posted 07-14-2002 10:58 PM               

By Ritt Goldstein
July 15 2002

The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.

The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".

Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.

As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.

Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits.

A pilot program, described on the government Web site www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage.

Assuming the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.

Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports.

Present Justice Department procedures mean that informant reports will enter databases for future reference and/or action. The information will then be broadly available within the department, related agencies and local police forces. The targeted individual will remain unaware of the existence of the report and of its contents.

The Patriot Act already provides for a person's home to be searched without that person being informed that a search was ever performed, or of any surveillance devices that were implanted.

At state and local levels the TIPS program will be co-ordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was given sweeping new powers, including internment, as part of the Reagan Administration's national security initiatives. Many key figures of the Reagan era are part of the Bush Administration.

The creation of a US "shadow government", operating in secret, was another Reagan national security initiative.

Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in the movement for US law enforcement accountability. He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there, saying he was the victim of life-threatening assaults in retaliation for his accountability efforts. His application has been supported by the European Parliament, five of Sweden's seven big political parties, clergy, and Amnesty and other rights groups.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html

posted 07-15-2002 04:16 PM            

What about people with personal axes to grind? Now we have to worry about some freak cable guy???? What about all the fascist states in history that employed this technique in the past and the aftermath that followed?

Sure we should be vigilant and get to know our neighbors better, sure we should watch our towns for signs of terrorist activity but... For cryin' out loud this is just too much!

posted 07-16-2002 08:13 AM            

What Is Operation TIPS?


Sunday, July 14, 2002; Page B06

THE JUSTICE Department is not saying much about the Terrorism Information and Prevention System -- otherwise known as Operation TIPS -- which is due to begin as a pilot program later this summer. Apparently the only public information about the program, in fact, is on a government Web site, which describes it as "a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity." Operation TIPS will, in the pilot stage, involve a million workers, who, "in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to serve as extra eyes and ears for law enforcement." It will offer them "training . . . in how to look out for suspicious and potentially terrorist-related activity." It will also provide "a formal way to report" that activity "through a single and coordinated toll-free number." This description, which is essentially all we know about the program, poses more questions than it answers.

Public vigilance is a good thing, and so is encouraging citizens to alert authorities to terrorist activity. It makes sense to educate people who work at potential targets or at places where lethal cargo may be smuggled. But having the government recruit informants among letter carriers and utility workers -- people who enter the homes of Americans for reasons unrelated to law enforcement -- is an entirely different matter. Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.

From the sketchy descriptions of the program so far, it is impossible to determine with any precision what the government is intending. Is TIPS to be principally focused on cargo shipping or on people in their homes? What sort of home activities will the government be urging workers to report to authorities? And what incentives, if any, will be used to encourage volunteers? Nor is it clear whether the program will be effective. It is easy to imagine how such a program might produce little or no useful information but would flood law enforcement with endless suspicions that would divert authorities from more promising investigative avenues. A White House official told us that the program will be focused more on suspicious activities around neighborhoods than inside homes. And a Justice Department spokeswoman says that the program is still "in its early planning stages." The administration owes a fuller explanation before launch day.

posted 07-16-2002 08:14 AM            

quote:

---

Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.

---

This isn't true anymore thanks to the "Patriot Act" they can search, and bug your home without your consent or knowledge.

posted 07-17-2002 08:24 PM               

Postal Service Won't Join TIPS Program

Wed Jul 17, 3:57 PM ET

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Postal Service has decided not to take part in a government program touted as a tip service for authorities concerned with terrorism, but which is being assailed as a scheme to cast ordinary Americans as "peeping Toms."

"The Postal Service had been approached by homeland security regarding Operation TIPS; however, it was decided that the Postal Service and its letter carriers would not be participating in the program at this time," the agency said in a statement issued Wednesday.

The project is promoted by the Justice Department as a means for workers whose jobs bring them in contact with neighborhoods, highways and businesses to report suspicious activities.

But it has drawn the wrath of the American Civil Liberties Union, which charged it would result in Americans spying on one another.

Attorney General John Ashcroft's spokeswoman said that the program, still in the development stage, would set up people to spy upon one another in their homes and communities.

Barbara Comstock said the agency had no intention for people — such as utility workers — to enter or have access to the homes of individuals. The idea is to organize information from people whose jobs take them through neighborhoods, along the coasts and highways and on public transit, she said.

Said Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge: "The last thing we want is Americans spying on Americans. That's just not what the president is all about, and not what the TIPS program is all about."

The ACLU said the concept was worrisome, nonetheless.

"The administration apparently wants to implement a program that will turn local cable or gas or electrical technicians into government-sanctioned Peeping Toms," said Rachel King, an ACLU legislative counsel.

The ACLU said it was concerned that these volunteers would, in effect, be searching people's homes without warrants, that resources would be wasted on a flood of useless tips and that the program would encourage vigilantism and racial profiling.

It would provide a central reporting point for reports of unusual but non-emergency situations. Among those involved in the voluntary program could be truckers, mail carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees and others.

On Tuesday the Postal Service said it had held preliminary discussions with homeland security officials on the project but had not make a final decision.

That decision came Wednesday with the announcement the agency would opt out, at least for now. Officials did not elaborate on the decision.

"It is important to note, however, that the Postal Service has established processes for our postal employees nationwide to report suspicious activity to the Postal Inspection Service and to local authorities," the agency pointed out.

Ridge told radio reporters that people in certain occupations are ideal observers. "They might pick up a break in the certain rhythm or pattern of a community. They may pick up in the course of their daily business something that's very unusual."

He noted that the program is voluntary.

"There's a big difference being vigilant and being a vigilante. We just want people to use their common sense," Ridge said. "It is not a government intrusion. The president just wants people to be alert and aware. ... We're not asking for people to spy on people."

posted 07-25-2002 10:07 PM               

Thu Jul 25, 2:47 PM ET

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General John Ashcroft assured senators Thursday that a program that would ask millions of Americans to report suspicious activity won't create an Orwellian government database that could be used against innocent Americans

"We don't want a new database, I've recommended that there be no database and I've been assured there won't be one" created by the program, Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee

Thursday. Operation TIPS — Terrorism Information and Prevention System — is being developed by the Justice Department and is scheduled to be launched later this summer.

It is a part of the Citizen Corps, an initiative announced by President Bush in his State of the Union address, and is designed to enable the public to participate directly in homeland security. Operation TIPS plans to give millions of American truckers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees and others "a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity," its government Web site said.

Those people are crucial because "they are regularly in the public," Ashcroft said. "They can spot anomalies — things that are different — (such as) truck drivers seeing things happen that don't usually happen." But some lawmakers have echoed the American Civil Liberties Union's call that the program could result in Americans spying on one another.

"We don't want to see a 1984, Orwellian-type situation here where neighbors are reporting on neighbors," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "We want to make sure that what this involves is legitimate reports of real concerns that might involve some terrorist activities."

A government database of terrorist tips, whether truthful or not, could be used against people when they apply for government benefits at agencies like the Department of Veteran's Affairs, said Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

He conjured a scenario where a person applies for a VA loan or a job and is told that a suspicious activity has been logged in the databank because somebody "didn't like their dog barking in the middle of the night" or the political shirt they were wearing. But Ashcroft assured senators that Operation TIPS would only be a clearinghouse, with all relevant information passed on to the appropriate law enforcement agencies, which already have well-established policies on how information can be used.

"TIPS will be a referral agency that sends information that is phoned in to appropriate federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies," Ashcroft said. Ashcroft also defended his proposal to immediately destroy government records of people who buy guns, disputing a congressional report that said his idea could help criminals get firearms illegally.

Other "records that are maintained can be used to detect the illegal purchases," said the attorney general, responding to a General Accounting Office report released earlier in the week.

Ashcroft last year suggested shortening from 90 days to no more than one business day the time during which the government keeps records on people who try to purchase firearms. But the GAO, Congress's watchdog agency, said one-day destruction of records would mean that the FBI, which conducts background checks on people who buy guns, would not be able to go back and check its work to look for fraudulent transactions or mistaken approvals.

Only seven out of 235 illegal gun sales between July 2001 and January 2002 were noticed after one day, the GAO report said.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check system electronically checks law enforcement records while gun buyers are waiting to make purchases.

Felons, drug users and people subject to domestic violence restraining orders are among those prohibited from buying guns. But some databases checked by the FBI have missing or incomplete records. I

f new information shows up within three months that proves the gun purchase should have been denied, the FBI calls local police and has the weapon confiscated.

The FBI wouldn't be able to do that if the gun purchase records are immediately destroyed, Sen. Edward Kennedy told Ashcroft.

However, Ashcroft said NICS would still have the firearm dealer information and government agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms could still track down illegal gun purchases through those records.

On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov
Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov
Operation TIPS: http://www.citizencorps.gov/tips.html
ACLU: http://www.aclu.org/
National Instant Criminal Background Check System: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/nics.htm
GAO report: http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-02-653

posted 09-17-2002 01:20 AM               

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

First, a high-profile false alarm in Florida; then the arrest of five terror suspects in western New York. Together, the two events raise questions about how zealous Americans should be as tipsters in the homefront war on terrorism.

"I don't know if anyone has the perfect answer," said Khalid Qazi, president of the American Muslim Council of Western New York, wondering how to strike a balance between vigilance and paranoia.

After a daylong drama on the south Florida highway known as Alligator Alley, three Muslim medical students were released Friday without charges. They had been detained based on the suspicions of a woman who overheard parts of their conversation at a Shoney's restaurant in Georgia.

Authorities commended the woman, Eunice Stone, for calling police. Even Muslim leaders, while depicting the incident as a case of racial profiling, stopped short of saying Stone's action was malicious.

"I'm sure she believes she really heard some threats," Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Monday. "But there's a problem when you basically deputize everyone in America. Does a person reading the Koran in the airport, or a man wearing a skullcap, constitute suspicious activity? Where does it leave us?"

Law enforcement authorities, from the federal level on down, have encouraged the public to report any suspicious activity since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and have not complained about false alarms.

"Any time a citizen feels that they have witnessed something suspicious, we want them to notify the appropriate authorities," said Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo.
"Citizen vigilance is an essential part of the fight against terrorism here at home."

Yet one of the department's initiatives for expanding public vigilance — Operation TIPS — has run into widespread opposition, from both conservatives and liberals. Even the U.S. Postal Service shunned the program, in which truckers, train conductors, utility employees and others were supposed to report systematically on suspicious activities.

A proposal for a scaled-back TIPS program remains pending.

Among its foes is the American Civil Liberties Union, which says TIPS would "recruit 1 million volunteers to act as spies and informants against their neighbors."

The ACLU's executive director, Anthony Romero, said utility workers and truckers would be more prone to fall for hoaxes or to engage in racial profiling than law enforcement officers.

"We will quickly spiral down into anarchy if we begin to ask ordinary citizens to play the role that only trained authorities should play," Romero said.

In contrast to the Florida false alarm, authorities are claiming a substantive breakthrough in Lackawanna, N.Y., with the arrest of five men of Yemeni descent who allegedly were trained in Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network.

Federal officials have thanked Muslim-Americans in western New York for helping them crack the suspected cell, but have not said how they assisted.

"The Muslim community is perhaps even more vigilant than the average American — they will do their patriotic duty," Qazi said. "But it is a delicate balance. There is a real need to eradicate any operatives, but on the other hand, it has become very difficult for these communities to enjoy the civil liberties they enjoyed in the past.
There's almost paranoia about anyone doing anything unusual."

Regarding the Florida incident, Qazi said, "The impact is very chilling — Muslim-Americans can't even talk and joke in a restaurant."

Hooper urged Americans to use good judgment in deciding whether to file a report with police.

"If you heard someone saying, 'We're going to bomb this place tonight,' you should report it," he said. "But you have to keep from reacting based on prejudice and stereotype; you need to react based on real things."

In Georgia, Eunice Stone has defended her actions and stands by her account that the three Muslim medical students made suspicious remarks about the terrorist attacks.

The students deny making any provocative statements — either serious terrorist threats or joking references to the attacks. Romero said the case raised questions about how Americans should react to overheard remarks that might be considered offensive.

"Satire, humor, jokes are part of our everyday lives — we shouldn't be afraid that what we say might trigger a reaction from law enforcement," Romero said. "We have to have more faith in the ability to engage each other, staking out different points of view. That's the American way."