As Madsen writes, neocon political hack Porter Goss has his job cut-out for him. “The journalist surveillance program, code named ‘Firstfruits,’ was part of a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) program that was maintained at least until October 2004 and was authorized by then-DCI Porter Goss. Firstfruits was authorized as part of a DCI ‘Countering Denial and Deception’ program responsible to an entity known as the Foreign Denial and Deception Committee (FDDC). Since the intelligence community’s reorganization, the DCI has been replaced by the Director of National Intelligence headed by John Negroponte and his deputy, former NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden.”

It should be noted that Negroponte ran death squad operations in Nicaragua and supported the brutal military dictatorship of General Gustavo Alvarez Martínez in Honduras. Even though he was implicated in the Iran-Contra criminal operation, the Senate had no problem confirming Negroponte to “serve” as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. Obviously, the Senate figured Negroponte’s Curriculum Vitae as a criminal and overseer of death squads was an asset in Iraq. Now this facilitator of sadistic butchery will be monitoring the behavior of the American public and running “denial and deception” operations (and the primary “denial” will be denying Americans their birthright—protection under the Constitution and Bill of Rights).

Some may believe my characterization of the neocon spook operation as an all-American version of Stasi is erroneous. However, all one need do is consider the rumor Markus Wolf, the former director of the East German Stasi, “was being considered for the top post at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” according to the Idaho Observer. “The rumor caused such a stir that the Bush administration chose Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Michael Chertoff to replace outgoing Tom Ridge as Director of Homeland Security,” not that Chertoff is an advocate for civil liberties and the Constitution. It should be noted that Chertoff “is a longtime member and activist in the Federalist Society,” according to Right Web. “The Federalist Society, which since its founding in 1982 has been closely linked to the neoconservative political camp, aims to rid the system of liberal judges and stamp out what it sees are its overly egalitarian and secular impulses. Many association members believe that the Constitution and the country’s laws should primarily serve to ensure order and social orthodoxy rather than democracy and human rights.” In other words, get rid of the “egalitarian” concepts of the Constitution, as in equality under the law, as stated by the 14th Amendment (the Straussian- Machiavellian version of reality dictates that some people have more liberty than others, viz.: the Platonic neocons, acting as philosopher-kings, have the right to run roughshod over the benighted masses and use them as cannon fodder in their forever war schemes).

It should also be noted that Chertoff “supervised the round-up of 750 Arabs and other Muslims on suspicion of immigration violations. Treated as suspected terrorist sympathizers or material witnesses, the ’suspects’ were held without bond for as long as three months, often in solitary confinement, despite having never been charged with any crime,” a precursor of things to come for American citizens (and in fact a number of the Muslims rounded up in Gestapo-like raids were American citizens, albeit Muslim American citizens). Of course, the neocon Stasi apparatus now emerging is connected at the hip to this Gestapo-like behavior—the neocons and their apparatchiks need to assemble dossiers on “traitors,” be they journalists, fellow spooks not with the program, or peace activists and members of the growing patriot movement. It is especially pertinent to consider Chertoff’s remarks (made in a War Street Journal op-ed piece) in regard to the lawfulness of rounding up people in the dead of night and snooping on law-abiding Americans: “Basic policy questions like this cannot be simply left to the judiciary.” Of course, it hardly matters that the judiciary, by and large, is a Reagan-Bush deck stacked with reactionaries.

Finally, if we are to believe Rasmussen Reports, a clear majority of Americans have no problem with snooping on journalists and fellow citizens in egregious violation of the Constitution. “Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans believe the NSA should be allowed to listen in on conversations between terror suspects and people living in the United States. That view is shared by 51% of Democrats and 57% of those not affiliated with either major political party,” Rasmussen Reports notes. Meanwhile, concentration camp advocate Michelle Malkin applauds this rampant ignorance of the Constitution, and “Don Lambro at the Washington Times reports that ’some Centrist Democrats’ (whoever they are) are worried that ‘attacks by their party leaders on the Bush administration’s eavesdropping on suspected terrorist conversations will further weaken the party’s credibility on national security,’” according to the National Ledger. Of course, the above mentioned “suspected terrorists” are not members of al-CIA-duh but rather Americans practicing their once guaranteed civil liberties, as the example of history (i.e., Operation CHAOS and COINTELPRO) repeatedly demonstrates.

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Read from Looking Glass News
NSA: Listening in on its own employees, journalists, and members of Congress.
http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=4246