Conservative WatchÖBy Bill Berkowitz

A few weeks back, the FBI unveiled its new domestic surveillance agenda. According to the Washington Post, "New Justice Department guidelines give[s] FBI agents latitude to monitor Internet sites, libraries and religious institutions without first having to offer evidence of potential criminal activity." The FBI's new powers are in accord with a number of other recent policy changes that are eating away at our civil liberties.

A few months back, William Safire, the dean of conservative columnists, wrote: "in case of an external threat, U.S. leaders are protecting the capital at the cost of every American's personal freedom." Although Safire could have been referring to any number of recent initiatives brewing in the Justice Department's policy cauldron these days, he was specifically talking about the Joint Operation Command Center of the Synchronized Operations Command Complex (SOCC). SOCC is slated to employ hundreds of cameras spread about the nation's capital while "50 officials monitor a wall of 40 video screens showing images of travelers, drivers, residents and pedestrians."

SOCC is just one weapon in the domestic counter-terrorism arsenal: A national ID card has been proposed; the USA-PATRIOT Act unleashed the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency; face-recognition software is being tested; and the National Neighborhood Watch program is being augmented. (For more, see "Swimming with narcs: Surveillance cameras are watching you in the name of the 'war on terrorism'" - http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=13257.)

Operation TIPS

Coming at you sometime this summer will be Operation TIPS - a phalanx of one million well-trained civilian tipsters on the lookout for "suspicious terrorist activity."

Operation TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System) is part of President Bush's new Citizens Corps - a division of his USA Freedom Corps initiative. Beginning in August 2002, Operation TIPS, a pilot project run out of the Department of Justice, will dispatch one million workers ñ likely to include truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees and others - to formally report "suspicious terrorist activity."

According to the Operation TIPS Web site, "Every participant will be given an Operation TIPS information sticker to be affixed to the cab of their vehicle or placed in some other public location so that the toll-free reporting number is readily available. Everywhere in America, a concerned worker can call a toll-free number and be connected directly to a hotline routing calls to the proper law enforcement agency."

Participants in the program are being encouraged to create a "record of service" - a private journal of each individual's volunteer time and experiences - at the Citizens Corps Web site.

What constitutes "suspicious terrorist activity" more than nine months after September 11? In a rapidly evolving universe where the permanent war on terrorism defines almost everything, it's anybody's guess.

The roots of TIPS

In March, I talked with a spokesperson at the Justice Department who refused to disclose the make-up of the Task Force developing Operation TIPS, or where the idea for the program came from. Although it is difficult to pin point the roots of this particular project when in-doubt think conservative think-tanks. These days, several right-wing policy institutes, including the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) to the Heritage Foundation, have developed some type of homeland security project.

In late-November, CSIS published "To Prevail: An American Strategy for the Campaign Against Terrorism." This book posits that "one of the ways to help sustain this sense of national purpose over time will be to create opportunities for national service in the area of homeland security." Kurt M. Campbell and Michele A. Flournoy, the principal authors of "To Prevail" suggest the "president should create a task force to explore the creation of a Homeland Security Service Corps for young and old Americans alike, who are prepared to give two years to help serve and protect the nation. Volunteers would be trained to serve in a variety of fields, including the Public Health Service, Airport Security, and the National Guard and Reserve."

At a January news conference, the two chairman of the Heritage Foundation's Homeland Security Task Force, former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Reagan administration counter-terrorism chief L. Paul Bremer, unveiled its report, "Defending the American Homeland."

The Heritage Foundation report recommends that "local police departments should include citizens' assessments of local threats and vulnerabilities through the Police-Citizen Interaction Committee (PCIC) mechanism-a formal platform for regular precinct-level meetings with citizens to discuss problems and solutions of interest to the community. Implementing community policing tactics, like PCICs, should not require federal funding."

While it acknowledges the importance of individuals volunteering, the report is primarily concerned with "unleash[ing] market forces to mobilize the private sector to promote infrastructure security," and the need for building a stronger private sector/government partnership.

In an op-ed piece in support of the Task Force's recommendations, posted at the foundation's Web site in late-January, Meese, and Kim Holmes, director of the foundation's Homeland Security Project, argued that in order to defend the nation properly "we must downgrade functions of government not related to defense -- particularly those that haven't proven effective."

In keeping with the promotion of Heritage's mission - privatization, de-regulation and smaller government - the Task Force maintains "many government initiatives, such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), antitrust legislation, liability concerns, and current tax policies, inhibit the development of a true partnership for security between the private sector and the government."

Due to the possibility of chemical and biological attacks, the Heritage Task Force recommends the creation of "a national surveillance system built from the ground up. Local surveillance networks that collect information on, for example, the number of hospital admissions, school absences, and state employee absences each day should provide these data regularly to the states, and the states should then compile this information and make regular reports to the federal government."

Bringing it all back home

In early-January, the Christian Science Monitor reported on three incidents where Americans informed on other Americans who expressed criticism of the president's war on terrorism and other government policies.

* Agents from the FBI and Secret Service went to Houston's "Car Art Museum" after a tipster complained the tiny gallery was involved in "anti-American activity." An exhibit entitled "Secret Wars" that dealt with covert operations and government secrets provoked the complaint.

* Secret Service Agents, and a local police officer questioned A.J. Brown, a college student in North Carolina, in the doorway of her home, in response to a report she had displayed "un-American material" in her dorm room ñ in this case a poster critical of President Bush's stance on the death penalty.

* Two FBI agents quizzed San Francisco's Barry Reingold on his front doorstep in late October. The retired 60-year-old was amazed to discover that they were responding to comments made during a workout at a local gym that were critical of Bush. "Some fellow weightlifters called Reingold a disloyal American," reported the Monitor. "One, apparently, called the government."

In each of these cases, civilian tipsters alerted government officials to what they considered "suspicious" behavior. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "The rise in doorstep inquiries reflects, in part, a new law-enforcement reality."

William Safire concluded his column writing that while "the promise [of SOCC] is greater safety; the trade-off is government control of individual lives."

If Operation TIPS planners are true to their word and one million workers are out looking for terrorists during the course of the daily activities, local police forces could have their hands full chasing down one lead after another. And, if Americans begin equating dissent with disloyalty, Operation TIPS could turn out to be more like a glorified patriotic yenta patrol than a workable response to the threat of terrorism.

Shrouded in secrecy

Operation TIPS held close to government's vest

Earlier this week, I reported on about Operation TIPS, a pilot project set to be unveiled in August. Run out of the Department of Justice, Operation TIPS (the Terrorist Information and Prevention System) will train up to one million workers to spot "suspicious and potentially terrorist related activity" in the course of going about their daily activities.

While gathering information about Operation TIPS I discovered two things: The Justice Department spokeswoman that I talked with, while congenial, played it very close to the vest and refused to discuss the details of the project; and, Not one official spokesperson for several labor unions and civil liberties organizations that I talked with had heard of Operation TIPS.

This despite the fact that President Bush had publicly announced the formation of the USA Freedom Corps during his State of the Union address - which included the Citizens Corps, of which Operation TIPS is a part.

While the fine points of the program is still under construction and have not yet been released to the public, the DOJ spokeswoman made it clear that the project's goal is to "report suspicious activity and not to report suspicious looking people." Once it's up and running, it will be "developing educational materials for the industries selected to participate in the pilot project."

More general information and a volunteer registration form for participation in Operation TIPS is available at the program's rather elementary Web site.

Stonewalled at Justice

In late March, a Justice Department spokeswoman told me that Operation TIPS, was a pilot project being developed by a "working group" made up of people from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and several other agencies. When asked which other agencies were involved and the identity of members of the "working group," she said she was unable to disclose their names at this time. Since the project was still evolving, she added, it was "too soon to speak to the people involved."

Although the "industries," or sectors of workers, had not yet been selected, the DOJ spokeswoman pointed out that the project could involve truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains and utility employees - workers who in the course of their daily activities are well-situated to be "extra eyes and ears" in the struggle against terrorism, she said. When asked if any unions representing these sectors of workers were aware of or involved in the development of the project she said that to the best of her knowledge they weren't. However, she didn't rule out their participation somewhere down the line.

While the fine points of the program is still under construction and have not yet been released to the public, the DOJ spokeswoman made it clear that the project's goal is to "report suspicious activity and not to report suspicious looking people." Once it's up and running, it will be "developing educational materials for the industries selected to participate in the pilot project."

Labor kept in the dark

Subsequent telephone calls to the offices of AFL-CIO, the National Association of Letter Carriers, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, revealed that their spokespeople were not aware of the project.

Were the unions purposefully being kept in the dark? David Bacon, veteran labor reporter and photojournalist, told me he believed that "For the most part the administration doesn't think unions are all that relevant, therefore they might as well go directly to the workers."

The Administration might also be concerned about "stirring up a hornets nest since many unions are concerned about civil liberties," he added. "Historically, law enforcement agencies generally have little trust for unions, having been on the opposite side of the barricades in most union struggles," he pointed out.

"With so many new initiatives coming out of the Sept 11 tragedy, it's hard to keep up with them all," Chuck Mack the West Region Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters told me. Mack pointed out that "we should approach new projects like Operation TIPS with caution and great care. Too often the devil is in the details." The administration has "produced a whole range of ideas that must be questioned to see whether they are worthwhile," he added.

I asked Mack why he thought the administration had not, as of late March, contacted unions while the project was still being developed. "That's a good question. The administration is not all that inclusive when it comes to labor. We might raise questions about what the expectations are; it would probably be easier for them if we weren't involved."

After Rob Black, spokesperson for the Teamsters in Washington DC, had a chance to look into Operation TIPS, he told me that the union's legislative staff "is going over the TIPS proposal to see how it would effect our members." He said they had contacted the Department of Justice and "had an informal back and forth" about the program. "When we see how it effects our members we will act appropriately," he added.

At the Washington, DC offices of the National Association of Letter Carriers, the head of public relations, Drew VonBergen, indicated he had heard of Operation TIPS but was "not aware that any formal notification" had been given to the union. He said that he had "nothing further to say about TIPS right now."

When I talked with Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) - a representative with strong civil liberties credentials - about Operation TIPS, he took a deep breath and noted that "it appears we are being transformed from an information society to an informant society."

Kucinich pointed out: "Do the math. One tip a day per person and within a year the whole country will be turned in and we can put up a big fence around the country and we'll all be safe." As the ranking Democrat on the Government Oversight Committee's National Security Oversight Subcommittee, the Congressman said that he intended to look into the program as soon as possible.

Initial responses from spokespeople at the press office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in New York City and the Washington offices of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee were the same as with the unions - no one had heard of Operation TIPS.

Hussein Ibish, Communications Director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told me that "Unless we know more about the program it would be difficult to comment," he said. "The notion, in and of itself isn't offensive. It depends of what kind of safeguards will be put into place to insure that the program doesn't turn into a vehicle for the expression of prejudice."

Ibish added that he would have the organization's attorney call Ralph Boyd, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and "ask him about the program and see if he's heard of it!"