ACLU warns of "secret police force"

When I used to hear the words secret police force I always thought of communist countries and places like Nicaragua never America but then I never thought our country would lock people up without charges or a lawyer or a right to a trial, nor did I foresee our government responsible for the torturing of prisoners.
www.democracynow.org.../06/30/1333203

Bush Orders FBI Changes; ACLU Warns of "Secret Police Force"
President Bush has ordered a number of sweeping changes to the nation's intelligence services prompting civil liberties groups to warn that the country is moving closer to establishing a secret police force. Under the reorganization, the FBI will form a new National Security Service that will include counterintelligence, counterterrorism and intelligence divisions. In addition the country's spy chief John Negroponte will be given greater oversight power of the FBI. Negroponte -- who is the country's first director of national intelligence -- will have the authority to approve the hiring of the FBI's top national security official and will have the power to communicate with FBI agents and analysts in the field on intelligence matters. The changes are also intended to break down old walls between foreign and domestic intelligence activities. Civil liberties groups are warning the changes represent a radical step toward the creation of a secret police force in the United States. Timothy Edgar of the American Civil Liberties Union told the Washington Post, "Spies and cops play different roles and operate under different rules for a reason. The FBI is effectively being taken over by a spymaster who reports directly to the White House." Edgar went on to say, "It's alarming that the same person who oversees foreign spying will now oversee domestic spying." The changes put in place by Bush were based on recommendations made by a special intelligence commission headed by senior appellate judge Laurence Silberman and former senator Charles Robb.

If I think too much about what this administration is doing, I feel ill.

Bush is certainly earning a whole lot of public opposition. I saw on the TV News today that something like 48% of people surveyed thought he should be impeached, including 25% of Republicans!

If I thought that what they were doing were actually to protect us, I think I'd feel better. But I have the sneaking suspicion that it's going to be used against us ...

Come on, 2006!

Under the reorganization, the FBI will form a new National Security Service that will include counterintelligence, counterterrorism and intelligence divisions

There is nothing new about this. This is simply a shifting of powers and duties, a reorganization of certain responsibilities within the FBI.

This is not enough reason to claim or assume the existance of a "secret police force".

However, we all know forces like this do exist...even in America, there is no denying this. I am just pointing out that thier reasons as outlined thru-out the article are pretty cheesy

The FBI is effectively being taken over by a spymaster who reports directly to the White House." Edgar went on to say, "It's alarming that the same person who oversees foreign spying will now oversee domestic spying."

The CIA oversees foreign spying, not the FBI. I mean come one people, it's clearly outlined on the CIA website.
Would they lie about such a think?...don't answer that, Im joking.

Seriously tho, I thought spying overseas is the responsibility of the CIA, not the FBI. Not that the FBI does not have thier share, but you know what I mean....the CIA heads it up. Anyone know?

[edit on 30/6/2005 by SportyMB]

The CIA oversees foreign spying, not the FBI. I mean come one people, it's clearly outlined on the CIA website.
Would they lie about such a think?...don't answer that, Im joking.

Seriously tho, I thought spying overseas is the responsibility of the CIA, not the FBI. Not that the FBI does not have thier share, but you know what I mean....the CIA heads it up. Anyone know?

I think the concern is that Negroponte will have too much power over what goes on at the National Security Service within the FBI. Negroponte is charged with co-ordinating all intelligence:

President Bush names the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, to be the first national intelligence director. The post involves oversight of 15 agencies including the CIA. In a White House ceremony, the president said the director will play a key role in waging the war on terror.

www.npr.org...

He also now has oversight over the new National Security Service within the FBI:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush granted the new national intelligence chief expanded power over the FBI on Wednesday and ordered dozens of other spy agency changes as the White House heeded a presidential commission that condemned the intelligence community for failures in Iraq and elsewhere.

But almost as soon as the details were unveiled, the White House was defending itself against suggestions that the moves were simply adding more bureaucracy without making changes that could have prevented misjudgments like those made on Iraq.

"It's an unfair characterization to say it's simply a restructuring," said Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, who led the 90-day review of the recommendations from the president's commission on weapons of mass destruction. "It's a fundamental strengthening of our intelligence capabilities."

Link

The concern is that having a CIA guy involved in FBI stuff smacks of domestic spying, which has always been a big no no in the United States.

Originally posted by AWingAndASigh
I think the concern is that Negroponte will have too much power over what goes on at the National Security Service within the FBI. Negroponte is charged with co-ordinating all intelligence:

Right, that's exactly the problem. The CIA DOES head up spying overseas, and the FBI is the country's internal police force. The problem is that if those two agencies are controlled by the same person, then there is the POSSIBILITY of a conflict of interests.

Ben Franklin once said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

This is what we face now in the US. The government is going out of its way to increase the size of itself, and instituting of a defacto police state. This combined with the recent Supreme Court decision regarding emminant domain and everything that the president has done since Iraq has erroded our freedoms.

I suspect our founding fathers are looking down and dreading what they are seeing. Thier vision of a Republic is dying for a Soviet Union.