60s Flashback: Is the Government Spying on Us Again?

Arianna Huffington posted in her blog about this news item going around stating that the U.S. Government is spying on it's citizens again.

Arianna Huffington writes:

Reading the new reports about the Pentagon conducting surveillance of peaceful anti-war groups and protests, I feel like I’m having a bad 60s flashback.

But I’m not seeing psychedelic lights and thinking I can fly. I’m remembering how the Defense Department aggressively infiltrated anti-war and civil rights groups during that era, spying and collecting files on over 100,000 Americans -- and how J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI used every dirty trick in the “black bag operation” handbook to sabotage the anti-war and civil rights movements.

Now it looks like those ugly days of government paranoia and officially-sanctioned law breaking might be making a comeback. A secret DoD database obtained by NBC News indicates that Pentagon intelligence and local law enforcement agencies are using the guise of the war on terror to keep an eye on the constitutionally-protected activities of anti-war activists. And, despite strict restrictions on the military maintaining records on domestic civilian political activity, evidence suggests the Pentagon is doing just that. According to NBC, the DoD database includes “at least 20 references to U.S. citizens”, while other documents indicate that “vehicle descriptions” are also being noted and analyzed.

And it’s not just the Pentagon. Documents recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has also been recording the names and license plate numbers of peaceful anti-war protesters.

We're in trouble here, people. This is one step closer to a police state. Remember when he wanted to give the military local policing authority?

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