Ever hear of Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 20? Bet not. The more you’ve never heard of something, the more worried you should be.
In mid-November , The Washington Post,
the first media outlet to report on the directive, noted that it
“enables the military to act more aggressively to thwart cyberattacks on
the nation’s web of government and private computer networks.”
The Post’s revelation came at the same time that other stories
broke pointing to deepening problems with electronic privacy rights in
America. The most sensational story involved the FBI’s snooping the
private e-mails of two of the nation’s leading security officers, CIA
Director David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen, head of the U.S.
Afghanistan war effort.
More disturbing but expected, the Supreme Court rejected the ACLU’s
challenge to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) use of warrantless
wiretaps. And Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, proposed the further loosening of e-mail privacy
protection regulations.
These are just four examples of an increasing number of efforts
among various federal entities, including the Congress and Supreme
Court, to expand the power of the U.S. government to spy on American
citizens. Recent initiatives by three of the lead agencies engaged in
citizen surveillance -- National Security Agency (NSA), Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and Defense Department’s research arm, Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – outline the tightening grip
of the spy
state.
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