Meet the Israeli Intelligence Services That ‘Protect’ Panama

The SPI gets trained to shoot Arabs. Photo by the Presidencia

Who is this security firm that Martinelli hired?

by Eric Jackson

Since an alleged plot to kidnap him that was said to involve at least one member of the SPI presidential guard, President Martinelli has been watched over by Israelis as well as Panamanians and has announced the hiring of an Israeli firm to train Panama's elite bodyguards and national security apparatus. There have been a number of published reports that this involves current or former members of Israel's external spy and assassination agency, the Mossad. It's an emotional allegation, given that when the Mossad last had a relationship with the Panamanian government, through its former Latin America station chief Mike Harari, its job with the Noriega regime was to conduct a bloody purge of suspected disloyal elements within the Panama Defense Forces and to organize a thuggish "anti-terrorism" unit that abducted and killed a couple of non-combatant US citizens during the 1989 invasion.

It seems, however, that this time the suspicion falls upon the wrong Israeli paramilitary organization. The Martinelli administration identifies the Israeli company it hired as MLM Protection Ltd. Israel's leading newspaper, Ha'aretz, identifies the company as a 2003 creation of Sharon Botzer and Ofer Bar, former officers with the VIP protection service of Israel's "internal" security police, the Shin Bet. (Quotation marks are used around "internal" because Shin Bet's beat includes the occupied Palestinian territories, where it has frequently been accused of torture and assassination techniques.)

So is MLM Protection Ltd a private company, or a front for the Israeli government? Given the nature of Israel's mixed economy and especially the workings of its arms and security industries, this would not be an easy question to answer. Formally private, the company is advertised on the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor (MOITAL) website. In that ad the company boasts of "broad expertise and operational experience accumulated within the framework of the Israel General Security Service (Israeli Secret Service)." The company offers consulting, training, security guards, technology and equipment to potential clients.

MLM Protection is not in the news a lot, but back in 2008 it was mentioned in relation to business dealings with a company called ML1 - International Trading Company, Ltd. It seems that in a stint between government jobs, and then later when he was a member of the Knesset, far-right Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman was on the payroll of ML1, which on the books is owned by his 20-something daughter. He was making an average of more than $25,000 per month from M.L.1 while out of office, but what goods or services the company actually produced or sold was a mystery. The payments to Avigdor Lieberman continued after he took his parliamentary seat, and that's a problem under Israeli law because members of the Knesset are not supposed to hold other employment. The police began investigating and the payments that Lieberman received were characterized as "severance pay" --- for three years of work, spread out over two years. 

In the investigation it was revealed that one of the companies with which ML1 did business was MLM Protection --- for what was never made entirely clear, but it appeared to be for security services to Lieberman's racist Yisrael Beiteinu party. Depending on the details of the transaction, that could be another scandal, Lieberman's private profiteering from a political party that he controls.

The police recommended that Avigdor Lieberman be prosecuted for fraud and money laundering, but by that time Israel was in another political crisis, about to go to war in Gaza and headed for new elections, so the matter was put on the back burner for political expediency. It's still lingering out there, and could be all the more explosive because Lieberman's now the Israeli foreign minister --- with whom, it should be presumed, Ricardo Martinelli has public and possibly private dealings.

Avigdor Lieberman, Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela. Photo by the Presidencia

Source

Wikileaks Soldier Reveals Orders for "360 Rotational Fire" Against Civilians in Iraq

For OpEdNews: Ralph Lopez - Writer

Still breaking as there is no MSM reportage so far. Please Facebook/crosspost

Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers seen in the now-famous Wikileaks video in which two American Apache helicopters fire upon a relaxed, unhurried gaggle of men in Baghdad, has stated in an interview with World Socialist Website that he witnessed numerous times the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians in Iraq after IED attacks. McCord is on of the soldiers seen helping two wounded children after the attack. He has stepped forward with open opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and written a letter of apology for his part in the incident to the mother of the children, who has accepted his apology. The mother's husband was killed in the attack and found with his body shielding that of one of his children.


McCord said to reporter Bill Van Auken:

"we had a pretty gung-ho commander, who decided that because we were getting hit by IEDs a lot, there would be a new battalion SOP [standard operating procedure].He goes, "If someone in your line gets hit with an IED, 360 rotational fire. You kill every motherf*cker on the street." Myself and Josh and a lot of other soldiers were just sitting there looking at each other like, "Are you kidding me? You want us to kill women and children on the street?" And you couldn't just disobey orders to shoot, because they could just make your life hell in Iraq. So like with myself, I would shoot up into the roof of a building instead of down on the ground toward civilians. But I've seen it many times, where people are just walking down the street and an IED goes off and the troops open fire and kill them."

The deliberate killing of civilians is a war crime (Nanking 1937, Hankow 1938, German Invasion of Poland 1939.) McCord is one of a growing number of soldiers and support groups who have renounced their actions in Iraq. He said:

"I was the gung-ho soldier. I thought I was going over there to do the greater good. I thought my job over there was to protect the Iraqi people and that this was a job with honor and courage and duty.

I was hit by an IED within two weeks of my being in Iraq. And I didn't understand why people were throwing rocks at us, why I was being shot at and why we're being blown up, when I have it in my head that I was here to help these people."

McCord says the scenes captured in the Wikileaks video are "an every-day occurrence in Iraq."

McCord says that when he found the two children wounded in the van, another soldier began to vomit and ran off. Then he recounts:

"That's when I saw the boy move with what appeared to be a labored breath. So I stated screaming, "The boy's alive." I grabbed him and cradled him in my arms and kept telling him, "Don't die, don't die." He opened his eyes, looked up at me. I told him, "It's OK, I have you." His eyes rolled back into his head, and I kept telling him, "It's OK, I've got you." I ran up to the Bradley and placed him inside. My platoon leader was standing there at the time, and he yelled at me for doing what I did. He told me to "stop worrying about these motherfucking kids and start worrying about pulling security." So after that I went up and pulled security on a rooftop.

McCord says about his mental state afterwards:

"I went to see a staff sergeant who was in my chain of command and told him I needed to see mental health about what was going on in my head. He told me to "quit being a pussy" and to "suck it up and be a soldier." He told me that if I wanted to go to mental health, there would be repercussions, one of them being labeled a "malingerer," which is actually a crime in the US Army."

McCord says the greater story is being overlooked, and that rather than blame individual soldiers, the Army itself should be examined, and its system of training soldiers.

"Instead of people being upset at a few soldiers in a video who were doing what they were trained to do, I think people need to be more upset at the system that trained these soldiers. They are doing exactly what the Army wants them to do."

McCord echoes Major General Smedley D. Butler, the double Medal of Honor winner who resigned his commission and in 1935 became a critic of the nations wars, traveling the country with his book and famous speech "War is a Racket." McCord said in the interview:

"I am not part of any party. Was I hopeful? Yes. Was I surprised that we are still there? No. I'm not surprised at all. There's something else lying underneath there. It's not Republican or Democrat; it's money. There's something else lying underneath it where Republicans and Democrats together want to keep us in Iraq and Afghanistan."

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Gulf oil full of methane, adding new concerns

Jun 18, 10:24 AM (ET)

By MATTHEW BROWN and RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - It is an overlooked danger in the oil spill crisis: The crude gushing from the well contains vast amounts of natural gas that could pose a serious threat to the Gulf of Mexico's fragile ecosystem.

The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from the spill.

That means huge quantities of methane have entered the Gulf, scientists say, potentially suffocating marine life and creating "dead zones" where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives.

"This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," Kessler said.

Methane is a colorless, odorless and flammable substance that is a major component in the natural gas used to heat people's homes. Petroleum engineers typically burn off excess gas attached to crude before the oil is shipped off to the refinery. That's exactly what BP has done as it has captured more than 7.5 million gallons of crude from the breached well.

A BP spokesman said the company was burning about 30 million cubic feet of natural gas daily from the source of the leak, adding up to about 450 million cubic feet since the containment effort started 15 days ago. That's enough gas to heat about 450,000 homes for four days.

But that figure does not account for gas that eluded containment efforts and wound up in the water, leaving behind huge amounts of methane. Scientists are still trying to measure how much has escaped into the water and how it may damage the Gulf and it creatures.

The dangerous gas has played an important role throughout the disaster and response. A bubble of methane is believed to have burst up from the seafloor and ignited the rig explosion. Methane crystals also clogged a four-story containment box that engineers earlier tried to place on top of the breached well.

Now it is being looked at as an environmental concern.

The small microbes that live in the sea have been feeding on the oil and natural gas in the water and are consuming larger quantities of oxygen, which they need to digest food. As they draw more oxygen from the water, it creates two problems. When oxygen levels drop low enough, the breakdown of oil grinds to a halt; and as it is depleted in the water, most life can't be sustained.

The National Science Foundation funded research on methane in the Gulf amid concerns about the depths of the oil plume and questions what role natural gas was playing in keeping the oil below the surface, said David Garrison, a program director in the federal agency who specializes in biological oceanography.

"This has the potential to harm the ecosystem in ways that we don't know," Garrison said. "It's a complex problem."

BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday told Congress members that he was "so devastated with this accident,""deeply sorry" and "so distraught."

But he also testified that he was out of the loop on decisions at the well and disclaimed knowledge of any of the myriad problems on and under the Deepwater Horizon rig before the deadly explosion. BP was leasing the rig the Deepwater Horizon that exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the environmental disaster.

"BP blew it," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House investigations panel that held the hearing. "You cut corners to save money and time."

In early June, a research team led by Samantha Joye of the Institute of Undersea Research and Technology at the University of Georgia investigated a 15-mile-long plume drifting southwest from the leak site. They said they found methane concentrations up to 10,000 times higher than normal, and oxygen levels depleted by 40 percent or more.

The scientists found that some parts of the plume had oxygen concentrations just shy of the level that tips ocean waters into the category of "dead zone" - a region uninhabitable to fish, crabs, shrimp and other marine creatures.

Kessler has encountered similar findings. Since he began his on-site research on Saturday, he said he has already found oxygen depletions of between 2 percent and 30 percent in waters 1,000 feet deep.

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Time for world to confront Israel: Gilad Atzmon

By SHABANA SYED | ARAB NEWS
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Gilad Atzmon Interviewed by Shabana Syed:  “I come from them, and I know how they think.”

http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article66233.ece


Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist Gilad Atzmon

According to the famous Israeli-born Jazz musician, Gilad Atzmon, “The ideology that carried out execution-style killings on the Gaza aid flotilla the ‘Mavi Marmara’ is the same ideology that carried out the massacres at Deir Yassin, Qibya, Sabra and Shatilla, Qana, Gaza, Jenin and the murder of Rachel Corrie — more than that it is the same ideology that killed Christ.” He continues: “there is no biological, racial or ethnic continuum between the ancient Israelites and the contemporary Israelis. The attack on the aid convoy is a continuum of the same ideology that killed Christ. Christ’s killing is a symbol of a brutal assault against goodness, in the same way the attack on the aid convoy was against humanity and compassion.” Speaking to Arab News after the deadly attack on the aid Flotilla where 9 peace activists were shot dead and around 50 injured Atzmon was scathing against Israel’s actions and demanded that it should be stripped of its UN membership.

Atzmon is a former Israeli soldier who now lives in London. He is not only a renowned author and writer but also a famous award-winning jazz musician. Described as a musical genius he has recorded with the likes of Robbie Williams, Sinead O Connor, Robert Wyatt, Paul McCartney, Tunisian singer Dhaffer Youssef and countless others.

With a strong presence on and off stage and a disarming smile, Atzmon has a huge following not only for his music but for being a unique thinker and philosopher.

Admired for his fearless stance against oppression, he is also at the forefront of a taboo discourse that many will not venture into out of fear of being branded anti-Semite; and that is the discourse on the Jewish identity, Zionism and Israel.

Because of this stance, he has been branded a “Jew self-hater.” Atzmon smiles: “in fact I correct them ‘I am not only a self-hater but a proud self-hater.’”

The accusations do not deter him as he is quite vocal about the self-hatred he feels for the Israeli part of him.

He argues: “We are dealing here with a morbid collective that sets itself against humanity.” He believes the reason why he is at the forefront of this discourse is because he is more able than others to understand Israeli mentality because, “I come from them, and I know how they think.”

He himself has studied for many years the issue of the Jewish identity, and in his talks is often found quoting philosophers like the Austrian Otto Weininger, Kant, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Lacan, Marx as well as Eastern philosophers.

He explains: “Israel has violated all international laws, it has never been held accountable for the countless massacres.” However, he argues the latest massacre of peace activists on the aid flotilla with the emerging forensic reports which suggest Israeli execution-style killings of the 9 peace activists has resulted in shock horror around the world.

“The remarkable fact is they don’t understand why the world is beginning to stand against them in the same way they didn’t understand why the Europeans stood against them in the 1930s. Instead of asking why we are hated they continue to toss accusations on others.”

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Ashkenazi Racism Against Sephardi Jews Alive And Well

100,000 Ultra-Orthodox Israelis protest school integration

Around 100,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews on Thursday rallied in Jerusalem, police said, in a show of mass defiance over a school integration ruling by Israel's highest court.

The streets were flooded with men in trademark black, wide-brimmed hats and lined with police as the rally stretched several blocks and paralysed traffic in and around the heart of the Holy City.

A similar protest in Bnei Brak near the seaside city of Tel Aviv earlier drew about 20,000 people, according to police.

Thousands of police were put on high alert on Thursday for the ultra-Orthodox protests over a supreme court ruling to jail a group of parents of European origin, or Ashkenazis, for refusing to send their daughters to a school with Jewish girls whose families originate from Arab countries, known as Sephardis.

Although the ruling effectively pits the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazis against the Sephardis, the two communities came together for a mass protest against what they see as the intolerable intervention of the secular state in their religious affairs.

In Jerusalem, protesters massed in a celebratory atmosphere near the western entrance to the city, the vast majority of men wearing the traditional black suits and hats of the ultra-Orthodox.

As the defiant parents arrived to address the throng, the fathers, dressed in their holiday finery, were swept up onto the shoulders of supporters as the crowd broke into spontaneous dancing.

Some held banners proclaiming "The Torah Rules!" referring to the supremacy of biblical law over the secular justice system.

Others carried placards reading "The Prisoners of Immanuel are representatives of Israel," in reference to the defiant parents, all of whom come from the Jewish settlement of Immanuel in the occupied West Bank.

The parents and ultra-Orthodox leaders addressed the crowd from a makeshift stage made out of two lorries straddling a road.

The parents, who represent more than 40 families, were to begin a two-week jail sentence for contempt of court after their detention was delayed from midday until the evening to allow the protests to play out peacefully.

Later on Thursday, two busses with the fathers on board arrived at Maasiyahu prison in the central Israeli city of Ramle. About two dozen protesters sang and danced as the prison gates shut behind the vehicles.

Israel media said police were searching for 22 of the mothers who had failed to respond to the court summons.

The incident began when the supreme court intervened in a dispute at an ultra-Orthodox school in Immanuel settlement, where parents from the strictly observant Slonim Hassidic sect of Ashkenazi Jewry refused to let their girls go to school with girls of Sephardi descent.

The court had given the parents until Wednesday to send their children back to school or face jail for contempt of court. The parents refused.

The dispute was described by the liberal Haaretz daily as "the most dramatic state-religion clash to break out here," and the protests were the largest ultra-Orthodox demonstration seen in the city in a decade.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appealed for calm, and President Shimon Peres earlier met deputy education minister Meir Porush, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi party United Torah Judaism (UTJ), in an unsuccessful bid to reach a compromise.

The Slonim parents say their objections are not racist but are based on differences in religious observance between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions.

Source

OIL SPILL FOOTAGE SHOWS POSSIBLE FRAUD AT 5000FT BELOW THE SEA

And here's the original from CNN

BP: All Political Recipients (Guess Who's #1?)

Among Federal Candidates, 1989-2010

Total: $3,533,398
Source of Funds:
Individuals PACs
Party Split:
Dems   Repubs

Name	Total Contributions
Obama, Barack (D-Ill)	$77,051
Young, Don (R-Alaska)	$73,300
Stevens, Ted (R-Alaska)	$53,200
Bush, George W (R-Texas)	$47,388
McCain, John (R-Ariz)	$44,899
Voinovich, George V (R-Ohio)	$41,400
DeWine, Mike (R-Ohio)	$37,550
Dingell, John D (D-Mich)	$31,000
Landrieu, Mary L (D-La)	$28,200
Barton, Joe (R-Texas)	$27,350
Coats, Daniel R (R-Ind)	$25,000
Martin, Lynn (R-Ill)	$24,450
Murkowski, Frank H (R-Alaska)	$24,000
Gramm, Phil (R-Texas)	$23,800
Nickles, Don (R-Okla)	$23,750
Inhofe, James M (R-Okla)	$22,300
McConnell, Mitch (R-Ky)	$22,000
Hastert, Dennis (R-Ill)	$21,100
Culberson, John (R-Texas)	$20,950
Domenici, Pete V (R-NM)	$20,800
McCrery, Jim (R-La)	$19,799
Bush, George (R-Texas)	$19,500
Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R-Texas)	$19,500
Thomas, Craig (R-Wyo)	$19,450
Murkowski, Lisa (R-Alaska)	$19,300
Bond, Christopher "Kit" (R-Mo)	$19,200
Lincoln, Blanche (D-Ark)	$19,000
Tauzin, Billy (R-La)	$18,500
Oxley, Michael G (R-Ohio)	$18,100
Campbell, Ben Nighthorse (R-Colo)	$18,050
Breaux, John (D-La)	$18,000
Lott, Trent (R-Miss)	$18,000
Rangel, Charles B (D-NY)	$18,000
Conrad, Kent (D-ND)	$16,500
Craig, Larry (R-Idaho)	$16,500
Burns, Conrad (R-Mont)	$16,000
Hoyer, Steny H (D-Md)	$16,000
Lugar, Richard G (R-Ind)	$15,250
Boehner, John (R-Ohio)	$15,200
Hall, Ralph M (R-Texas)	$14,500
Bingaman, Jeff (D-NM)	$14,000
Boschwitz, Rudy (R-Minn)	$14,000
Dole, Bob (R-Kan)	$14,000
Shelby, Richard C (R-Ala)	$14,000
Warner, John W (R-Va)	$13,750
Conway, Jack (D-Ky)	$13,600
Cubin, Barbara (R-Wyo)	$13,500
DeLay, Tom (R-Texas)	$13,100
Upton, Fred (R-Mich)	$13,100
Blunt, Roy (R-Mo)	$12,500
Heflin, Howell (D-Ala)	$12,500
Johnston, J Bennett (D-La)	$12,250
Brownback, Sam (R-Kan)	$12,000
Dooley, Cal (D-Calif)	$12,000
John, Chris (D-La)	$12,000
Fields, Jack M Jr (R-Texas)	$11,750
Laughlin, Greg (R-Texas)	$11,550
Coverdell, Paul (R-Ga)	$11,500
Allard, Wayne (R-Colo)	$11,250
Brown, Hank (R-Colo)	$11,000
Enzi, Mike (R-Wyo)	$11,000
Pombo, Richard W (R-Calif)	$11,000
Saiki, Patricia Fukuda (R-Hawaii)	$11,000
Smith, Gordon H (R-Ore)	$11,000
Ensign, John (R-Nev)	$10,900
Abraham, Spencer (R-Mich)	$10,500
Clyburn, James E (D-SC)	$10,500
Edwards, Chet (D-Texas)	$10,500
Schuette, Bill (R-Mich)	$10,500
Sessions, Pete (R-Texas)	$10,400
Didrickson, Loleta (R-Ill)	$10,250
Gillmor, Paul E (R-Ohio)	$10,200
Brown, Sherrod (D-Ohio)	$10,050
Grams, Rod (R-Minn)	$10,000
Helms, Jesse (R-NC)	$10,000
Pearce, Steve (R-NM)	$10,000
Tauscher, Ellen (D-Calif)	$10,000
Tanner, John (D-Tenn)	$9,800
Chambliss, Saxby (R-Ga)	$9,600
Chandler, Rod (R-Wash)	$9,600
Visclosky, Pete (D-Ind)	$9,550
Hatfield, Mark O (R-Ore)	$9,500
Kerry, John (D-Mass)	$9,500
Kyl, Jon (R-Ariz)	$9,500
Ortiz, Solomon P (D-Texas)	$9,500
Simpson, Alan K (R-Wyo)	$9,500
Specter, Arlen (R-Pa)	$9,500
Wilson, Heather A (R-NM)	$9,500
Allen, George (R-Va)	$9,250
Spratt, John M Jr (D-SC)	$9,250
Stenholm, Charles W (D-Texas)	$9,250
Williamson, Richard S (R-Ill)	$9,250
Ashcroft, John (R-Mo)	$9,000
Bayh, Evan (D-Ind)	$9,000
Bennett, Robert F (R-Utah)	$9,000
Biggert, Judy (R-Ill)	$9,000
Cleland, Max (D-Ga)	$9,000
Fitzgerald, Peter G (R-Ill)	$9,000
Gorton, Slade (R-Wash)	$9,000
Kustra, Robert W (R-Ill)	$9,000

Source

Imaging, Spy-Cams and Drones: The New Hi Tech Homeland Security State

by Tom Burghardt

As "gee-whiz" high-tech wonders seamlessly morph into "your papers, please!," more often than not in "new normal" America science and technological innovation are little more than deranged handmaids serving corporate crime and political power.

In the interest of "keeping us safe," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unveiled a spiffy new surveillance cam "that puts others to shame," CNET breezily reported last week.

The Imaging System for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS) is a hemispherical group of cameras roughly the size of a basketball that, if one believes giddy accolades by enthusiasts touting the system, will lovingly wrap us in a "high-res video quilt," a DHS press release gushes.

The ultra-wide camera undergoing field-tests since December at Boston's Logan International Airport, streams distortion free, real-time stitched video and has a resolution capacity of approximately 100 megapixels which our guardians say is "as detailed as 50 full-HDTV movies playing at once, with optical detail to spare. You can zoom in close...and closer...without losing clarity."

But with an abundance of acronyms, and a decided lack of imagination from a gaggle of secret state agencies, one shouldn't confuse Homeland Security's ISIS with one incubating beneath the dark wings of the Pentagon's "blue sky" office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

That program, Integrated Sensor Is Structure, also known as ISIS, is being shepherded along by Lockheed Martin, America's No. 1 defense corp. DARPA's ISIS promises to build an autonomous airship powered by solar fuel cells for American warfighters, one capable of staying aloft for a decade above 70,000 feet, well out of the way of an adversary's surface to air missiles.

According to the description on the Strategic Technology Office's web site, their ISIS "will develop the technologies that enable extremely large lightweight phased-array radar antennas to be integrated into an airship platform." This would enable ground commanders "to track the most advanced cruise missiles at 600 km and dismounted enemy combatants at 300 km."

Pentagon gurus and the corporations they so lovingly serve, recently awarded Lockheed Martin and subcontracting Raytheon Corporation, a $400 million dollar contract for Phase III work on the radar system, Defense Systems reported in April. DARPAcrats claim the high-flying airship will provide "theatre-wide, persistent area surveillance and tracking capabilities" to America's Borg Army of resource grabbers.

And with The New York Times reporting June 14 that the "United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself," it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that sometime soon the corrupt Karzai regime, the Taliban, their ISI paymasters and their American overlords will cozy up and play "let's make a deal"!

Nor should either project be confused with the failed "secure border" scheme known as the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System or ISIS (there it is again!) or its successor, America's Shield Initiative. No, that corporatist boondoggle which cost taxpayers some $439 million between 1997 and 2006, eventually morphed into the equally useless Secure Border Initiative or SBInet.

Fully in keeping with the tenor of the times, to wit, that government should get "out of the way" and let business work its magic, DHS's own Inspector General described the troubled history of the project in critical testimony to Congress. The IG criticized lax practices that led the Department to allow the contractors, led by Boeing Corporation, decide what the system would look like and what technology would be used to build it.

Needless to say, that didn't work out well! Just this week Washington Technology reported that Boeing "could see its lucrative, but troubled Secure Border Initiative contract scaled back as Homeland Security Department officials consider stopping future construction of the 'virtual-fence' security systems along the U.S.-Mexico border."

Like predecessor ISIS, the $800 million program has suffered from delays, technical glitches and "changes" in direction. In March, Home Sec Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the program was "being re-evaluated as part of an ongoing reassessment." No matter, with cash in hand Boeing, and a string of disappointed subcontractors, can afford to "move on."

But I digress...

No dear readers, the Heimat Security project I'm describing is close to earth, perhaps only a few feet above the congested street where you trod, oblivious to the legion of minders busily stripping you of your rights; above all, the right to be left alone. Ah, but there's the rub. Why should any of Oceania's proud citizens have anything to fear? After all, only evil-doers have something to hide, don't they? Why wouldn't you leap with joy at the prospect of being enwrapped in a vid-quilt cocoon lovingly designed by America's finest minds?

"Traditional surveillance cameras can be of great assistance to law enforcement officers for a range of scenarios," DHS flacks croon. "Canvassing a crowd for criminal activity during a Fourth of July celebration, searching for who left a suitcase bomb beneath a bench, or trying to pick out a terrorist who has fled the scene and blended into a teeming throng in the subway."

Who'd oppose that?

But why stop there? Surely there are other applications for the privacy-killing gizmo. Where did that political malcontent go after handing out "subversive" leaflets at the mall? And that flash mob of miscreants protesting an oil firm's board meeting or, heavens forbid!, bum-rushing grifting merchants of death at an industry trade show; where'd they scram to? Multitasking is the name of the game and DHS has got it covered!

A joint project of the Science and Technology Directorate's Infrastructure and Geophysical Division, MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, ISIS was built with off-the-shelf cameras, image processors and readily-available commercial software. No need to reinvent the wheel here in these tough economic times!

The innocent-looking array points in all directions and captured images are "stitched" together, creating a creepy "god's eye" view that allow CCTV operators to easily track people back and forth through the HD "quilt" files without losing a single suspect, I mean American, as they pass from one field to the next.

"Other neat tricks" enthusiasts effervesce, "will be provided by a suite of software applications called video analytics. One app can define a sacrosanct 'exclusion zone,' for which ISIS provides an alert the moment it's breached. Another lets the operator pick a target--a person, a package, or a pickup truck--and the detailed viewing window will tag it and follow it, automatically panning and tilting as needed." (emphasis in original)

We're told that "video analytics at high resolution across a 360-degree field of view, coupled with the ability to follow objects against a cluttered background, will provide"--wait!--"enhanced situational awareness as an incident unfolds."

"We've seen that terrorists are determined to do us harm," Dr. John Fortune, the I&G's head honcho told contractors lining up to get a slice of the vid-quilt pie. "ISIS is a great example of one way we can improve our security by leveraging our strengths."

And should things, pardon the pun, pan out, "ISIS creators already have their eyes on a new and improved second generation model, complete with custom sensors and video boards, longer range cameras, higher resolution, a more efficient video format."

"Eventually," we're told, "the Department plans to develop a version of ISIS that will use infrared cameras to detect events that occur at night."

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