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Corrupt Government Title: Napolitano Confronts Drudge Report over ‘Orwellian…Big Sis’ View [Fascist Sow Lies Again...] Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Matt Drudge is just wrong for dubbing her Big Sis on his Drudge Report website, and defended DHSs efforts to respect peoples civil liberties while protecting against terrorist attacks. I dont think he means it kindly, Napolitano said, when asked about the nickname today during an event sponsored by Politico. I think that what he means is that we are watching too much; kind of an Orwellian view. And hes just wrong. Although Homeland Security does have a vast intelligence architecture at Customs and Border Protection, TSA, Immigration Customs Enforcement, the Coast Guard and Secret Service, Napolitano dismissed any privacy concerns. Were always striking that balance, between security and liberty, Napolitano said. While programs such as US-VISIT collect biometric fingerprint information and pictures of certain international travelers and DHS runs airline passenger name and booking information (Passenger name Records) through watch lists and other databases, Napolitano said, We dont do anything without running it through our own civil rights and privacy office. Some DHS programs have been killed because they have been viewed as intrusive. During the Bush administration DHS proposed setting up the National Applications Office to provide DHS and civil, state and local emergency planners with imagery and data from satellites run by the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Napolitano decided to end the program after a lengthy review in June 2009. The concern that there is too much intelligence gathering
I think is overblown, Napolitano said. Describing the challenges of obtaining intelligence to identify potential threats Napolitano said, The plain fact of the matter is that we live in a very complicated world where there are different sources of terrorism of violent extremism, and we have to be cognizant of all of those sources of evolving threats and we have to constantly be changing what we do in order
to prevent a successful attack. Asked by Politicos Mike Allen if she had a nickname for Drudge, Napolitano demurred saying, I think we should keep our discussion at a high level. One area where the public does see and interact with DHS on a daily basis is passing through airline security. Passenger screening is the final layer of security after intelligence and data collection have run their course to detect possible threats. Napolitano said that eventually travelers will be able to keep their shoes on as screening methods improve. We are moving towards an intelligence and risk-based approach to how we screen, she said. I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on. One of the last things is the reduction or limitation on liquids. A report released last week by the Bipartisan Policy Centers National Security Preparedness Group and former members of the 9/11 Commission criticized the government for not moving forward or fast enough to develop suitable screening technologies. Theres going to be better technology, Napolitano said. We moved to magnetometers to a new AIT [Advanced Imagine Technology]. Making reference to a joint DHS/ FBI bulletin that was distributed to law enforcement over the weekend on aviation threats Napolitano said, The terrorists continue to focus on aviation
why? Because aviation succeeded in the past.
Poster Comment: Homeland Security has been caught lying again and again about airport security in a bid to undermine genuine privacy concerns Paul Joseph Watson Janet Napolitanos contention that Matt Drudge is just wrong about privacy worries surrounding airport screening technology is completely at odds with the facts, which illustrate how the DHS has been caught time and time again lying about both privacy and health issues in a transparent ploy to undermine genuine concerns. I think that what he means is we are watching too muchkind of an Orwellian view. Hes just wrong. I mean, hes just wrong, Napolitano told Politico, labeling privacy concerns overblown. A quick fact check however shows that its Napolitano who is just wrong. The DHS has repeatedly lied about the privacy and health threats posed by naked body scanners in an effort to keep the controversy under wraps, as well as withholding evidence. - Privacy concerns were completely justified after a recent release under the Freedom of Information Act of DHS plans for the mass rollout of mobile body scanners, documents which were largely redacted, with entire pages having been blacked out by the agency. - Before the agency was forced to roll out new stick man software upgrades, to deflect genuine privacy concerns, the DHS simply lied about the fact that the scanners produced naked images of the body which showed genitalia in crisp detail. - When the agency was finally forced to admit that the scanners do produce naked images, they then claimed that it was not a privacy concern because such images could not be printed or saved in any way. This claim was exposed as yet another act of mass public deception when documents emerged confirming that the U.S. Marshals Service had surreptitiously saved thousands of naked images from a scanner at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse. The Electronic Privacy Information Center also obtained documents from the DHS showing that the machines used by the departments TSA screeners are not only able to record and store naked body images, but that they are mandated to do so. - In claiming that the body scanners were safe, DHS cited a study by Johns Hopkins University. This was a complete lie. In reality, Dr Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at the Johns Hopkins school of medicine, concluded that statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays. - In brushing aside radiation concerns, Big Sis also completely ignored the warnings of numerous highly respected scientific bodies and academic authorities that the scanners posed serious health risks, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety, and the University of California. When a cluster of cancer cases developed amongst TSA screeners at Boston Logan, the TSA attempted to cover up the story. - Big Sis was also caught lying about the level of radiation emitted by the scanners. Scientists at Columbia University found that the dose emitted by the naked x-ray devices could be up to 20 times higher than originally estimated, likely contributing to an increase in a common type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma which affects the head and neck. - For those who refuse to go through the scanners on privacy or health grounds, the notorious TSA pat down has also been repeatedly mischaracterized and lied about by the TSA in a bid to downplay a privacy furore. Napolitano herself claimed that the pat-downs were discreet, yet hundreds upon hundreds of accounts and reports of travelers being harassed constantly prove otherwise. At one stage the TSA even tried to claim that no squeezing or groping whatsoever was taking place, even as reports of people literally having their genitals grabbed poured in. - The TSA was also caught lying about subjecting children to pat downs in yet another transparent ploy to undermine genuine privacy concerns. In April, the TSA defended the groping of a 6 year-old girl, saying it followed policy. Yet in November 2010, the agency had vowed to conduct no enhanced pat-downs for children under 12. - Napolitanos attempt to dismiss the Orwellian nature of how the DHS operates in the context of airport security is noticeably absent the fact that journalists who have been critical of Homeland Security have found their names being placed on a terror watchlist, people like CNN reporter Drew Griffin. - Indeed, anyone who opposes minimum wage criminally-inclined morons who would struggle to hold down a job flipping burgers fondling their kids has officially been labeled a domestic extremist by the TSA in its own memo. It doesnt get much more Orwellian than that. ********************* Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Capitalist Eric (#0)
The very first thing that Janet Napolitano did when she was appointed was produce a report for local law enforcement warning them against "right-wing" terrorists. Who were these "right-wing terrorists"????? Salt-of-the-earth Americans who lost their jobs or served in the military, or oppose abortion... Of course she is an Orwellian thug. She has demonstrated this by her own behavior.
Progressives don't do well in positions of power.
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
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