On-line Opinion Magazine featuring annoyed rumblings from the leading edge of the Baby Boom firmly tied to a reality-based world.
Established: 21 November 2004
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Completely OT, Bryan, I think you might find this Matthew Rothschild article interesting, if not downright disturbing. (Via Digby, Avedon and others.) Please forgive my vulgarity in saying that for someone like me who is outside the security community, this sounds like really scary shit.
great minds… i was just reading about that.
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from their about page:
“While under the direction of NIPC, the focus of InfraGard was cyber infrastructure protection. After September 11, 2001 NIPC expanded its efforts to include physical as well as cyber threats to critical infrastructures. InfraGard’s mission expanded accordingly.”
i was just randomly reading through the websites of some of the local chapters. some of them sound pretty harmless, but others of them look kind of scary.
[ps. i thought 4 was the allowed #]
[ps so did I and I’ll make sure it is.]
Well, it sounds to me like they have been “deputized” and are in for some nasty surprises in court if there is ever a problem. Someone needs to remind these people that they are operating under the same rules as law enforcement when they agree to act as law enforcement, and that doesn’t give you a license to kill, and, in fact, makes you more accountable than a civilian. As a civilian you have a lot of leeway under the “self defense” provisions of state laws, and unless you are on federal property you are under state laws. The Feds can’t give you a “free pass” to violate state laws. FBI agents get traffic tickets just like the rest of the world.
These people are risking more than they understand when they opt in to something like this as the telecoms are finding out. One conservative, strict constructionist Federal judge, and the reality can come crashing down around their ears. The courts are not as friendly to “national security” exemptions, as more of them are proving to be hollow claims, so this FBI “posse” might want to retain some criminal defense attorneys to review their situation. The Feds promise people all sorts of things that they can’t deliver to get cooperation, and the state courts and prosecutors are under no obligation to honor these agreements.