Top secret America and the dangers of FBI ethnic profiling
If you care about freedom you should read and be outraged at the recent Washington Post investigation revealing the vast and highly secretive underground surveillance economy operating out of our federal government. Who knew that about 1 of every 250 working age Americans has 'top secret' security clearance?
The Post investigation details the emergence of a massive public-private spying bureaucracy that secretly employs millions of people and is so unwieldy, corrupt, and mismanaged that it has failed repeatedly to catch the bad guys or otherwise keep us safe. Most notably, it failed to catch the guy who tried to light a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight and another who was tied to a bombing attempt in Times Square -- both of which were missed by the government surveillance network but were thwarted by ordinary members of the public.
Having built this monster, we now have to feed it. Otherwise, how do we justify wasting billions of tax dollars that could be invested in education, health care, or reducing our dependence on foreign oil?
But here's the real sucker punch. At least some of our tax dollars are likely being used by local FBI agents to collect and store information on ordinary and everyday behaviors of innocent Americans, based solely on their race or religion. It turns out that the FBI has claimed the authority to create maps of people's lifestyles, religious practices, cultural traditions -- even eating habits -- in the latest example of pretend security.
The "guilt by association" approach to law enforcement got a boost in 2008 when the FBI distributed new guidelines to local FBI offices, secretly claiming the authority to map so-called "ethnic-oriented" businesses, behaviors, lifestyle characteristics, and cultural traditions. While some racial and ethnic data collection by some agencies might be helpful in lessening discrimination, the FBI's attempt to collect and map demographic data using race-based criteria for targeting purposes invites unconstitutional racial profiling.
The practice became public knowledge only last year (and further details were obtained only in response to a lawsuit), but already the racial mapping project looks like a dangerous boondoggle. In one instance involving a similar authority, FBI agents in California reportedly used tax dollars to create a map of falafel sales in an effort to pinpoint Iranian terrorists. It turns out -- surprise! -- that the falafel maps didn't lead to any arrests.
Targeting of ordinary people based on their race, religion, or dietary habits reeks of the worst sort of guilt by association. Rather than keep us safe, this kind of profiling undermines public safety by widening the rift between communities and the officials whose job it is to protect and serve those communities.
That's why the ACLU in Massachusetts this week joined with other civil rights and community groups to demand that the FBI come clean about its use of ethnic and racial mapping of noncriminal behaviors in the Commonwealth.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, we have asked the local FBI field office to make public the extent and manner in which it is using our tax dollars to engage in this kind of profiling of "ethnically-oriented" businesses and facilities.
I hope the FBI replies quickly. Personally, I have a lot of other questions that didn't specifically make it into the ACLU request, but which I'd love to have answered.
Are they using my tax dollars only to target falafel stands, or might Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, with their sugar-and-caffeine-crazed addicts, be on the list of suspect businesses?
Are they mapping Italian restaurants and lifestyle habits of North End residents in order to discover information about the mafia?
Are they mapping the worship practices of people who live in South Boston in the hope of learning more about the IRA?
What about Jamaica Plain and the South End? Are they mapping gay communities, too?
And just how will they catch anti-social bad guys, like those who avoided mosques and other public places before they flew planes into the World Trade Center on 9/11? Oh right…they won't.
Secrecy is the enemy of democracy. How can you have a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" if it operates in secret from the people? Shedding sunlight on surveillance and other government boondoggles is one of the best ways that we can stop "Top Secret America" from wasting our scarce public resources on foolish schemes that violate our rights and undermine our freedom without making us safe.
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About the author
Carol Rose is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. A lawyer and journalist, Carol has spent her career working for and writing about human rights and civil liberties, both in the United States and abroad. More »Recent blog posts
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