Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

''A NEW DAY IN SECRET GOVERNMENT "In terms of official repression, the twenty-first century may come to surpassthe twentieth. Repressive operations have only escalated, and accelerated,since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and the World TradeCenter. Both the domestic security forces and the military have used the climateof fear following the attacks to justify radical expansion of their activities.Around the country, police pressed for increased powers and soughtrelief from the limits imposed in the 1970s.116 And the FBI took the opportunityto expand its JrrF program, adding twenty-one new task forces, so thatthere is one attached to each of its fifty-six field offices. I37Just weeks after the attacks, Congress did its part to advance the domesticespionage agenda, passing the Uniting and Strengthening America byProviding Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism(USA Patriot) Act.The Washington Post described the law:Molded by wartime politics and passed ... in furious haste, the new antiterrorismbill lays the foundation for a domestic intelligence-gatheringsystem of unprecedented scale and technological prowess, according toboth supporters and critics of the legislation .... The bill effectively tearsdown a legal fire wall erected 25 years ago during the Watergate era .. ..138Or, as the ACLU's Dave Fidanque put it, "this is the dawn of a new day in secretgovernment." 139lbe Patriot Act represents the Palmer Raids and Watergate-style blackbagjobs, rolled into one and stamped with Congressional approval.J40 Passedand signed on October 26, 2001, this law expanded the definition of "terrorism,"reduced the legal rights of immigrants, and granted the police greaterpowers to conduct surveillance, while limiting judicial oversight. I1Jlbe Patriot Act created a new crime, that of "domestic terrorism." Accordingto the ACLU:The new offense threatens to transform protesters into terrorists if theyengage in conduct that "involves acts dangerous to human life" .... Then,under this law, the dominos begin to fall. Those who provide lodging orother assistance to these "domestic terrorists" could have their homeswiretapped and could be prosecuted. 1