On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 7:47 PM, coderman <[email protected]> wrote: > ... One does not > need access to classified documents to see—including in records we > will be making public as part of our effort in "Snowden and the > Future" over the next two weeks—how the military and strategic > thinkers in the United States adapted to the end of the Cold War by > planning pervasive surveillance of the world's societies. > > In the early 1990's, in documents that are in no way secret, the US > strategic and military planners made clear in a range of fora—from the > think tanks, the Pentagon, in research reports and conference > proceedings—that they foresaw, as indeed we now observe, a world in > which the United States had no significant state adversary, and would > be instead engaged in a series of "asymmetric conflicts." That was the > phrase, meaning "guerrilla wars." > > ... after the first World Trade Center bombing, after the > Africa embassy bombings, after the Cole. The whole pervasive > surveillance system, not just the Patriot Act but all the pieces that > we now understand surrounded it in the secret world's understanding, > were constantly advocated for at the end of the 20th century, and as > constantly rebuffed. > > And then, as we saw last time, at the opening of the 21st century a US > Administration which will go down in history infamous for its tendency > to think last and shoot first bought—hook, line, and sinker—the entire > "denying sanctuary," pervasive surveillance, "total information > awareness" scheme. Within a very short time after January 2002, mostly > in secret, they put it all together.
let me state this as plain as possible: total informative awareness, as strategic and policy objective, began years before 9/11. the terrorist attacks merely provided cover for "the greater good" of which those who promote it believe TIA to be.
