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Secrets: The CIA's War at Home

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"Secrets: The CIA's War at Home" might strike a lot of people as whacked out conspiracy theory or anti-government propaganda but it is neither of those things. Using his own well-documented historical and journalistic research, Angus McKenzie demonstrates that for decades the CIA, FBI, DOD (Department of Defense) and other American intelligence organizations targeted American citizens for espionage, harassment, and slander in a manner that eroded their First Amendment rights but had practically nothing to do with national security.

American intelligence organizations frequently spied on and subverted their own people to prevent political opposition to the Vietnam War, to conceal illegal activities such as the Iran/Contra scandal, or simply to hide corruption and bureaucratic waste from the legislative branch of government and the American people. In one appalling example, a government appointed efficiency expert was not allowed to report wasteful Pentagon expenditures to his supervisors in congress because this information was considered classified. American intelligence agencies in fact retain the power to determine that any information is classified and they can use this mandate to fire or prosecute employees even for reporting trivial facts to the public such as the contents of a White House menu. Sadly enough America's intelligence agencies could not have made such a drastic legal and illegal assault on the First Amendment without the cooperation of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), the media, and the legislative branch of government, all of whom were either duped or cowed into acquiescence.

The most frightening part of this book is its revelation that when American intelligence agencies ran out of excuses to justify their anti-First Amendment activities they raised the specter of terrorism. One can only imagine the further corruption, illegal activity, and constitutional abuses that American intelligence agencies will perpetuation against their own people now that terrorism is a legitimate threat. If history repeats it self, then these abuses will stem from the need to conceal corruption and criminal activity but will have little to do with combating terrorism.

Anyone who is willing to give some of the Bill of Rights to gain percieved security needs to read this book. It will help you to understand that the KGB wasn't the only organization to spy on and intimidate (or worse) it's own citizens. Not a quick read as Mr. Mackenzie wasn't a polished author. It does drag a little in some spots.

Yes, it is an age old struggle that is documented in these pages, but it should frighten the hell out of you! Sometimes, we are lulled into complacency by the ubiquitous images of malevolent governmental abuse of power portrayed throughout the fiction industry (books and movies). Of course, as a book like this reminds us, it ain't fiction! So, if you enjoy reading political science, current events, espionage thrillers, fiction or horror, you will enjoy this book.

The background to MacKenzie's book is Harold Koh's "The National Security Constitution: Sharing Power after the Iran-Contra Affair". The National Security Constitution: Sharing Power after the Iran-Contra Affair (Yale Fastback Series) Koh identifies the tremendous swing of power to the Executive office that took place after a new power center was set up in the 1947 law authorizing a select body to coordinate military planning with foreign policy.
From the State Department's web site:
[...]
The Council itself included the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and other members (such as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency), who met at the White House to discuss both long-term problems and more immediate national security crises. A small NSC staff was hired to coordinate foreign policy materials from other agencies for the President. Beginning in 1953 the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs directed this staff. Each President has accorded the NSC with different degrees of importance and has given the NSC staff varying levels of autonomy and influence over other agencies such as the Departments of State and Defense.
MacKenzie outlines how the language of the National Security act was used by powerful people in the CIA during the Vietnam war protest to censor, harass, imprison, and illegally gather intimate information on many American citizens. An excerpt from the Code itself:
SEC. 103. (50 U.S.C. 403-3]
"The Director shall prescribe appropriate security requirements for personnel appointed from the private sector as a condition of service on the Council, or as contractors of the Council or employees of such contractors, to ensure the protection of intelligence sources and methods while avoiding, wherever possible, unduly intrusive requirements which the Director considers to be unnecessary for this purpose. . .
(c) HEAD OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY. - In the Director's capacity as head of the intelligence community, the Director shall -
protect intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure;
In another related book describing the CIA's control of the U. S. media The Assassinations: Probe Magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK, and Malcolm X the reader can learn how the CIA cultivates steady relations with major figures in the written and video media to ensure that the American body politic remains comatose about the burning issues of the day. The facts in this book again show how media figures, are controlled, influenced and otherwise directed by CIA sources that often wine and dine the reporters they want to sway into their camp.

Well the CIA does spy on USA citizens but the book failed to mention that a lot of the spying goes on in the Federal Prisons. One such important Federal Prisons is Butner FCI, Butner, NC. Its Prison, "which I read about" is the greatest in surveillence and misinformation and disinformation in the Prison-with false identification with individuals who reside there-claiming they did some "violation of the Federal law"-but in actuality it is nothing but a "front story for the agent" to figure out your case.If you were a inmate. Your surrounded by prisoners, who "claim they are", but really are working for the US Government to figure out your case.

The last thing I want to do is read some dissident's views. Activists generally don't like America and / or find fault with it. The author clearly falls into this camp. He speaks about a CIA that used-to-be for the protection of our liberty. The fact that this book got published is evidence of a new leftist-leaning agency. Sure, harassment exists today, but it is directed at patriots who couldn't get their real life stories of harassment published. I know because I am a target of it.