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Pentagon Seeks A Loophole In The Privacy Act

Posted by timothy on from the war-with-oceania-continues dept.

CygnusXII writes "As reported over @ wired.com. It seems that Homeland Security isn't the only govermental body wanting to keep a database on the good old U.S. population. 'The bill would allow Pentagon intelligence agents to work undercover and question American citizens and legal residents without having to reveal that they are government agents. That exemption currently applies only to law enforcement officials working on criminal cases and to the CIA, which is prohibited from operating in the United States.' Kinda adds a whole new meaning to 'We want you!', or should it be 'We want all your secrets'?"

3 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Has anything changed for him? by whovian · · Score: 4, Informative
    Is that next to fall?

    Seems so. This part of the text sounds as if they can exempt a lot of actions on the part of an agent designated as working undercover. (See other parts of the text for how said agents would be allowed to doctor their income tax returns to hide their status as well):

    ``(g) Exemption From Certain Requirements.--The Director may exempt
    a designated employee from mandatory compliance with any Federal
    regulation, rule, standardized administrative policy, process, or
    procedure that the Director determines--
    ``(1) would be inconsistent with the nonofficial cover of
    that employee; and
    ``(2) could expose that employee to detection as a Federal
    employee.


    --
    To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  2. Re:A soldier isn't a police officer... by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Informative
    I'm against Janet Reno, period, and especially against sending in bradleys to help with burning down the branch davidians. That was a massacre of U.S. citizens who didn't deserve it, plain and simple. If they REALLY had to close down the compound they should have dropped a bunch of rangers in there under cover of darkness. However, as far as I can tell, there was no good reason for doing it in the first place.

    I agree that it's fine to be shooting spies. Put a fucking bullet right in them. It's even better to be shooting terrorists. However, the military should not be running around harassing civilians. Protecting people trying to bring about desegregation and spying on U.S. citizens are very different things. Besides, there's already an organization designed to spy on U.S. citizens, it's called the FBI, and the solution is to form closer ties with them, not to send military spies out to interrogate the populace.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. Incorrect; CIA is permitted to operate in US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    In 1981, then President Reagan signed Executive Order 12333, which reverses a number of the controls that were put in place in 1973.

    Here is a link to the text of the executive order:

    http://www.tscm.com/EO12333.html

    - AC