In the “Land of the Free”, what makes a person “Free”? Is it possible that our freedoms have changed over time in ways that we have never considered? And is it possible that the life you live, here in the United States, is not nearly as “Free” as you think it is?

The Patriot Act

For those of you who are unaware of what the Patriot Act is, it was a law passed by both political parties, following 9/11, that allowed government agencies to conduct a search without probable cause, in the name of “preventing terrorism”.

If this sounds to you like a violation of the 4th Amendment, that’s because it is! According to the ACLU, “Under the Patriot Act, National Security Letters (NSLs) are issued by FBI agents, without a judge's approval, to obtain personal information, including phone records, computer records, credit history, and banking history.” (1). In contrast, the 4th Amendment says, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” (2).

What troubles me the most about the Patriot Act, is it resembles the same methods countries like Germany and the USSR used against it’s own citizens to justify concentration camps, in the case of Germany, or forced-labor camps, in the case of the USSR.

Britannica explains, “Some of this repression (in the USSR) was accomplished through the regular courts, but much of it occurred through the state security apparatus, which had the authority to imprison anyone without a trial. In high-profile, carefully scripted purge trials, perceived political opponents of the government were convicted of heinous offenses that they had not committed.” (3).

The question of whether the US is borrowing tactics from the USSR has to be answered. If you read our Constitutional Bill of Rights, read the laws imposed by Stalin in the USSR, and then, lastly, read the Patriot Act, the hair on the back of your neck should stand straight up!

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

Before the Patriot Act was conceived, the US government had already taken steps to develop a complex surveillance operation for all communications from the US to other countries. On October 25, 1978, the FISA Court was created, with the intent to preserve national intelligence secrecy, with legitimacy. The FISA website makes this clear by saying, “the Court entertains applications submitted by the United States Government for approval of electronic surveillance, physical search, and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes.” (4).

The National Security Agency

The NSA, jokingly referred to as “No Such Agency”, is responsible for monitoring, collecting, and processing data for not only international communications, but also domestic/civilian communications. And as crazy as this sounds, they are very open about the fact that they conduct surveillance operations within the United States, in accordance with FISA. The NSA says on their own website, “The FISA of 1978 codifies rules for requesting authorization to collect electronic communications within the United States by compelling assistance from U.S service providers.” (5).

Simply put, this means that the NSA, because of the FISA laws, is allowed to force US companies to share civilian communications with them, for the purpose of National Intelligence.

The latest example that we have seen of this occurring in broad daylight was the Twitter Files, released by Elon Musk shortly after he acquired the company, showing that agencies under the Federal Government, worked hand-in-hand with the company to censor the release of information regarding Hunter Biden, January 6th, and most importantly, how they “shadow ban”, or censor the posts of prominent individuals who do not align with the views held by these security agencies.

While it is true the majority of censorship regarding the Twitter Files aimed at silencing the voices of republicans before, during, and after the 2020 election, it should be noted that NSA is NOT a democratic agency. I would strongly urge anyone reading this to understand that the purpose of censorship is politically motivated, but not for the purpose of any particular political party. In fact, some of the most prominent investigative journalists do not refer to the United States as a democracy, but as an oligarchy, meaning that the country is run by the most powerful individuals, who do not care one way or another about political parties. To these oligarchs, they donate millions and billions to organizations on both sides of the isle, not because they are interested in politics, but because they benefit from society destroying itself in the name of the political parties.

I strongly believe that the tension we see between the political parties is an illusion: it is a distraction to allow oligarchs to push for the passing of laws, such as FISA, or the Patriot Act, so that their companies can work hand-in-hand with the government legally, without any ramifications.

The Central Intelligence Agency

The CIA is likely the most well-known intelligence agency in the US, alongside the work done by the FBI. According to their own website, “The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) collects, evaluates, and disseminates vital information on economic, military, political, scientific, and other developments abroad to safeguard national security.” (6).

Below is a list of 10 controversies surrounding the actions of the CIA since inception:

1. Domestic wiretapping (“Operation Mockingbird”) of anti-war protestors of the Vietnam War. Source: NPR (6).

2. Extraordinary rendition (kidnapping to another country) over 100 people in the European Union through “Secret Detention Centers”. Source: NPR (6).

3. Human Rights violations and torture of muslims living in the Unites States following 9/11. Source: The Guardian, about Abu Zubaydah, one of the men who was tortured.

4. Citizen surveillance operations uncovered by Edward Snowden, forcing him to flee the United States.

5. Recruitment of Nazis, for the purpose of using their skills and suppressing their criminal pasts.

6. Iran-Contra affair where the CIA orchestrated a secret sale of weapons to Iran under the Reagan administration. The CIA used the proceeds to fund rebels to fight the government of Nicaragua.

7. Allegations, currently unproven in court, of the CIA involvement of illegal heroine trade in the “Golden Triangle” of Burma, Thialand, and Laos. This story was uncovered by Alfred McCoy and The Rolling Stones in the 1970’s.

8. In France, labs ran by the Corsican Gang were simultaneously producing illegal heroine, and being guaranteed protection by the CIA in return for intelligence against the French Communists.

9. Editing information on Wikipedia. Source: Wikipedia!! (LOL)

10. Use of a vaccination program in Pakistan to collect DNA to try to track down Osama bin Laden or his relatives. The program was unsuccessful, and the hired physician was sent to prison for life.

Conclusion

When you take a step back and look at the brief summaries provided above, it is hard to argue that we the people are as free as we would like to think. While the information I have provided is all public record, with decades of reports, names, and documents, there are still people out there who brush off all of the information as “unproven conspiracy theories”. As a man who is driven by data, and science, I do not spend my time looking into stories that cannot be proven reasonably with a decent amount of evidence. I am certainly no conspiracy theorist! However, the purpose of this article is to show that there are so many things that we the taxpayer are funding that we are unaware of. How many people know that the CIA and NSA are not, and have never been elected officials? They have been assigned by politicians that are elected, and funded by lobbyist organizations. Once more, I do not believe for a second that the ruling class of the United States cares one iota about the specifics of the political parties. I find it far more convincing that they are interested in promoting their agenda, whatever that may be. The CIA, NSA, etc. are nothing more than tools used by the political system to promote this agenda, in the same way the World Health Organization has received billions of dollars from Bill Gates. It is the same story, different organizations.

I have attached sources below for all of the topics briefly summarized above.

1. [https://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/surveillance-under-patriot-act]

2. [https://billofrightsinstitute.org/primary-sources/bill-of-rights]

3. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Soviet-law]

4. [https://www.fisc.uscourts.gov/about-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-court]

5. [https://www.nsa.gov/Signals-Intelligence/]

6. [https://www.npr.org/2007/06/22/11271829/cia-kidnapping-wiretapping-of-60s-70s-revealed]

7. [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/29/the-cia-lied-to-justify-torturing-one-prisoner-after-911-20-years-later-his-story-is-still-shrouded-in-secrecy]

8. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_CIA\_controversies]