Code Dumb: Look Who's Spying on Your Granny

[Guest guest]

d

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 00:46:25 -0700

Code Dumb: Look Who's Spying on Your Granny

 

 

>

 

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/070105G.shtml

>

> Code Dumb: Look Who's Spying on Your Granny

> The Sacramento Bee | Editorial

>

> Wednesday 29 June 2005

>

> Groups with names such as Raging Grannies, Gold Star Families for

> Peace and CodePink may not sound very threatening to our national

> security. Yet last month a special intelligence unit of the California

> National Guard was quietly tracking these groups as they prepped for

> an anti-war protest in front of the Capitol.

>

> As the San Jose Mercury News reported Sunday, the California

> National Guard has established an " Information Synchronization,

> Knowledge Management and Intelligence Fusion " program. It's a legacy

> of Maj. Gen. Thomas Eres, the Guard leader who was forced to retire

> this month. The unit's purpose, according to the Guard, is to monitor,

> analyze and distribute information on potential terrorist threats.

>

> Leaders of the California National Guard say the unit doesn't

> collect information on US citizens. Maybe not, but it came dangerously

> close to crossing that line, if not charging across it, at the

> Mother's Day rally last month .

>

> That's the rainy day when a few dozen Californians, including

> families of soldiers killed in the Iraq war, attended a rally outside

> the state Capitol. Three days beforehand, an aide in Gov. Arnold

> Schwarzenegger's press office had alerted the California National

> Guard to the coming protest, according to the Mercury News.

>

> The Guard sprung into action.

>

> " Sir, " one colonel wrote to his boss, Col. Jeff Davis, who

> oversees the intelligence unit. " Information you wanted on Sunday's

> demonstration at the Capitol. "

>

> " Thanks, " Davis replied, in an e-mail obtained by the newspaper.

> " Forwarding same to our Intell. folks who continue to monitor. "

>

> Guard officials say they did not send anyone to physically monitor

> the protest. They just kept tabs on it from a distance. A spokesman

> said the Guard would be negligent in not tracking anti-war rallies,

> which could easily escalate into a riot.

>

> " Who knows who could infiltrate that type of group and try to stir

> something up? " said spokesman Lt. Col. Stan Zezotarski about CodePink

> and the Raging Grannies. " After all, we live in the age of terrorism. "

>

> The California National Guard has already hurt its reputation by

> setting up a questionable military flight for Republican Party

> activists and diverting money earmarked for drug interdiction. Partly

> because of those controversies, the Schwarzenegger administration

> forced Eres to retire early this month.

>

> While the California National Guard has a proper role in ensuring

> security, the California Highway Patrol and not the Guard is the lead

> agency in protecting the Capitol. So why, at a time when it is

> stretched thin both here and in Iraq, is the Guard apparently engaging

> in " mission bloat " by snooping on political groups?

>

> Unless they want to be featured in the next Michael Moore movie,

> leaders of the Guard and the governor should examine their policies

> about alerting the snoops whenever Californians exercise their First

> Amendment rights. Military intelligence, the old joke says, is an

> oxymoron. It's a particularly dangerous one in the hands of amateurs.

>