recent compilation below:
ACLU lawsuit demands information on Bagram detainees: (Jurist Legal News and Research) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] Tuesday seeking information related to treatment of prisoners at US detention facility at Bagram Air Base [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive] in Afghanistan. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against the Departments of Defense, Justice, and State, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official websites], follows a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] request filed by the ACLU in April. None of the departments have turned over any records in response to the request.
"Unary Executive" is now Bipartisan Consensus: (OpEd News) Concentration of power in the Executive undermines the balance of powers among three government branches, which is one of the key safeguards in our Constitution. Historically, concentration of power has been associated with despotism, corruption and abuse...the powers claimed by George W Bush were breathtaking in their contempt for the Constitution. There was no significant opposition in Congress or the Liberal Press, or (especially) in the Supreme Court when the Bush Administration shut down access to information, initiated domestic spying, detained prisoners without trial, and modified laws passed by Congress with the subterfuge of “signing statements”. Perhaps the most disturbing new Presidential power is the one least discussed: the power to make war. The Constitution provides that only Congress has the power to declare war, and yet the US has fought five full-scale wars in the last 60 years in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan, all without formal declarations from Congress.
Administration wants to continue surveillance law: (AP) The Obama administration promised Congress on Tuesday to negotiate stronger privacy protections for Americans under terrorism surveillance but insisted on retaining current authority to track suspects and obtain records. Liberals on the House Judiciary Committee were left unsatisfied, clearly wanting the administration to go further and pledge to curb what they consider abuses of the Bush administration.
Patriot Act Needs Comprehensive Reform, ACLU Testifies: (ACLU) The ACLU is seeking comprehensive reform of the Patriot Act and is urging Congress to revisit other surveillance laws expanded in recent years to bring them back in line with the Constitution. The ACLU also urges Congress to pass the JUSTICE Act, a bill introduced in the Senate last week to narrow several provisions of the Patriot Act and other surveillance laws, including the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, by inserting privacy and civil liberties safeguards into each law. The bill was introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution Chairman Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Judiciary Committee Member Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)... “The Patriot Act has not only been a minefield for Americans’ rights, it also started a steady expansion of many of America’s surveillance laws,” said Michael German, ACLU National Security Policy Counsel and former FBI Special Agent. “In the wake of 9/11, Congress hastily amended and expanded the government’s authority to conduct domestic surveillance without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Congress must now seize the opportunity to bring these laws in line with the Constitution by passing the JUSTICE Act.”
Court Allows Return Of Guantanamo Prisoners To Torture: (Public Record) As rumors swirl, suggesting that a number of the remaining 13 Uighur prisoners in Guantánamo (Muslims from China’s Xinjiang province) may soon be relocating to the tiny Pacific island state of Palau, a court case related to nine of these men threatens to hurl a number of other prisoners in Guantánamo, who have also been cleared for release, into a new maelstrom of uncertainty, by removing long-standing injunctions preventing their return to countries where they face the risk of torture.
Patriot Act Hearings This Week: (New American) The House and the Senate are scheduled to conduct their initial committee hearings this week on the question of reauthorizing three sections of the Patriot Act that will expire at the end of this year. Civil liberties groups and some congressional Democrats want to rein in the Patriot Act, which gave the federal government extensive surveillance and confiscation powers. The Obama administration and some Republicans in Congress would like to keep the vast powers, the New York Times reported on September 19. Nine Democrats and an independent sponsored a bill (pdf) on September 17 that would seek to protect privacy by restricting surveillance and imposing safeguards. But Ronald Weich, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs, submitted a letter to Congress asking for all provisions of the Patriot Act to be renewed, hinting at only a slight willingness to compromise.
Pennsylvania: G20 Protesters File Suit Against Police: (New York Times) Two protest groups filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Pittsburgh Police Bureau of “systematic attempts to harass and discourage First Amendment activities” over the weekend as the city prepares for a meeting here this week of the leaders of 20 of the world’s largest and emerging economies. According to the suit, more than 30 police officers in riot gear and holding semiautomatic weapons on Sunday stormed a building where members of the group Seeds of Peace were preparing food for a demonstration on Monday by the Three Rivers Climate Convergence, which is protesting the G20 meeting.
Learn more: See Bill of Rights Defense Committee www.bordc.org and subscribe to learn how to help defend your Constitutional, civil and human rights. "BORDC is political organizing at its best for all parties. It gives ordinary people concrete ways to get involved in the struggle for justice in the wake of 9/11. It deserves our support," stated Professor David Cole. Download the BORDC booklet, The "War on Terror" and the Constitution,
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