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I typed all of this about june 16 for my blog(and also posted it here), but some renewed interest has come about since the revelation from my sister (who is homeland intern) that there is a possibility of a terror attack soon.
It's a long read, but it goes into all of what I did in my one day of working as a role player at homeland security in atlanta. I typed it in an almost dramatic format, so be sure to know that some things are overdramatized or romanticized. Ask any questions you want at the end.
June 16, 2005
To explain, I'll have to give you a little personal history. But first, an overview of what the entire entry will be about:
- First, my spycapade of today (yes, I actually was in a spy thing today), and my reflections on my fear of the police state from an insiders' perspective (OK, one day isn't much -- but who cares, you'll read it anyway)
- Second, some political commentary (may come later, I have a lot to write) -
- Third, for the short-attention-spanned, like always, a slew of cartoons
Spycapade: A Story That Has Everything A Story Needs: Fun, Excitement, Humor, And A Look Into A Dangerous Future
This story, like most good stories, starts with a girl. Of course, I stole and re-edited that line from the Spiderman film because I couldn't think of anything better. This girl is my sister. Ok, I never said it was some kind of hot actress that madly fell in love with me. You just imagined it, really.
My sister began her flirtation with government jobs when she applied to work at the CIA. 2-3 of interviews and background checks later, my sister was told that the CIA probably did not want her. That didn't stop her for applying for more government jobs. Eventually she earned herself an internship at the Department of Homeland Security in Atlanta. The internship only lasts through the summer -- although my sister and I just went to DC a few weeks back for interviews that could land her an embassy or NSA job.
About a week ago my sister asked me to come and help with a terrorism simulation thing. I rejected her offer. First of all, getting payed minimum wage by the federal government is just cheap! Second, I am not big on working for the Man. Third, I don't want to have a contract with the secret police force of our nation -- although, admittably, that's probably already blown because my sister works there...
After I refused my sister resorted to cruely that would even make the guards at Gitmo turn blue. For one, she wouldn't let me use the PC in our house anymore, placing a password on it. Now, she has 2 laptops -- the tactic was solely derived out of that fact that she's a mean old boss. I need to unionize to escape the bossing she delivers.
After enough of her yelling, I capitulated; I very much gave in to "the Man."
The Man was located in Courtyard Marriot downtown. My sister and I met a bunch of Homeland Security people (the roleplayesr like myself and some administrative people) there in the breakfast area. The Homeland Security employees generally held Southern accents and had a very jovial attitude. They weren't exactly "shaken but not stirred." Their attitude and commentary for all the time I spent with them reminded me a lot of your average middle class white male who hangs his Confederate Flag "right" and goes about in his business. I believe the only people who actually had jobs at Homeland were my sister's boss (a notorious perv; let us hope he does not go bill clinton on my sister), and two older men. The rest of the roleplayers (there were 6 of us) were a diverse group:
1 Homeland director of GT (I wasn't aware colleges had to have their own homeland security branch -- can't let those college kids dissent!)
2 college interns about my sister's age
1 Coca Cola security management guy
1 Former police (maybe, not sure what he was)
Me
As you can see, I was basically the only real civilian there. The college interns were in government already; I was just the other intern's brother.
We went up to the hotel room, and we all sat around the head guy's laptop. He gave us all "scripts", made me quickly sign off some things I didn't have enough time to read, and we were very quickly briefed on what we had to do.
I had no idea I'd be doing something this massive, and I quickly became more than a little apprehensive.
The whole scenario was set up like this:
Everyone is given a map of the capitol building area (in atlanta) with little circles with "HS" numbers. These numbers correspond to different places in view of the capitol (the theory is you sit there and act like a terrorist by spying and taking notes).
The "scripts" are really just schedules. They tell you where and when to go. When you get to your place, you basically stand or sit or read something or look at the capitol. "Supicious behavior." Other than the 10-15 minute intervals where you have to go to a certain place, there really was no scripting at all.
I was dropped smack dab in the middle of a downtown atlanta, and I've never in my life been in an urban city alone. And all of this seemed to not dawn upon my sister.
I really should explain what the goal of all of this is, something I didn't understand until the end.
See, a homeland security class (a class mostly of old white males who looked to be ex-military/police) is looking for us 6 roleplayers. They are not told who we are or what we are supposed to do, but the class does set up an intricate system of cameras and agents across the area of the capitol and surrounding regions. See, I had no idea how the class was supposed to be going after us. I didn't even know they had cameras, and I was always afraid of some agent popping out from behind a bush and shooting me. The rest of the "roleplayers" pretty much had experience with Homeland, so they understood. I...well, I was confused.
I'm not sure if I even made it to my first point of where I had to go and act suspicious. After much labor, walking, and repeatedly almost being killed by cars, I made it to my second point: a set of swings outside of a war memorial. I can't remember if it was before this or after this point, but my sister soon called and told me that there were about 20 reports of suspiciousness already filed by the spy team, and I was in two of them. I later learned I was actually being referred to as "Arab", "Middle Easterner", and "Asian." Well, hey, Homeland Security, 1 for 3!
There were large gaps of time between the various points I had to arrive at, so I just did a lot of walking. My sister's phone call had me apprehensive, and I was sure that agents must've been following me everywhere. And that wasn't entirely inaccurate. I traveled through many streets and poor areas, and I also gave money to three homeless people. My sister had called again before all that and was telling me that I was on the "board" a lot. I guess the spy people really liked to go after me...
I began to wonder if everyone around was an agent -- I even passed on giving a homeless man money once because of it (don't worry, I returned a few seconds later and swallowed my fear to do the right thing).
I've never been alone in an urban environment; I grew up in the suburbs. It was a strange enough experience on its own, but the presence of 25 or so spies doing everything to observe and track me made it terrifying. I was really becoming paranoid of a city that I, in other circumstances, would really enjoy. I was moving quickly from place to place, and I always made sure to not linger anywhere or reveal my indentity. I knew what it was like to be the hunted in the police's often-had game of cat and mouse. "Terrifying" is a pretty accurate word.
During all of this, I steadfastly believed that the spy team was trying to catch me. I later learned that all they were doing was observing. This fallacy of mine lead to a pretty funny incident.
Earlier, I went into the capitol building -- for a rest and a little relief from being watched from every direction. I looked for intern opportunities and talked to some people, but I really don't think I ever want to be an intern. Between Atlanta and DC's interns I think I've seen all I ever want to of that profession.
My sister called me and told me that the Governer would be speaking at 1:00 PM. So I went to capitol again, and I stood with maybe 2 dozen people, mostly reporters and government-tied people. I was tired, so I sat down. I saw two people standing near me talking. One was a college boy with horribly geeky sunglasses. The other was a girl who reminded me a lot of my cousins (european-asian mix). They were talking about security inside the capitol, and about how they didn't know what the governer was coming to talk about. I really began to become suspicious of them, and I witholded the urge to talk to them. Soon, my sister confirmed my fears. She texted something to the phone I was carrying (a borrowed cell phone, I really don't need my own): "those 2 guys, the guy and the girl r our people." I yelled her name into the phone, thinking she was trying to talk, not text. I'm not sure if I made a big mistake, because the effects were not immediately clear. The girl mentioned my sister's name -- I'm not sure if it was because she had heard me or because she was just having unrelated conversation (something she hinted at in the conclusion to it all). At that point, I stood up. I moved more into the crowd -- and that's when I took off running. I ran along the side of the capitol building and then around and then down a totally separate street.
The Homeland Security folks had a great laugh, because they were in the third story of the capitol building, looking down at me. Even the other more-experienced roleplayers did not think that Homeland was using arial viewing. I thought there were just spy teams...
So, at the conclusion to all of this, I went with the Homeland Security people and my sister to the classroom, where all the spy team students were (again, students implies college age but that was the minority).
All of the roleplayers stood in front of the class (including me), and we read off our schedules. Not suprisingly, pretty much every one of us was carefully observed and found out. We tried to point out agents that we may've spotted (in other words, they blew their cover), but we were mostly wrong; I did find the two "interns", with their horrible acting.
I know I tried to make my story sound humorous or fun, but I actually am very much scared after doing all of this. I have always held a healthy hatred of the very system of police, law and order. But I really feel most people would be anxious to find hundreds of secret agents following them. I think most people would generally be scared of the incredible power, efficiency, and oversight I witnessed the Department of Homeland Security to have. They have agents all over our country, most likely. They are in the streets you walk in, the parks you dream in, the playgrounds you bring your children to. They have surveillance and camera equipment everywhere -- to such an extent to where they perfectly viewed me (even after a shirt change I pulled) all over the city, in my many attempts to lose the prying eye of something I couldn't see.
The people at Homeland were nice. They reminded me very much of the arrogant, white male, in his very definition; but they were definitely jolly people. Like I said before, my sister's boss is a perv, and he dresses like his job is beach cruising. But they serve an organization which uses an incredible amount of deadly power to protect a very cruel and elite system, and I am very scared that they have so much power over all of us, power I witnessed firsthand.
Any violent path to trying to overthrow the system would fall flaty on its face when guards like these are employed, and any nonviolent path is blocked by the influence and propoganda of the wealthy. And even if the majority does decide against the system, like it has twice, maybe more in american history, the strong can give their guards new powers -- like infiltration and attacks on nonviolent radical groups in the 60's and brutality towards war resisters in WW1 -- which will ensure survival of the system.
The more I see of the federal government firsthand -- from my viewing of the senate and house floor live to my day with homeland security -- the more I turn towards the ideals of the violent anarchist. Didn't JFK say, "Those who make nonviolent revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevittable"? Of course, you have to take his words outside the context of his actions, because he suppressed democracy all over the world; but the point is, his words are incredibly true.
The real question is: What if both are impossible?
To end on a humorous note and not to let everyone feel down in the dumps: I now will be looking over my shoulder until probably the day I die, considering I now know how pervasive, secretive, and powerful the american police state can be. Great fun.
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