A recent report on the TALON spy program shows how wrong it is for any people to place total faith in governments.How Effective Is Bush’s Spying Activities On Americans?By Cliff Montgomery – July 31st, 2007George W. Bush’s constant appeal to fear since the terror attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001, has allowed this mere representative of the people to behave like a king. And perhaps no where has Bush’s grab for absolute power been more blatant than his administration’s creation of spy programs targeting any citizen or non-citizen who publicly disagrees with the personal prejudices of King George W. Bush.Below we quote from an eye-opening June 27th, 2007 Defense Department report on the Infamous TALON program, a spy program designed to eliminate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for anyone this administration deemed “suspicious”.Such a report reveals just how wrong–and how dangerous–it is for any people to place total trust in career politicians and governments.Background – “We performed this audit in response to congressional requests from Congresswomen Zoe Lofgren, on December 30, 2005, and Anna G. Eshoo, on January 12, 2006, on media reports that DoD developed and maintains a database for information on U.S. persons conducting domestic anti-war and counter-military protests and demonstrations.Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) Report – “The Air Force Office of Special Investigations developed the TALON report format in 2001 for its Eagle Eye Program, a neighborhood watch program to detect and report suspicious activity of possible targeting of Air Force interests by terrorists.”The Air Force Office of Special Investigations definition states that:
- The TALON report is a law enforcement report designed to report anomalies, observations that are suspicious against the steady state context, and immediate indicators of potential threats or anti-terrorism concerns. TALONs are raw, non-validated information, may or may not be related to an actual threat, and by their very nature, may be fragmented and incomplete.
“Deputy Secretary of Defense memorandum, ‘Collection, Reporting, and Analysis of Terrorist Threats to DoD Within the United States,’ May 2, 2003 (Appendix F), instituted the TALON report program DoD-wide.”The memorandum states that DoD had no formal mechanism to collect and share non-validated domestic threat information between intelligence, counterintelligence, law enforcement, and force protection entities and to analyze that information for indications of foreign terrorist activity.”The DoD TALON report was established to capture non-validated information on domestic threats, pass that information to analysts, and incorporate it into the DoD process for warning(s) against terrorism.”A TALON report is raw information reported by concerned citizens and military members about suspicious incidents. [But] information in TALON reports is not validated, may or may not relate to an actual threat, and, by its very nature, may be fragmented and incomplete.”The purpose of the TALON report is to document and immediately disseminate information onpotential threats to DoD personnel, facilities, and resources. The TALON report is not designed to take the place of the formal DoD intelligence reporting process.”The framework established by the memorandum specified that the information contained in TALON reports is for commanders at all levels that have force protection responsibilities and for analysts to use in determining the aggregate terrorist threat to DoD people and resources.”The May 2, 2003, Deputy Secretary of Defense memorandum also directed that TALON reports be provided to the DoD Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) for the information to be incorporated into a database. CIFA is to provide access to the full database to the Defense Intelligence Agency, Joint Intelligence Task Force-Combating Terrorism to support its terrorism-warning mission.”We also reviewed the 1,131 TALON reports to identify U.S. person information and determined the number of U.S. persons identified. Of the 1,131 TALON reports:• 334 reports contained U.S. person information:− 142 U.S. persons were identified on 92 protest and demonstration TALON reports, and− 429 U.S. persons were identified on 242 TALON reports for other than protests and demonstrations; and• 797 reports did not contain U.S. person information.Management Actions – “The number of TALON reports being created has dropped significantly since the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued the March 30, 2006, memorandum, ‘Threats to the Department of Defense.’ The memorandum designates that the TALON Reporting System should report information for possible international terrorist activity only and be retained as intelligence information under DoD Regulation 5240.1-R, rather than law enforcement information.”In April 2007, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence requested that the Secretary of Defense terminate the TALON program because the results of the last year do not merit continuing the program as currently constituted, particularly in light of its image in the Congress and the media.”As a result of ongoing management actions, we are not making any recommendations.Management Comments – “We provided a draft of this report on May 18, 2007. Although no written response to this report was required, the Counterintelligence Field Activity stated that they anticipate the TALON program will be terminated.”However, the report will assist the Assistant Secretary of Defense (land Defense) in crafting an efficient and effective suspicious activity reporting system.”Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
