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Republicans’ tipster immunity is half the answer…
By WDavidStephenson | July 26, 2007
I support the measure that Republicans insisted be added to the Homeland Security bill to would give immunity to tipsters reporting possible terrorist acts, but only if that’s coupled with the kind of active, creative public outreach program by DHS I’ve called for in the past to educate us about what terrorism is — and isn’t.
The measure came about, in part, because of the brouhaha caused when several Muslim clerics were removed from a Minneapolis flight after other passengers complained about their behavior. It’s still unclear, at least to me, where the truth lies on that particular incident (it seemed to me the clerics were a little too over-the-top, but it also seems they had no malicious intent. We’ll leave that one to the courts..), but it also seemed to me that the incident revealed that:
- we need to have the public feel comfortable reporting what they really think might be threatening actions
- we also need informative and effective public outreach programs so that people won’t confuse legitimate religious practices with terrorism.
As I’ve written before, Pennsylvania has such a model, and the feds aren’t even close to anything resembling either an effective public education program, or, for that matter, an effective means for the public to report suspicious activity (BTW, when I sent the FBI, via the so-called tip form, a little heads-up that I’d called attention to their idiocy on this issue, needless to say, there was zero response. I guess they just added it to my file, in there with the picture of me in the same cast of Richard III with Aldrich Ames back in 1958, and the one of me with Kathy Boudin from 1963 when we were on the coordinating committee for a civil rights conference. But I digress…)
So let’s give immunity to people who in good faith report suspicious activity, but let’s make certain they know what really is suspicious (even better, BTW, using an online process can introduce a number of procedural hurdles that will make it clear to tipsters that they are criminally and financially liable for intentional falsehoods, as well as an interactive process that would help refresh their memories so the information is actually helpful, as contrasted to the lame FBI form, which simply presents a big white box for comments, with zero guidance as to what might be helpful. Hello, anyone thinking over there at the Hoover Building?? [Given the FBI’s monumental record of utter failure in all things technologically, I suspect the answer is no, they aren’t thinking..]).
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homeland security DHS FBI Department of Homeland Security War on Terror terrorism antiterrorism smart mobs swarm intelligence emergent behavior networked homeland security government IT collaboration civil liberties
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