The Unhinged Surveillance State Of America

Tahir Mustafa

Dhu al-Qa'dah 24, 1445 2024-06-01

News & Analysis

by Tahir Mustafa (News & Analysis, Crescent International Vol. 54, No. 4, Dhu al-Qa'dah, 1445)

The US has half the world’s population on its ‘No fly’ list and the other half on its watch list. What is the world’s self-proclaimed superpower and supposedly the most powerful military machine in the world so afraid of that it now has to re-authorize the surveillance of everyone in the US and abroad?

Two recent developments will shed light on what is afoot. In late April, US President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that extends the government’s warrantless spying powers for two years. Known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), it became law after it cleared the US Senate vote by 60 to 34. Biden eagerly signed it into law to “save” American democracy, from God knows who.

The other equally regressive move occurred on May 1, 2024 when the US House of Representatives passed the “Antisemitism Awareness Act.” Based on the ludicrous International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, the House effectively revoked the First Amendment rights enshrined in the US constitution that guarantee freedom of speech and assembly.

Taken together, the two bills essentially allow the intelligence agencies to spy, without a court warrant, on everyone in the US and abroad as well as what they say on social media platforms. Similarly, criticism of the state of Israel will be outlawed.

Not surprisingly, privacy advocates have raised alarm over the surveillance bill dubbed, ‘Make Everyone a Spy’ bill. The establishment mouthpiece and apologist for US state conduct, the New York Times (NYT) reported on April 16: “Privacy advocates are raising alarms about a mysterious provision the House added to a surveillance bill last week. The Senate is likely to vote on the bill later this week” (it has already been signed into law). The Times article attempted to downplay the seriousness of the new bill by quoting the Justice Department that the provision is “narrow in scope and is intended to address data centers”.

Sean Vitka, policy director at Demand Progress, a rights advocacy group, did not buy into this canard. He charged that the NYT’s soothing words quoting the Justice Department echoed “House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner and Ranking Member Jim Himes, who represented it as a “narrow” fix, when it in fact has no guardrails, no independent oversight, and nearly endless reach.”

The other question is, why allow this far-reaching access into people’s personal data when US intelligence agencies already have almost all the data about individuals anywhere in the world? The US is part of the ‘Five Eyes’ network. This is the alliance of five countries—the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand—that share intelligence data with each other.

Add to that access to the zionist entity’s vast intelligence network, and that of Egypt and Pakistan, and one can begin to get a sense of American reach into the lives of other people. Was everyone in the world not already under US surveillance to warrant warrantless snooping?

The Brennan Center for Justice has also expressed concern about the surveillance act. The advocacy group works to defend democracy, reform the justice system and protect the US constitution. Important provisions of the constitution are currently under assault by Congress.

True, not everyone in Congress supported the surveillance bill. Senator Ron Wyden called the bill “terrifying.” Representative Thomas Massie objected to the “expansion of the domestic warrantless surveillance program.” Despite such objections, it was passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by Biden.

There is no evidence to suggest that US courts have refused permission in cases of genuine security concerns. In many instances, they have overridden people’s rights to accommodate the state’s intrusive and oppressive demands.

The US state machinery is extending its reach so that intelligence agencies would not have to justify their actions to anyone. They want to act above the law. In many instances they and the police forces in different states are already acting illegally without any accountability.

The establishment is now resorting to even more repressive measures because people are beginning to ask questions about state policies that do not match the politicians’ rhetoric. They can see their lives have become a lot more restrictive under constant surveillance while successive regimes constantly harp on the threat from Russia, China and Iran. These alleged threats require ever-larger military budgets.

America’s annual military expenditure already exceeds that of the next 10 countries combined. Yet for the Washington warlords and the military industrial complex, no amount is enough to satiate their appetite for weapons and endless wars. America and wars have become synonymous.

The other troubling development is the adoption by the House of Representatives of the IHRA definition of anti-semitism. Under this nasty piece of zionist-inspired legislation, a person would be deemed to have violated the law if they were to say that zionist Israel was perpetrating genocide in Gaza. The judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had better watch out. American witch-hunters in Congress and their Jewish financiers are coming after you.

Such expressions as “Apartheid Israel”, “zionist colonial settler entity” and “zionism is racism” would also be outlawed. It will become illegal to say that Jews plotted to kill Jesus although the Bible, Talmud, and the Qur’an all say that.

Will such passages now be expunged from religious texts because they are considered anti-semitic and offend the sensitivities of some people? Will these religious books be banned altogether?

It would become illegal to even quote critical comments about zionist policies from Israeli newspapers. In fact, even quoting Jewish-zionist commentators like Mark Levin of Fox News who boasted that “we own the country” would be illegal. He has also demanded that pro-Palestine protesters should be “rounded Up and deported”.

When you “own” the country, you can make such demands! And the US Congress has confirmed, yet again, that it is zionist-occupied territory.