Domestic Constabulary Forces take Shape

The News: Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford: "It's very important to emphasize that cases like this one are central to the United States government's efforts to neutralize the threat posed by terrorists and those who support them. I also want to mention that this particular case has long demonstrated the importance of integrating intelligence and traditional law enforcement tool in order to protect and to preserve national security and I think it stands as a great example of what can be accomplished when those things are combined."

The Note: Back in late 1970's when the FISA Court was first established it was considered essential to keep traditional law enforcement and intelligence radically separate in order protect national constitutionalism. It was understood that once the two functions and hitherto distinct objectives were fused, limits on ordinary law enforcement would succumb to the demands of secret operations and foreign intelligence. At that point, the combined intelligence-enforcement services become constabulary forces, just like the ones we have in Iraq. [See Constabulism ] At the same time, the fusion produces a terminological inflation whereby ordinary crime (which presents only a minor threat to society) and terrorism (which potentially could present a major threat) also become mentally fused. It was not ex nihilo that in totalitarian states people end up getting Gulag'd or shot in the neck for stealing a bar of soap.

©Barfo, 2007
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