SPYS, SPYS, and more SPYS: FBI has adopted a plan to recruit 15,000 covert informants in the USA

[L. Coyote]

Taking a lesson from Hitler Youth, are we??

This article deserves its own thread. FROM: SO, how many secret domestic spy programs are there anyway, and are they legal?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1481897

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Privacy takes another hit with return of Junior G-men
By Bill Press - August 1, 2007
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.fbi01aug01,0,4650885.story


J. Edgar Hoover is grinning in his grave.

As reported by ABC's Brian Ross, the FBI has adopted a plan to recruit 15,000 covert informants in the United States to help keep America safe from terrorists, criminals, pickpockets, litterbugs, jaywalkers, people who cheat on eye exams and other public menaces.

At a cost of more than $22 million, the FBI will train its new "confidential human sources" to become the bureau's eyes and ears. Their job? Reporting to FBI officials anybody who is "suspicious."

The new program, says the FBI, is in direct response to a 2004 directive by President Bush to develop more "human intelligence capability." But it's nothing new at all. It's an instant replay of Mr. Hoover's famous Junior G-men, organized by the FBI prior to World War II.

Under Mr. Hoover's leadership, and inspired by a radio program of the same name, Junior G-men clubs sprang up all over America. Like law-and-order Boy Scouts, boys who belonged to Junior G-men wore a special uniform and badge and were deputized to roam the streets looking for suspicious characters, and report them to real G-men. ....

[Subdivisions]

1. My God! We're becoming the Soviet Union! n/t

[L. Coyote]

2. What happened to the John Birchers/paranoid politicos? They are what they feared!

Paranoid politics has always been a sham and a scam. One thing remains consistent, it requires an enemy, or at least a rhetorical enemy. If you cannot find one, make one up. If none outside the USA will do, make one up on the inside. Then, spy on them! Fear sells like hotcakes!

[L. Coyote]

3. This thread should not sink. Doesn't anyone need a job around here?

Think of the employment opportunities! :rofl: