82016 ‘America’s Gestapo Lew Rockwell LewRockwell.com anti-state * anti-war * pro-market America’s Gestapo: The FBI’s Reign of Terror By John W. Whitehead The Rutherford Institute March 16, 2016 “We want no Gestapo or secret police. {htp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/fan/o1/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi] The FBT is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex-lfe scandals and plain blackmail. J. Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to take over, and all congressmen and senators ate afraid of him."—President Harry 8. Truman “Don't Bea Puppet [http://www.techtimes.com/articles/1g2917/20160210/bi-has-a-new-dont-be-a-puppet-game-like-website-to-teach- ‘ids-about-violent-extremism. htm) "is the message the FBI is sending young Americans, As part of the government's so-called ongoing war on terror, the nation's de facto secret police fore is now recruiting students and teachers to spy on each other [hitp://www.presstvir/Detail/2016/03/06/.454039/BI-Preventing-Violent-Extremism-in-Schools-extremism-CAGE] land report anyone who appears to have the potential to be “anti-government” or “extremist.” Using the terms “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist” interchangeably [htp://fasorg/inp/eprint/rightwing, pa , the government continues to add to its growing list of characteristics that could distinguish an individual asa potential domestic terrorist. For instance, you might be a domestic terrorist in the eyes ofthe FBI (and its network of snitches) if you: + express libertarian philosophies [bttp://www.networkworid.com/article/2228920 /microsoft-subnel/ridiculous-dhs-lis--you-might-be- Jntml] (statements, bumper stickers) a-domestic-teroris- + exhibit Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership) + read survivalist literature, including apocalyptic fictional books + show signs of self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies) + fear an economic collapse + buy gold and barter items + subscribe to religious views (http://www.networkworld,com/article/2228920 /microsoft-subet/ridiculous-dhs-list--you-might-be-a- Jntml] concerning the book of Revelation + voice fears ubout Big Brother or big government + expound about constitutional rights [bttp://www.networkworld.com artile/2228920/microsoft-subnet/ridiculous-dhs-list--you-might- De-a-domestic-terorist-i-—himl] and eivil liberties + believe in a New World Order conspiracy Despite its well-publicized efforts to train students teachers, police officers, hairdressers, store clerks ec, into government eyes and ears, the FB] isn't relying on a nation of snitehes to carry out its domestic spying, “There's no need ‘The nation’s largest law enforcement agency rivals the NSA in resources, technology, intelligence, and power. Yet while the NSA has repeatedly come under fire for its domestic spying programs, the FBI has continued to operate its subversive and clearly unconstitutional programs with litle significant oversight or push-back from the public, Congress or the courts. Just recently, for example, a secret court gave the agency the green light to quietly change its privacy rules for accessing NSA data [http://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2016/mar/08 /bi-changes-privacy-rules-accessing-nse-prism-data] on Americans’ international communications. Indeed, as I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (http: //www.amazon.com/dp/1590793099/ref=as_s\_pe_Ut_le? taglewrockwell&eamp=213981&reative=39097.8linkCode=asgSicreativeASIN=15907930998adid=177FRCXO61F72X74MKQKR ref ref URL=https963A%%2F9%2F www lewrockwell eom9%aF2016%aFo3%aFjoha-w-whitehead %aFshut-vote%2F] , the FBI has become the embodiment of how power, once acquired, can be easly corrupted and abused When and ifa true history ofthe FBI is ever written, it will not only track the rise of the American police state but it will also chart the decline Intphwwn lewrockwl com 2016103) ohn-wwhiteheactamericas-gestapo! 1882016 ‘America's Gestapo Lew Rockwall of freedom in Ameria, ‘Owing largely o the influence and power of the FBI, the United States—once a nation that abided by the rule of law and held the government accountable for its actions—has steadily devolved into a police state where justice is one-sided, a corporate elite runs the show, representative government isa mockery, police are extensions ofthe military, surveillance is rampant, privacy is extinct, and the law slitle more than a tool {or the government to browbeat the people into compliance, The FBI's laundry lst of crimes against the American people includes surveillance, disinformation, blackmail, entrapment, intimidation tactics, harassment and indoctrination, governmental overreach, abuse, misconduct, trespassing, enabling criminal activity, and damaging private property. ‘And that's just based on what we know. Whether the FBI is planting undercover agents in churches, synagogues, and mosques issuing fake emergency letters to gain access to Americans’ phone records; using intimidation taetis [http://www hutffingtonpost.com/earl-ofar-hutchinson the-Mbe-walks-a-pesilous- b_3447225 html] to silence Americans who are critical of the government; recruiting high school students to spy on and report fellow students [http://www-presstir/Detal/2016/03/06/4454039/FBI-Preventing-Violent-Extremism-in-Schools-extremism-CAGE] who show signs of being future terrorists; or persuading. impressionable individuals to plot acts of terror and then entrapping them [http://www lewrockwell.com/2013/06/william-norman-grig/'Une-american-secret-police/ , the overall impression ofthe nation’s secret police force is that of a well-dressed thug, flexing its muscles and doing the boss dirty work of ensuring compliance, keeping tabs on potential dissidents, and punishing those who dare to challenge the status quo, The FBI was established in 1908 as a small task force assigned to deal with specific domestic crimes. Initially quite limited in its abilities to investigate so-called domestic erimes, the FBI has been transformed into a mammoth federal policing and surveillance agency. Unfortunately, whatever minimal restrictions kept the FBI's surveillance activities within the bounds ofthe law all but disappeared in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The USA Patriot Act gave the FBI and other intelligence agencies earte blanche authority in investigating Americans suspected of being anti-government. As the FBI's powers have grown, its abuses have mounted, The FBI continues to monitor Americans engaged in lawful First Amendment activities. COINTELPRO [hitp:/ /www hutinatonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson the-fbi-walks-a-perilous-_b_3447225, html] , the FBI program created to “disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and neutralize” groups and individuals the government considers politically objectionable, was aimed rot so much atthe criminal element but at those who challenged the status quo—namely, those expressing anti-government sentiments such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lennon, It continues to this day [http://ww.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/08/45-years-after= cointelpro-Pi-stil-thinks-dissent-enemy] , albeit in other guises, ‘The FBI has become a master in the art of entrapment. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks the FBI has not only targeted vulnerable individuals but has also lured them into fake terror plots while actually equipping them with the organization, money, weapons and motivation to carry out the plots—entrapment—and then jailing them for their so-called terrorist plotting, This is what the FBI characterizes as “forward leaning—preventative—prosecuitions (htp://www.theguardian.com/world/z011/nov/16/fbi-entrapment-fake-terror-plots}.” FBI agents are among the nation's most notorious lawbreakers. In addition to creating certain crimes in order to then “solve” them, the FBI also gives certain informants permission to break the law [http://vesusatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/04/bi-informant-crimes-report/2613305/, “including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies,” in exchange for their cooperation on other fronts. USA Today estimates that agents have authorized criminals to engage in as many as 15 erimes a day {http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/bt-informant-erimes-report/2613305/] . Some of these informants are getting paid astronomical sums [attp://wwwtheguardian.com/world/2011/nov/16/fbi-entrapment-fake-terror-plots]: one particularly unsavory fellow, later arrested for attempting to run over a police officer, was actually paid $85,000 for his help laying the trap for an entrapment scheme, ‘The FBI's powers, expanded after 9/11, have given its agents carte blanche access to Americans’ most personal information. The ageney's National Security Letters [http://www foxnews.com/tech/2013/03/06/{bi-ecretly-spying-on-googleusers-company-reveals/], fone of the many illicit powers authorized by the USA Patriot Act, allows the FBI to seerelly demand that banks, phone companies, and other businesses provide them with customer information and not disclose the demands, An internal audit ofthe agency found that the FBI practice of isuing tens of thousands of NSLs every year for sensitive information such as phone and financial records, often in non- emergency case, is riddled withwidespread violations [http://www foxnews.com/politis/20r3/03/16/judge-rules-secretfbi-leters- anconstitutional/] ‘The FBI's spying capabilities are on a par with the NSA. niptwonLewrockwellcom/201603)ohn-w-whiteeadamericas-gostapot 2882016 ‘America's Gestapo Lew Rockwall The FBYs surveillance technology boasts an invasive collection of spy tools [http://www state.com/blogs/future_tense/'2013/10/08/fbi_wircless_intercept_and_tracking_team_files_reveal_new_information_on.htm] ranging from Stingray deviees that can track the location of cell phones to Triggerfish devices which allow agents to eavesdrop on phone calls. In one case, the FBI actually managed to remotely reprogram a “suspect's” wireless internet card [http://w wired.com/2013/04/verizon-rigmaiden-aireard/all/] so that it would send “real-time ed forwarded the data to the FBI.” te location data to Verizon, which ‘The FBI's hacking powers have gotten downright devious. BI agents not only have the ability to hack into any computer, anywhere in the world [https://www.ethiesintech.com/fbi-secking-invasive- slobal-hacking-powers/] , but they ean also control that computer and all its stored information, download its digital contents, switch its ‘camera or microphone on or off and even control other computers in its network, Given the breadth of the agency’s powers the showdown between Apple and the FBI [http://www wired.com/2016/02/apples-fi-batte-is-complicated-heres-whats-reall-going-on/] over customer privacy appears to be more spectacle than substance. James Comey, current director ofthe FBI, knows enough to say all the right things about the need to abide by the Constitution, all the while his agency routinely discards it. Comey argues that the government’ powers shouldn't be limited [http://www.techienews.co.uk/9728566/{bi- chiet-lashes-apple-google-defaull-cell-phone-enezyption/| , especially when it eames to eazrying out surveillance on American citizens. Comey continues to lobby Congress and the White House to foree technology companies such as Apple and Google to keep providing the government withbackdoor access to Americans’ cell phones [http://www.techienews.co.uk/9718566/ bi-chief-lashes-apple-google-default- cell-phone-eneryption/' ‘The FBI's reach is more invasive than ever. This is largely due to the ageney’s nearly unlimited resources (its minimum budget alone in the fiscal year 2015 was $8.9 billion {htps://www.fi.gov/news/testimony/ bi-budget-request-for-fscal-year-2015] ), the government’ vast arsenal of technology, the interconnectedness of government intelligence agencies, and information sharing through fusion centers—data collecting intelligence agencies spread throughout the country that constantly monitor communications (including those of American etizens), everything from internet activity and web searches to text messages, phone calls and emails. Today, the FBI employs more than 35,000 individuals and operates more than 56 field offices in major cities across the U.S, as well as 400 resident agencies in smaller towns, and more than 50 international offices. In addition to their “data campus,” which houses more than 96 million sets of fingerprints from across the United States and elsewhere, the FBI is aso, according to The Washington Post, building a vast repository controlled by people who work in a top-secret vault on the fourth floor of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington. This tone stores the profiles of tens of thousands of Americans and legal residents who are not accused of any crime. What they have done is appear to be acting suspiciously to a town sheriff traffic cop or even a neighbor [hitp://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secrel- america/articles/monitoring-america/print/] ” If there’s one word to describe the FBI's covert tacties, it’s ereepy. The agency's biometric database [http://www.computerworld.com/article/2486963/securityo /gotcha-fbilaunches-new-biometric-systems- ‘o-nail-eriminals. html] has grown to massive proportions, the largest in the world, encompassing everything {rom fingerprints, palt, face and iris sans to DNA [http://www.bbe.co.uk/news/science-environment-15311718] , and is being increasingly shared among federal, state and local aw enforcement agencies in an effort to target potential criminals long before they ever commit a crime, This is what's known as pre-rime. fit were just about fighting the “bad guys," that would be one thing, But as countless documents make clear, the FBI has no qualms about using its extensive powers in order to blackmail politicians, spy on celebrities [http//dailyslercom/2011/04/08/biopens-the-vaultufose jimi-hendrix-and-maleoln-x-ly-out/} and high-ranking government officials [https //ww.theguardian.com/ilm/2012/jan/o1/j-edga- hhoower-seeret-bi], and intimidate disident [htt://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/axthw html] of al stripes I's an old tactic, used effectively by former authoritarian regimes. In fact, as historian Robert Gellately documents, the Nazi police state was repeatedly touted as model for other nations to follow, so muck so that Hoover actually sent one of his right-hand men, Edmund Patrick Coffey, to Berlin in January 1938 at the invitation of Germany's secret police. As Gellately noted, “[Alfer five years of Hitler's dictatorship, the Navi police had won the F's seal of approval [ttp://books.google.com/books? id-jCIGWeQuoC&pg-PTostlpg-PTos&dq-gellatelysedmund--coffey’esource-bidots~G4.JHwD5AUSsig-WkXKIKLSIp- oJosH_agXA3CIWwwihl=enfsa=XRei-NONVIT- H8GRsQS)kgHYDQ&.ved -OCCYQ6AEWAQaY= onepagesq-gellately2620edmund320coffeySf-false] Indeed, so impressed was the FBI with the Nazi order that, as the New York Times revealed, in the decades after World War II, the FBI, along with other government agencies, aggressively recruited at least a thousand Nazis, including some of Hitler's highest henchmen, brought them to America, hired them on as spies and informants, and then carried out a massive cover-up campaign to ensure that their true identities and ties to Hitler's holocaust machine would remain unknown, Moreover, anyone who dazed to blow the whistle on the PBL lic niptwonLewrockwellcom/201603)ohn-w-whiteeadamericas-gostapot 3882016 ‘America's Gestapo Lew Rockwall ‘Nazi ties found himself spied upon [ttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/us/in-eold-war-us-spy-agencies-used-1000- intimidated, harassed and labeled a throat to national security is ht) So not only have American taxpayers been paying to keep ex-Nazis on the goverment payroll for decades but we've been subjected to the ‘very same tactics used by the Third Reich: surveillance, militarized the police, overriminalization, and a government mindset that views itself as operating outside the bounds ofthe law. This is how freedom falls, and tyrants come to power. The similarities between the American police state and past totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany grow more pronounced with each passing day, Secret police. Secret courts, Secret government agencies. Surveillance, Intimidation, Harassment, Torture, Brutality. Widespread corruption Entrapment. Indoctrination. These are the hallmarks of every authoritarian regime from the Roman Empire to modern-day America, Yet it’s the secret police—tasked with silencing dissidents, ensuring compliance, and maintaining a climate of fear—who sound the death knell for freedom in every age. The Best of John W. Whitehead [https://www.lewrockwell.com/author /john-w-whitehead/] Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead [send him mail] is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto (Sourcebooks). Copyright © 2016 The Rutherford Institute Previous article by John W, Whitehead: You May Like ‘Sparsted irks by Toco The Bost 10 Baby Monitors In 2015 To Choose From ‘The Screenwriters Toolkit with Jim Unis Bass in a Portable Bluethooth Speaker? Engine Quiz: Rev Up Your Knowledge How You Could Pay Off Your Credit Card Balance Years Eadier ‘Save the Dates! July 10-14 is Your 5-day Business Pilgrimage in Toronto What's in Your Protein Powder? Here's The Healthier Choice How parental stress affects your kids Party Trend Watch: Real Wedding Pal 108 In Pantone's Colors of the Year niptwonLewrockwellcom/201603)ohn-w-whiteeadamericas-gostapot 48