POLICE STATE
Pentagon to detail military to bolster security inside United States

WASHINGTON, D.C. � The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011. These troops will be trained to �help� state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department�s role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and Libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military�s role in domestic law enforcement.


Half of councils use anti-terror laws to spy on �bin crimes�

LONDON � Their surveillance tactics include hiding secret cameras on streets and even in neighboring homes to catch householders putting their rubbish out on the wrong day.

Seventy-seven of the 151 councils who responded to a Freedom of Information request admitted using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to crack down on �domestic waste, littering or fly-tipping offenses� in the last three years.

In October, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that three-quarters of local authorities had used the act �which was introduced to help the police fight terrorism and crime in 2000 � to tackle minor misdemeanors.

The Act allows public bodies � since expanded to include councils � to place residents as well as businesses under surveillance, trace telephone and e-mail accounts and even send staff on undercover missions.


Did feds use military intelligence to spy on RNC protesters?

The American Civil Liberties Union recently came across a revealing RNC Homeland Security document. This official document was uncovered by the website Wikileaks, which according to its website helps �you safely get the truth out.� 

This document outlines the planning leading up to the Republican National Convention and how security forces would be working together during the RNC. Many federal, state and local organizations were mentioned in this document, a number of which the ACLU did not know were involved. A number of these agencies are military-based, which may directly conflict with a federal law that prohibits the military from engaging in domestic intelligence gathering.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), is one of the organizations that is mentioned in the report that is a particular cause for concern. NGA provides mapping tools and imagery intelligence that are obtained from the United State�s military spy satellites, which are controlled by the National Reconnaissance Office. In other words, during the RNC, these top spying tools could have been utilized to gather intelligence on the homes of activists and media workers who were a part of the demonstrations. That information could have then been relayed to local officials. 


Air patrols, cameras to watch big inaugural crowd

WASHINGTON, D.C. � Law enforcement officials bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing far-reaching security � thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols � to safeguard President-elect Barack Obama�s swearing-in.

People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by machines, security personnel or both. Precautions will range from the routine � magnetometers like those used at airports � to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols.

In addition, Washington�s 5,265 surveillance cameras, spread around the city, are expected to be fed into a multi-agency command center.