Is Pentagon Creating a Secret Police Force?

[AGENDA21]

April 12, 2006 - A threatened turf grab by a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit is causing concern among both privacy experts and some of the Defense Department’s own personnel.

An informal panel of senior Pentagon officials has been holding a series of unannounced private meetings during the past several weeks about how to proceed with a possible merger between the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), a post-9/11 Pentagon creation that has been accused of domestic spying, and the Defense Security Service (DSS), a well-established older agency responsible for inspecting the security arrangements of defense contractors. DSS also maintains millions of confidential files containing the results of background investigations on defense contractors’ employees.

The merger was initially suggested by a government commission set up to recommend military base closures last year. The commission said that the Pentagon could achieve some savings by relocating both CIFA, now housed in a building near Washington’s Reagan National Airport and DSS, headquartered in nearby Alexandria, Va. The panel suggested moving the two agencies to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., where FBI training and laboratory facilities are also based.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission also suggested that the Pentagon could “disestablish” CIFA and DSS and “consolidate their components into the Department of Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12290187/site/newsweek/

[ninkasi]

1. I'll just bet

that the Libertarian types, and some "small-government" right-wingers are gonna love this! If they haven't become frightened by the fascist state America is becoming, they'd better pay more attention. Couple this with the detention centers KBR is building, and it's pretty scary.

[Jara sang]

2. Don't you mean "Washington National Airport"?

I don't know where that other place is, per haps some cuckoo fantasy world.

[donkeyotay]

3. Who could have imagined the day would come when the military spying

on citizens isn't even a news story.

I think that part of the problem with the gummit talking about domestic spying is that, as Bamford put it, they've turned the Big Ear inward, on us. That would mean they're spying of everybody. People would talk.

[lovuian]

4. The SS is this the new agency... The inner Pentagon

which all the rest are flunkies... Its just another way of Bush taking over the military... thats why Rumsfeld had to stay...

[cornermouse]

5. Surely this can't be a surprise.

Unlimited cash pouring in without any accoutability or oversight courtesy Bush. More money than they know what to do with or how to spend.

[Neil Lisst]

6. they're creating an army to use on domestic targets.