Meanwhile, in Top Secret America, examples abound on how out of control our government became after the attacks in trying to secure the homeland.
Priest and Arkin write about how the Department of Homeland Security helped the Memphis Police Department purchase 90 surveillance cameras, as well as radios, robotic surveillance equipment, a mobile command center, and three bomb-sniffing dogs. Forget the fact that in the past decade there hasn't been a solid terrorism case in Memphis. Examples like that happened all across the country over the past decade.
With all of the emphasis on spending that Republicans in Congress are focused on over the past year, it makes you wonder where the scrutiny has been on this mass expansion of not only government spending, but government power. "Big government," to the max, as Andrew Breitbart and other conservatives label it.
When asked by CL earlier this week if the spending on national security over the past decade has been disproportionate, Priest, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, agreed, saying, "There's not even been an honest description about what terrorism is. The Al-Qaeda network is greatly reduced - almost defeated completely by some of the better organizations here, and yet officials continue to talk as if we should be as worried as we were after 9/11. And so the first step is to really have an honest dialogue, which means information that's secret needs to be declassified and spoken honestly with the American people."
Theoretically Congress has oversight over the programs that have been put into place in the U.S. regarding national security, but Dana Priest says that's somewhat misleading.
"When you look at the reality, several committees on the Hill, it's a unique role. Because no one from the outside can look inside. These are the only outsiders that can look inside. And yet, there's only (literally) one handful of staffers who have the clearances and the authority to look at various programs and they are completely overwhelmed by their task."
Priest says members of Congress are frustrated by this situation. She says after the Washington Post ran her and Arkin's series (also called Top Secret America), she was approached by "many" members of Congress (including some on the Intelligence Committee) who told her that they had a difficult time gaining access. "How can we get more information?" they asked her.
"I was pretty shocked to hear them ask me that question, when they are the people who are supposed to be demanding information."
The news that federal authorities are investigating a possible terrorist threat in New York City or Washington D.C., just days before the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, only reinforces part of the message that comes from the new book Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State, written by Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and William Arkin.
The New York Times reports that a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Matt Chandler, called the threat “specific, credible, but unconfirmed.“ Another official said American intelligence agencies were urgently pursuing leads overseas in an effort to gauge the seriousness of the threat.
NYC and DC were the sites of the attacks on the U.S., and they have always been most vulnerable. But that's not how our government has reacted domestically over the past decade. Don't agree? Did you see this report on PBS's NewsHour by Daniel Zwerdling about what's been going on at the Mall of America in Minneapolis?
Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.
