Gaius Publius at AmericaBlog has done my work for me this morning, taking off from stories by John Schiffman and Kristina Cooke at Reuters and Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism. Just a few key points from those articles:
So all these agencies -- two dozen, you got that? -- are funneling information into DEA. Why DEA? Well, the program was started in 1994 as a resource to fight Latin American drug cartels. But the DEA doesn't just sit on the information. No, it shares it.
And as Gaius Publius points out, the information doesn't necessarily stop with those local cops. Being a Chicagoan, I know better, and I'm going to take it one step farther: you can bet that information is finding its way to outside parties -- non-law enforcement -- who have an interest. In return for (insert your favorite quid pro quo here).
And then when they nail someone based on an "anonymous tip," they lie about the source.
Gee, perjury on the part of prosecutors. Who would have guessed?
Smith draws an interesting parallel:
Just another facet of the corporate state: Banks and the Feds operating on the same principles. And who else, do you suppose?
But it's all for "national security." There, don't you feel safer?
Read GP's post, then dig into the linked articles.
And then check your blood pressure.
A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.
… The unit of the DEA that distributes the information is called the Special Operations Division, or SOD. Two dozen partner agencies comprise the unit, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security.
So all these agencies -- two dozen, you got that? -- are funneling information into DEA. Why DEA? Well, the program was started in 1994 as a resource to fight Latin American drug cartels. But the DEA doesn't just sit on the information. No, it shares it.
Today, the SOD offers at least three services to federal, state and local law enforcement agents: coordinating international investigations such as the Bout case; distributing tips from overseas NSA intercepts, informants, foreign law enforcement partners and domestic wiretaps; and circulating tips from a massive database known as DICE.
The DICE database contains about 1 billion records, the senior DEA officials said. The majority of the records consist of phone log and Internet data gathered legally by the DEA through subpoenas, arrests and search warrants nationwide. Records are kept for about a year and then purged, the DEA officials said.
About 10,000 federal, state and local law enforcement agents have access to the DICE database, records show.
And as Gaius Publius points out, the information doesn't necessarily stop with those local cops. Being a Chicagoan, I know better, and I'm going to take it one step farther: you can bet that information is finding its way to outside parties -- non-law enforcement -- who have an interest. In return for (insert your favorite quid pro quo here).
And then when they nail someone based on an "anonymous tip," they lie about the source.
After an arrest was made, agents then pretended that their investigation began with the traffic stop, not with the SOD tip, the former agent said. The training document reviewed by Reuters refers to this process as “parallel construction.” … “Parallel construction is a law enforcement technique we use every day,” one official said. “It’s decades old, a bedrock concept.”
Gee, perjury on the part of prosecutors. Who would have guessed?
Smith draws an interesting parallel:
In a weird but more disturbing analogue to chain of title abuses, where banks would forge signatures and fabricate documents to remedy the failure to transfer assets properly to securitization trusts, Reuters reported today that the Drug Enforcement Agency would doctor up where it got evidence from so it could use it in court. Now why would the DEA bother to go to all that trouble? Chorus: Because if a decent defense lawyer found out where it came from, it would in most cases be inadmissible.
Just another facet of the corporate state: Banks and the Feds operating on the same principles. And who else, do you suppose?
But it's all for "national security." There, don't you feel safer?
Read GP's post, then dig into the linked articles.
And then check your blood pressure.
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