Matthew Rothschild: Exclusive! The FBI Deputizes Business

[marmar]

from The Progressive:


Exclusive! The FBI Deputizes Business
By Matthew Rothschild, February 7, 2008


Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does—and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to “shoot to kill” in the event of martial law.

InfraGard is “a child of the FBI,” says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.

InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats.

“Then the FBI cloned it,” says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.

InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each state overseeing the local InfraGard chapters. (There are now eighty-six of them.) The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private sector InfraGard members.

“We are the owners, operators, and experts of our critical infrastructure, from the CEO of a large company in agriculture or high finance to the guy who turns the valve at the water utility,” says Schneck, who by day is the vice president of research integration at Secure Computing.

“At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector,” the InfraGard website states. “InfraGard chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories.”

In November 2001, InfraGard had around 1,700 members. As of late January, InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its website, www.infragard.net, which adds that “350 of our nation’s Fortune 500 have a representative in InfraGard.”

To join, each person must be sponsored by “an existing InfraGard member, chapter, or partner organization.” The FBI then vets the applicant. On the application form, prospective members are asked which aspect of the critical infrastructure their organization deals with. These include: agriculture, banking and finance, the chemical industry, defense, energy, food, information and telecommunications, law enforcement, public health, and transportation. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.progressive.org/mag_rothschild0308

[AX10]

1. K & R! A MUST READ!

This is important. All MUST read this!

[thunder rising]

2. FBI ... it's not just about crime ya'know. It's about control. BTW notice it wsa formed in 1996.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. This is a real Subway Poster from DC

Nominated story and none dare call it fascism or the beginning of a police state.

[marmar]

4. I'll call it: Fascism.....

:scared:

[williesgirl]

5. Between this bullshit and Halliburton detention centers in the US, we screwed. rec'd

[angrycarpenter]

6. It's "fight club" for fascists

1.You will not talk about InfraGard.
2.You will not talk about InfraGard.

I don't even want to think about their "operation mayhem"

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. There is no question that this information and power will

be abused in my community. I still haven't figured out why the federal government hasn't enforced marshall law in this city and start confiscating city files and sending out subpoenas. Maybe they're starting with the Gambino family and working their way down?

[guruoo]

8. Also, see this thread...

H.R. 1955 (now S-1959 — Senate version):
Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2828637

[guruoo]

9. www.infragardmembers.org

Interesting...
http://www.infragardmembers.org/modules/wfdownloads/viewcat.php?cid=18

[readmoreoften]

16. Anyone can join.

I'm really interested in being a part of what makes my nation great. I would just love to learn all about the FBI from an insiders perspective. I think that many of us might want to join in and find out what this is about.

Or let me rephrase it:

Who do you want behind the guns?

[DCKit]

10. Who'd a thunk, the Secret Police are US!

That's about as insidious as it could possibly get.

Not only do they get their secret police, but the rational actually makes sense - unless you have some comprehension of the history of prior fascist governments.

[indepat]

11. Wow, I feel so much safer and secure knowing 23,682 (and growing) have a license to kill at a

moment's notice of Junior's choosing. I smell brownshirts.

[htuttle]

12. These are the new Brooks Brother's brownshirts

They have better tailors...

[Octafish]

13. Anyone remember REX-84?

Before Iran-Contra was blown, Ollie the Traitor had a plan for martial law. The thought was therd'd be mass protests in case of America making war in Central America. Instead of contractors, though, the idea was to deputize the Michigan Militia types and have them help round up the undesirables, like foreigners and Liberals.

The idea never went away. Glad to see it alarms folks.

[New Dawn]

14. Who do you think corporate CEOs would be killing during 'martial law'?

Since they are allowed to use "lethal force" to eliminate "threats" to the continuance of their "infrastructure"... This means that they would be murdering trade unionists, leftists and anyone else who stands in the way of their insatiable taste for profits. That is how fascism works.

[readmoreoften]

15. Oh good lord. /nt