Domestic Surveillance

First I read this article in November in several newspapers about how the White House may expand the power of a Pentagon agency: “The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel, and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-9/11 world.”

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 expressly prohibited military intervention and supplation of domestic policing forces (or did it?).

Then MSNBC comes out yesterday with proof that there is military intelligence gathering being performed by the Pentagon. “A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. What they didn’t know was that their meeting had come to the attention of the U.S. military.

A secret 400-page Defense Department document obtained by NBC News lists the Lake Worth meeting as a “threat” and one of more than 1,500 “suspicious incidents” across the country over a recent 10-month period.“

What the heck is going on? What is the White House up to now? I’ve considered myself a staunch patriot my entire life. Though leaning politically left from time-to-time (yet am mostly right of center), I’ve become increasingly agitated by the decimation of our civil liberties, the cowtowing to oil and media companies, the obvious issues with the justification for the war in Iraq, and the systemic setup of command-and-control measures like the one mentioned above.

Don’t just chalk this up to the government protecting us against the boogeyman Al Qaeda and go about your daily business. If you care at all about the future of the United States and the domestic climate your children will inherit, be mindful and speak out.

Update: Pentagon says “oops” and expunges database. Reuters article here.