http://www.disinfo.com/disinfo?p=drawer&category=Police+State
The RISS Files
Ideological surveillance of the citizenry is a time-honored practice notorious among totalitarian regimes. This simplistic (yet effective) instrument of state power not only discourages dissent, but also creates the vast illusion that security forces are seemingly ubiquitous and all knowing. The final goal of this pernicious policy is the complete atomization of the population who become unable to work together or speak their minds lest they receive an authoritarian knock at the door.
In America, history shows the FBI, NSA, and CIA are no less determined to keep watch on alleged political subversives. Fortunately, budget constraints and limited manpower have long obstructed the implementation of this systemic form of mass coercion. But the advent of the information age coupled with the US national hysteria over domestic terrorism may signal the beginning of a new era. Each and every day, the names of political activists are being added to a vast law enforcement data bank known as the Regional Information Sharing System (RISS).
This little-known program, funded through the Department of Justice (DOJ), has become a focal point of controversy after a report appeared in the Paris-based Intelligence newsletter alleging that US counterintelligence operatives were observing and documenting "any political group deemed to be a threat" at the Washington D.C anti-International Monetary Fund protests (April, 2000).
According to the article, the data was then uploaded and stored for future use in the six regional RISS centers located throughout the United States. The unnamed source who provided the document also maintains that these intelligence gathering efforts were designed to allow police to "find links between the movements, look into their finances, telephone calls and membership lists."
As this unholy alliance of RISS techno-spooks, military intelligence, and law enforcement began surfacing in conspiracy circles and among members of the anti-global movement, John Foster "Chip" Berlet of Political Research Associates (PRA) questioned the veracity of the report which he deemed a mere "rumor." Additionally, in a widely circulated e-mail, Berlet warned that the assertions imply that "the US government has a vast domestic intelligence operation that is able to spy on every activist, which is false and could scare people away from activism."
Jim Redden, author of the book Snitch Culture (Los Angeles: Feral House, 2000) strongly disagrees. "Whether they’re actually spying on every activist, we don’t know, but they’re certainly capable of it. They’re definitely spying on the leaders of the anti-globalization movement," he observes. Redden points out that members of law enforcement can enter any individual into the RISS system at their own discretion. "If you’re charged with a crime, even jaywalking, that’s all it takes to stick you into the system," he remarks.
Once entered into the RISS directory of dissidents, there is no escaping the all-seeing eye of the national security state. The files are available in 50 states to over 5,300 law enforcement agencies. Redden believes the usage of this electronic blacklist to target anti-globalist protesters is yet another sign that law enforcement have shifted their priorities in the undeclared "war" on domestic terrorism.
Having absorbed members of the high-profile "patriot" movement into their vast clearinghouse of suspected conspirators, evidence seems to show that leftist, anarchist, and environmental factions have emerged as the new public enemy.
Add this diverse political demographic to the many drug war opponents whose right to right to free speech is also under attack and one cannot help but notice that the definition of "acceptable" political speech is becoming increasingly narrow - an ominous development to any free society.
Research by Cletus Nelson cletus@disinfo.net
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