In the wake of 9/11, the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign debuted in New York City in 2002 and then expanded to the rest of the nation in 2010 when the Obama Department of Homeland Security unveiled it under the auspices of “raising public awareness of the indicators of terrorism and terrorism–related crime.”
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Launched in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSI), the program urged the public to report “suspicious activity” to the police, turning busy-body neighbors into clandestine spies used against their own countrymen by the government.
The NSI analyzes and documents the reports and then shares them with the Federal Bureau of Investigation–led Joint Terrorism Task Forces for investigation, who in-turn, kicks them down to state or regional Fusion Centers for further analysis.
According to DHS, “suspicious activity” is defined ambiguously as “any observed behavior that could indicate terrorism or terrorism-related crime.” Activities the public should report include:
Unusual items or situations: A vehicle is parked in an odd location, a package/luggage is unattended, a window/door is open that is usually closed, or other out-of-the-ordinary situations occur.
Eliciting information: A person questions individuals at a level beyond curiosity about a building’s purpose, operations, security procedures and/or personnel, shift changes, etc.
Observation/surveillance: Someone pays unusual attention to facilities or buildings beyond a casual or professional interest. This includes extended loitering without explanation (particularly in concealed locations); unusual, repeated, and/or prolonged observation of a building (e.g., with binoculars or video camera); taking notes or measurements; counting paces; sketching floor plans, etc.
After the program was initiated, the feds enlisted the help of so-called private partners like Wal-Mart to consolidate their citizen spy network. Such companies have taken an active role in surveilling their customers and continue to urge them to report “suspicious activity.”
DHS said at the time that a total of 588 Wal-Mart stores in 27 states were joining the campaign by playing a short video message from then-DHS-Secretary Janet Napolitano at checkout locations in their stores in order to remind shoppers to be good little government spies.
Watch the message:
According to the ALCU, “If You See Something, Say Something” campaigns perpetuate violations of privacy, interfere with constitutionally-protected activities, and rarely produce any actionable intelligence.
Examples of some of the reported activities that have came to light from places like the Central California Intelligence Center and the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center include men buying large pallets of water, a professor taking photographs of industrial buildings for his art class, and an email expressing fear of excessive force by police officers by activists.
On the heels of claims that a neighbor didn’t report the suspicious activity of the San Bernardino killers however, the government is taking advantage of the situation by unveiling a new online version of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign – which will be asking for $1 million from taxpayers in order to encourage the public to report suspicious internet activity.
According to new budget documents, DHS is requesting the funds to develop a new public service awareness propaganda campaign that would be implemented in a similar fashion to its 2002 and 2010 predecessors – and would be placed under the Office of Partnership and Engagement.
The budget documents say that the cyber PSA “will look to raise public and private sector awareness of Cyber Security and to emphasize the importance of cyber awareness and information safekeeping.” They add that DHS will be working with state and local governments, law-enforcement agencies and private-sector partners, to promote the push.
DHS says the program is necessary and offers us this rationalization:
Cyber Security has become a growing concern throughout the United States. It is imperative that DHS address this concern in a number of ways including Public Awareness. Through these collaborations, employees, volunteers and the public are provided with information needed to recognize and prevent Cyber threats. This includes information on what types of indicators to be aware of. By tailoring the material, those viewing or receiving it feel a connection/tie to the area or entity and are more likely to feel a responsibility to help keep it safe and secure.
As you can see, the program is being sold under the pretext of Cyber Security but the track record of what the federal government considers to be “indicators” of terrorist activity is not a good one. In fact, it seems the primary “indicator” is simply disagreeing with them.
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One of the most egregious confirmations of this was back in 2012 when a report published by The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) stated that Americans “reverent of individual liberty” and others adamant about protecting their personal freedoms, are “extreme right-wing terrorists.”
In that paper, Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970-2008, researchers used definitions from another START study, 2011’s Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism, to characterize what traits should be considered when describing right-wing terrorists.
Those definitions include:
Americans who believe their “way of life” is under attack
Americans who are “fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”
People who consider themselves “anti-global” (presumably those who are wary of the loss of American sovereignty)
Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority”
People who are “opposed to abortion and support the second Amendment”
Americans who are “reverent of individual liberty”
People who “believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty.”
START – a University of Maryland project funded directly by DHS, released a report in 2014 which collected information from state and local fusion centers, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, the DHS, BATF, DEA, ICE, and state and local homeland security and anti-terrorism task forces.
The report found that the so-called “Sovereign Citizen Movement” had been named the number one domestic terrorist threat in America, not Islamic extremists. The findings were also echoed in a 2015 DHS intelligence assessment which warned “[Sovereign Citizen] violence during 2015 will occur most frequently during routine law enforcement encounters at a suspect’s home, during enforcement stops and at government offices.”
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Self-described Sovereign Citizens take the position that they are answerable only to common law and are not subject to any statutes or proceedings at the federal, state, or municipal levels. They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate. Participants in the movement argue the concept is in opposition to “federal citizens” who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.
Federal authorities, particularly in connection with DHS during both the Obama and Bush administrations, have been involved in producing a plethora of literature portraying liberty lovers and limited-government advocates as terrorists.
Another blatant example was the infamous 2009 MIAC report, published by the Missouri Information Analysis Center which framed Ron Paul supporters, libertarians, people who display bumper stickers, people who own gold, or even people who fly a U.S. flag, as potential terrorists.
Even everyday behaviors are now regarded as suspicious by the United States government. Under the FBI’s Communities Against Terrorism program, the bulk purchase of food, using cash to pay for a cup of coffee, and showing an interest in web privacy when using the Internet in a public place are all labeled as a potential indication of terrorist activity.
Perhaps even more troubling, was a Department of Justice announcement made last October which affirmed that under the umbrella of “Homeland Security,” the agency will now be moving away from combating Islamic extremism to fighting home-grown “anti-government groups” with a new “Domestic Terrorism Counsel.”
Speaking at a forum hosted by George Washington University’s “Program on Extremism,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said, “while addressing the evolving international threat of violent extremism, we cannot lose sight of… home-grown violent extremism that can be motivated by… anti-government views, racism, bigotry and anarchy, and other despicable beliefs.”
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According to Carlin, the domestic terrorism counsel will now assist federal prosecutors nationwide who are working on domestic terrorism cases. He says the counsel will “help shape our strategy and analyze legal gaps or enhancements required to ensure we can combat these threats.”
Citizen spy networks have routinely been used by totalitarian regimes as a way of policing their populations. By making the pubic suspicious of their neighbors, individuals who are more susceptible to government propaganda that wish to feel empowered inevitably turn against their fellows and become tools of the state.
Now that the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign in going digital, expect snooty Internet users – like the ones who routinely report social media posts they disagree with on Facebook and Twitter to now get their jollies by taking their qualms to police and the federal government.
This is not the type of online atmosphere that will foster free discussion in a landscape already severely marginalized by top social media providers – and could cultivate just the kind of chilling effect that the government has long wished to create in the digital space.
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DHS To Urge Public To Become Online Spies For The Government is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights