Does 'No Such Agency' Mean No Such Democracy? ~ THE 5TH ESTATE ASIA

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Does 'No Such Agency' Mean No Such Democracy?

Saturday, December 28, 2013

What democracy?

WORLD NEWS
By Dallas Darling
12/27/2013

Unlike the Central Intelligence Agency, which was brought into being by an act of congressional representatives, the National Security Agency (NSA) was founded by a secret presidential signature. For this reason it was jokingly referred to as the "No Such Agency," and it is for this reason that it is extremely anti democratic, a nemesis to and destroyer of popular rule and culture. Even the date, November 4, 1952, was deliberately chosen to keep it out of the news, to prevent the American people from knowing what a few elected officials were doing. All other events that day were overshadowed by the election of the Republican candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower.(1)

The NSA possessed the largest bank of computers in the world, sitting in a 1.4-million-square-foot basement.(2) It had unlimited resources and was staffed with 10,000 employees. Its purpose was two-fold. First, all kinds of foreign and domestic data and communications would be collected and analyzed. Secondly, this information and knowledge, both private and public, would be used to establish and maintain all kinds of policies.

Starting with President Dwight Eisenhower, an elite and exclusive cadre of individuals have been privy to "seized" information and analysis, using it to bolster their own convictions, pursue their own agendas, or to manipulate the public.

Initially, the NSA relied on burglary as well as state-of-the-art technology. Cryptanalytic coups required information about the ciphers under attack to assist the code breakers. It penetrated foreign embassies to plant bugs and steal material. Seized communications influenced foreign affairs.(3)

During the Vietnam Era, telegraph and phone companies turned over all communications to the NSA. While working with the Army, it closely spied on over 600 Americans, sent agents into anti-war movements, and burglarized "peace" houses and offices. When Congress tried to investigate for possible breaches and abuses of power, it claimed no relationship existed, that it was able to do as it pleased.(4)

In support of U.S. government "activities" under the Department of Defense, the No Such Agency continues to coordinate, direct, and perform highly specialized intelligence at home and abroad. Today it has at its disposal a two-billion-dollar electronic intelligence compound in Utah, known as the Total Information Awareness project.

The information is power and very undemocratic, since it is used to manipulate and control foreign and public opinion and policies, even people.

This warrantless surveillance program, veiled in a complex of shrouded secrecy, collects private e-mails, cell phone calls, Google searches, and other personal data like medical records and what one purchases.

Edward Snowden just spoke of this when he said how certain groups in government have worked in concert, "have created a system of worldwide mass surveillance, watching everything we do." He went on to say that censors are in peoples pockets that track everything they do and everywhere they go, and that a child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all.

At the same time, they will never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. That is a problem since privacy maters, privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.

The battle between democracy and tyranny is always won in the private moments, the private thoughts and habits of the individual or small group citizenry. Without privacy, there can be no freedom and democracy. The NSA realized this in deciding to push for and encourage off the shelf technologies,(5) so as to expand its mass surveillance and collection of information for the purpose of manipulating the public. Neither can there be democracy without an historical identity and awareness. The NSA still keeps millions of classified documents from historians, and in doing so prevents the American people from really understanding and knowing about their nation's past.(6)

But always remember: there is No Such Agency, there is no such thing as democracy, and an Orwellian world only exists in novels.

Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.

(1) Andrew, Christopher. For the President's Eyes Only. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995., p. 197.

(2) Ibid., p. 216.

(3) Ibid., p. 217.

(4) Ibid., p. 438.

(5) Bamford, James. Body of Secrets. New York, New York: Anchor Books, 2002., p. 563.

(6) Ibid., p. 519.

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