The Talon database started as a way for the Defense Department to collect tips on possible threats to military facilities. But as the program grew, those tips of so-called “suspicious incidents” became themselves more and more suspect.
One incident included in the database is a large anti-war protest at Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles last March that included effigies of President Bush and anti-war protest banners. Another incident mentions a planned protest against military recruiters last December in Boston and a planned protest last April at McDonalds National Salute to Americas Heroes a military air and sea show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The Fort Lauderdale protest was deemed not to be a credible threat and a column in the database concludes: US group exercising constitutional rights.
New documents, obtained by the ACLU, catalog more, previously-undisclosed monitoring of free speech, in the name of force protection. A Veterans for Peace march in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is tagged a “threat to military facilities.” A “church service for peace” in New York is labeled “potential terrorist activity.“
“The Defense Department tightened its procedures earlier this year to ensure that only material related to actual terrorist threats and not peaceable First Amendment activity was included in the database,” the New York Times reports.
The head of the office that runs the military database, which is known as Talon, said Monday that material on antiwar protests should not have been collected in the first place.
I dont want it, we shouldnt have had it, not interested in it, said Daniel J. Baur, the acting director of the counterintelligence field activity unit, which runs the Talon program at the Defense Department. I dont want to deal with it.
When the NSA’s warantless wiretapping program was revealed, defenders of the effort told us not to worry. “Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks,” the President said last December.
But it’s the creeping expansion of a program like Talon, from counterintelligence to counter-dissidence, that gets folks like me so concerned about domestic spying without legal review. Sure, the programs start out with the best of intentions. But it becomes way too easy for a bureaucracy to slide into something that’s just plain wrong.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Wait…broad surveillance powers were abused by the government?
Well, I, for one, am shocked.
Wait, I don’t get it. You post stories about people dressed as clowns who try to damage one of our nuclear missile silos, but when you find out that the people who operate these silos are keeping track of the clown parades you object?
It’s not like the military is going to send death squads in the middle of the night to perform clown kidnappings. Keeping lists of people who rant and rave is just a simple logical act.
I agree with the previous post. The dichotomy that you suggest is a simple one: dangerous terrorists on one side and law abiding Americans exercising their First Amendment right on the other. The reality is that there are many extremists who are more than happy to forego violence against military installations and personnel for the reason that they know that they can better disrupt the military and other institutions through “civil” disobedience. Such groups and individuals adopt such tactics secure in the knowledge that liberals like yourself will reliably frame their actions in a fuzzy realm where all protest, even if it involves extra legal methods, is somehow legitimate and where the only side needing restraint is the entity being protested.
as i read the article, i tend to remember the ugly language of many of the antiwar protesters, and then specifically two events, one in southern california and another in Washington state where military recruiters were manhandled and their recruiting efforts curtailed. also numerous speaking events by conservative speakers that have been physically disruptedy either by something as simple as pie throwing or storming the stage a la columbia. i remember at least ten cases reported in the papers of folks taking pictures of bridges and facilities at unusual hours. i am sure there are other events but remembering those events certainly make keeping the database more reasonable. finally, i always favor incompetance over conspiracy whenever error pop ups in these data bases
Good Evening Folks,
This is an example of the Pentagon just not getting it. They can use Talon to generate all the data bases they like, as we use to say “It don’t mean nottin’”.
Street protests are quaint and create an enviroment for old 60′s, tie dyed, bald with poney tail and granny dress types to get together, replay “Country Joe McDonald” and lie about being at Woodstock, but it has nothing to due with how the resistence to the war in Iraq developed.
The change in Americans opinion about the war has been brought about by the internet and web sites such as Defense Tech. Discusssions and discourse about the issues and uncovering the untruths in the main stream media and public announcments has what changed peoples minds.
This is called “Information Centric Warfare” and our DoD doesn’t have a clue. They have lost the war outside as well as inside the United States.
The mainstream media sold out and bought into Bush from the begaining. Our paper of record (?) “The New York Times” begain with Judith Miller pumping up the war to John Burns the unofficial Bush minister of information. Everytime John Burns shows up in Baghdad you know something is about to go down, he is easly more predictable the the weather.
The war with a 63% disapproval rating only two years after Bush being relected is amazing. Street protest could never have done this so fast. The Pentagon instead of using Talon or Carnavor Programs might start by telling the truth in the begaining.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
Byron,
If you’re arguing that the Times was used as a propaganda mill by the president at anytime, I think you’re sorely mistaken.
What has changed people’s mind is the unrelenting assault by journalists who think they have a handle on the truth when they don’t.
Look at David Axe, here on Defensetech. He’s getting it wrong all the time. His latest was the argument that the US should be copying British tactics. Even though they operate in an environment completely different from where the US is operating.
Other journalists are failing us too. Lately it appears as if all of Iraq is tearing itself to pieces. Closer investigation reveals it parts of Iraq-but that’s to complex to report. Years ago reporters screamed about the lack of gear for troops, ignoring the sucess of RFI.
I got a thrill out of serving in Iraq, watching something happen-then seeing it reported improperly a day or two later. It shocked me and opened my eyes-but it gave me something to do.
Back in 2004 it seemed the media was cheering on a Civil War. Maybe, they should have been concentrating on the failures to adequately prepare US trainers then or a million other more significant issues. At times it seems reporters were obsessed with civil war, or sunni v. shia-when Iraq is far more complex then just two sides fighting.
Inaccuracy and blatant falsehoods by the “peace” movement have undermined support for the war too. Americans seem to be in a fantasy world when it comes to how difficult nation-building here will be however. That’s part of the problem-this is the hardest job to do.
I eagerly await defense techs take on storys such as this and other ‘evil goverment are being meanies’ BS storys when/if the dems come into power again. somehow i feel they will not make it to these pages, wonder why that is….