Sandra Finley

2011-03-10 Myths for Profit: Canada’s Role In Industries of War and Peace’ + “From Military-Industrial Complex to Permanent War State” + from William Hartung “Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military Industrial Complex.

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 102011
 

CONTENTS

  1. AMY MILLER’S  “MYTHS FOR PROFIT:  CANADA’S ROLE IN INDUSTRIES OF WAR AND PEACE”
  2. GARETH PORTER, FROM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TO PERMANENT WAR STATE, (Common Dreams, January 17)
  3. WILLIAM HARTUNG, AUTHOR OF “PROPHETS OF WAR” WRITES TO US (January 16, 2011) 
  4. COMMENTS 

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1.   AMY MILLER’S “MYTHS FOR PROFIT:  CANADA’S ROLE IN INDUSTRIES OF WAR AND PEACE” 

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1518666265/   

Amy is a long-time member of our network.   She makes an important contribution to seeing ourselves (Canadians) as we really are: peace-keepers or the makers of violence?

I hope that the posting on the armoured vehicles that are appearing in Canadian cities (March 7, 2011)  will add to understanding the truth of Amy’s message, one we would prefer to deny.  

Leo Kurtenbach draws a reality of the war industries to attention,  but it is a reality that can be challenged : 

“   —  Read the words of Chris Hedges, … a few excerpts from an  article published  January 10th 2011.— 

“Power does not rest with the electorate. It does not reside with either of the two major political parties”—

“Power rests with the corporations. And corporations gain very lucrative profits from war, even wars we have no chance of winning”

We contribute to the wars, but there has been no bombing in Canada.  So far, we live in luxery. 

When you add the armoured vehicles that are now being trotted out in Canadian cities, a contribution we make to the profits of the war-mongers,  we are well-advised to hear the words of Gareth Porter (item # 2) even though they are addressed to an American audience.   Porter speaks of a grassroots movement that requires “a massive educational .. effort“.    Many thanks to Amy for her contribution to our education.   We can all aid that education by … (you know!).

Gareth Porter (FROM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TO PERMANENT WAR STATE)   writes:  “ The only thing missing from this picture is a grassroots political movement organized specifically to demand an end to the Permanent War State. Such a movement could establish firm legal restraints on the institutions that threaten American Democratic institutions through a massive educational and lobbying effort. This is the right historical moment to harness the latent anti-militarist sentiment in the country to a conscious strategy for political change. “   

Back to Amy’s work:

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1518666265/   

hi Sandra,
thanks for this. I would suggest you consider adding a bit about the ‘Making War in Canada’ map as I think it is very relevant.

http://wideopenexposure.com/product/making-war-canada-map

‘Making war in Canada’ 24” X 32” map

‘Making War in Canada’ companion map to documentary ‘Myths for Profit’ Canada’s role in Industries of War and Peace’. Canada’s military industrial complex is alive and growing yet many people are surprised to learn this. Beyond the military bases that train the troops, the think tanks, media outlets and government offices that provide diplomatic, political or financial support to the Department of Defence, Canada has hundreds of companies that produces arms and components for weapon systems that are used in wars all over the world. This map shows only a small fraction of the Canadian companies and other support systems that are profiting from conflicts and war.

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2.     GARETH PORTER, FROM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TO PERMANENT WAR STATE, (Common Dreams, January 17, 2011)  

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/17-6

Fifty years after Dwight D. Eisenhower’s January 17, 1961 speech on the “military-industrial complex”, that threat has morphed into a far more powerful and sinister force than Eisenhower could have imagined.  It has become a “Permanent War State”, with the power to keep the United States at war continuously for the indefinite future.

But despite their seeming invulnerability, the vested interests behind U.S. militarism have been seriously shaken twice in the past four decades by some combination of public revulsion against a major war, opposition to high military spending, serious concern about the budget deficit and a change in perception of the external threat.  Today, the Permanent War State faces the first three of those dangers to its power simultaneously — and in a larger context of the worst economic crisis since the great depression.

When Eisenhower warned in this farewell address of the “potential” for the “disastrous rise of misplaced power”, he was referring to the danger that militarist interests would gain control over the country’s national security policy. The only reason it didn’t happen on Ike’s watch is that he stood up to the military and its allies.
The Air Force and the Army were so unhappy with his “New Look” military policy that they each waged political campaigns against it. The Army demanded that Ike reverse his budget cuts and beef up conventional forces. The Air Force twice fabricated intelligence to support its claim that the Soviet Union was rapidly overtaking the United States in strategic striking power — first in bombers, later in ballistic missiles.

But Ike defied both services, reducing Army manpower by 44 percent from its 1953 level and refusing to order a crash program for bombers or for missiles.  He also rejected military recommendations for war in Indochina, bombing attacks on China and an ultimatum to the Soviet Union.

 After Eisenhower, it became clear that the alliance of militarist interests included not only the military services and their industrial clients but civilian officials in the Pentagon, the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, top officials at the State Department and the White House national security adviser.  During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, that militarist alliance succeeded in pushing the White House into a war in Vietnam, despite the reluctance of both presidents, as documented in my book Perils of Dominance.

But just when the power of the militarist alliance seemed unstoppable in the late 1960s, the public turned decisively against the Vietnam War, and a long period of public pressure to reduce military spending began. As a result, military manpower was reduced to below even the Eisenhower era levels.

For more than a decade the alliance of militarist interests was effectively constrained from advocating a more aggressive military posture.

Even during the Reagan era, after a temporary surge in military spending, popular fear of Soviet Union melted away in response to the rise of Gorbachev, just as the burgeoning federal budget deficit was becoming yet another threat to militarist bloc.  As it became clear that the Cold War was drawing to a close, the militarist interests faced the likely loss of much of their power and resources.

But in mid-1990 they got an unexpected break when Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait. George H. W. Bush – a key figure in the militarist complex as former CIA Director — seized the opportunity to launch a war that would end the “Vietnam syndrome”.  The Bush administration turned a popular clear-cut military victory in the 1991 Gulf War into a rationale for further use of military force in the Middle East.  Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney’s 1992 military strategy for the next decade said, “We must be prepared to act decisively in the Middle East/Persian Gulf region as we did in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm if our vital interests are threatened anew.”
The Bush administration pressured the Saudis and other Arab regimes in the Gulf to allow longer-term bases for the U.S. Air Force, and over the next eight years, U.S. planes flew an annual average of 8,000 sorties in the “no fly zones” the United States had declared over most of Iraq, drawing frequent anti-aircraft fire.
The United States was already in a de facto state of war with Iraq well before George W. Bush’s presidency.

The 9/11 attacks were the biggest single boon to the militarist alliance. The Bush administration exploited the climate of fear to railroad the country into a war of aggression against Iraq.  The underlying strategy, approved by the military leadership after 9/11, was to use Iraq as a base from which to wage a campaign of regime change in a long list of countries.

That fateful decision only spurred recruitment and greater activism by al Qaeda and other jihadist groups, which expanded into Iraq and other countries.�
Instead of reversing the ill-considered use of military force, however, the same coalition of officials pushed for an even more militarized approach to jihadism.  Over the next few years, it gained unprecedented power over resources and policy at home and further extended its reach abroad: �
* The Special Operations Forces, which operate in almost complete secrecy, obtained extraordinary authority to track down and kill or capture al Qaeda suspects not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in many more countries.
* The CIA sought and obtained virtually unlimited freedom to carry out drone strikes in secrecy and without any meaningful oversight by Congress.
* The Pentagon embraced the idea of the “long war” – a twenty-year strategy envisioning deployment of U.S. troops in dozens of countries, and the Army adopted the idea of “the era of persistent warfare” as its rationale for more budgetary resources.
* The military budget doubled from 1998 to 2008 in the biggest explosion of military spending since the early 1950s – and now accounts for 56 percent of discretionary federal spending.
* The military leadership used its political clout to ensure that U.S. forces would continue to fight in Afghanistan indefinitely, even after the premises of its strategy were shown to have been false.�
Those moves have completed the process of creating a “Permanent War State” — a set of institutions with the authority to wage largely secret wars across a vast expanse of the globe for the indefinite future. �

But the power of this new state formation is still subject to the same political dynamics that have threatened militarist interests twice before: popular antipathy to a major war, broad demands for reduced military spending and the necessity to reduce the Federal budget deficit and debt.

The percentage of Americans who believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting has now reached 60 percent for the first time. And as the crisis over the federal debt reaches it climax, the swollen defense budget should bear the brunt of deep budget cuts. 

As early as 2005, a Pew Research Center survey found that, when respondents were given the opportunity to express a preference for budget cuts by major accounts, they opted to reduce military spending by 31 percent.  In another survey by the Pew Center a year ago, 76 percent of respondents, frustrated by the continued failure of the U.S. economy, wanted the United States to put top priority in its domestic problems.

The only thing missing from this picture is a grassroots political movement organized specifically to demand an end to the Permanent War State. Such a movement could establish firm legal restraints on the institutions that threaten American Democratic institutions through a massive educational and lobbying effort. This is the right historical moment to harness the latent anti-militarist sentiment in the country to a conscious strategy for political change.

———-
Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on U.S. national security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has written regularly for Inter Press Service on U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005. 

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3.    WILLIAM HARTUNG, AUTHOR OF “PROPHETS OF WAR” WRITES TO US: 

Sandra,

       Thanks so much for being in touch!  I had heard about the controversy over Lockheed Martin’s role in the Canadian census  from Steve Staples, who works in an Ottawa-based NGO.  

I have talked to Steve about doing a trip to Ottawa for some events related to my book, but haven’t figured out a date yet.

Don’t know if I can travel to other parts of the country or not.  The book tour has been great so far, but I am rapidly falling behind on other things, like fundraising so I can keep doing this work!  But I will think it over to see if I can find a way to do more than one set of events in Canada.

       I will look at the materials you have put up on the web, so as to better educate myself on Lockheed Martin’s role in Canada.  It’s such a huge octopus that there are whole areas of its work that I only managed to mention in the book, each of which might have merited a chapter or part thereof.  But hopefully the book will serve as a platform to deal with some of these issues in more depth.

     Keep up the great work you are doing, and thanks for spreading the word about the book.

Best,

Bill Hartung

William D. Hartung

Director, Arms and Security Initiative

New America Foundation

38 Greene St. 4th Floor

New York, NY 10013

(work) 212-431-5808

(cell) 917-923-3202

http://asi.newamerica.net/home

From: Sandra Finley   Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2011 4:34 PM
To: William Hartung
Subject: Lockheed Martin in Canada

Dear Mr. Hartung,

Do you have any cities in Canada on your book tour?  

Lockheed Martin’s role in the Canadian census is quite controversial here at the moment.   

I received a “guilty” verdict this Thursday past for failing to fill in my 2006 census form which I did not do because census work was out-sourced to the Lockheed Martin/IBM duo (same as in U.S.).  

You can imagine what a wonderful bit of serendipity your book is for me!

It would be an excellent time for you to be on talk-shows in Canada, if that is possible.   The next Canadian census is 4 months away (May 2011).

I am back in court Thur Jan 20 for sentencing. 

I have run an activist email network for 10 or 11 years.  I took down my website when I was charged in April 2008.   In the last 3 weeks I have hastily posted past emails on the Lockheed Martin issue.  Unfortunately I need more time to better present them, but the blog will nonetheless give you a better idea of what’s happening here in relation to Lockheed Martin:

www.sandrafinley.ca  ,  top – left tab “Pages”,   drop-down list,  click on “Lockheed …”

News of your book is circulating, at least in the email networks in Canada.

The verdict over the census is fairly controversial.  It’s not easy to get the Lockheed Martin name into the mainstream media, not in a way that informs the public.   The guilty verdict has actually been quite helpful.  Slowly a greater awareness is being created.  It started back in 2003 when activists first became aware of the census contracts.  We have capitalized on various opportunities since then – as I say, steadily growing awareness.

On the blog you will see news of the original launch for “Prophets of War”  and then today a post related to the video of the interview.

I can’t thank you enough for your book.  It is invaluable for our work.

Sincerely and best wishes,

Sandra Finley

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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4.  COMMENTARY

I think most of us know that people living OUTSIDE the U.S. have more information on what is being done in the name of Americans than the people living INSIDE the U.S., generally speaking.    

HOWEVER,  it is exactly the same here in Canada.  I remember the horror when a few years back I saw “Canada” included on the list of countries that manufacture cluster munitions.  Most of us are largely unaware of the bad things being done in our name.  People outside Canada are better informed than we are.  They are, and should be critical of us.  We should not be so self-satisfied as to believe that we do not suffer from the same ignorance as suffered by the Americans.  As Amy Miller’s video shows, the propaganda is effective.  We believe in a myth.

Crazy people: 

1.       The YouTube video (11-minutes) at  2011-01-18  (Jeremy Rifkin: The Empathic Civilization)  makes the point that nation states are artificial constructions pitting us against each other, when really we are connected.   

I notice the tension created by the nation state when I am writing, and so do you: 

“The Americans” is shorthand for “Corporate Interests”.   Every time I write “The Americans” in reference to warring ways or whatever bad thing, one of you will (thankfully) object.   

I will then point out that three out of four of my Grand Parents came from the USA, that I have good friends in the USA, we lived in North Carolina for a year and met the most wonderful people, and yes, I know it isn’t “the Americans” who are the culprits.  Most of them basically want what we want.  

Sometimes I will take time to add my tale of being in a black township in South Africa and the poignant lessons that they, too, only want what we want:  education for their children and a safe community in which to raise them.  We are all basically tied at the hip.   

And I will try again not to use the shorthand “The Americans” when I am pressed for time or space.   People in some countries, as documented in former emails (e.g. in relation to Canadian mining companies in South American countries),  now use “The Canadians” with the same venom on their tongue.

Words are important;  I become guilty of not-subtle “demonization” of the people in a different nation-state than my own when I use the lazy, unthoughtful shorthand.   I say – – it’s not the people.  BUT ACTUALLY, in a developed country like Canada IT IS US – because we have the means to stop what is being done in our name.

2.      And then there’s the damn other side:  I feel some pangs when I am quoting Dwight Eisenhower, a President of the U.S., or Thomas Jefferson, or Martin Luther King, or William Hartung or Gareth Porter.  Why am I not quoting Canadian wisdom?   Well – – I do that, too.   The important contributions of John Ralston Saul to our understanding, Jane Jacobs, Joel Bakan (The Corporation), David Suzuki, Maud Barlow, Steve Staples at ceasefire.ca, now Amy Miller and so on, the list is far too long to enumerate. 

The funny part of all this is that the only reason I feel those pangs (generated by nationalisim) is because I haven’t yet fully moved to the level of awareness of people like Jeremy Rifkin.  It is only a state of awareness; we are all people around the Earth in this together.  If we provide the money that enables the destruction of the homes of other people, in time it will all come back to us.  Combat vehicles in our cities is just another step toward that evolving state. 

Lockheed Martin may be American, but we have long been a part of the War Machine in ways hidden from us, but no longer. 

AND THEN, in a state of awareness, we can embrace the Empathic Civilization, joining hands with like minds – –   no matter where they live.   It really is an exciting time.  The momentum gathers. 

Paul Hawken’s book describes the force.  2007-06-10  Blessed Unrest & A Force More Powerful (non-violent resistance).   

It is important to connect our energy with that of people who share our work.  Amy has been a part of our network for some time.  We connected with Paul Hawken and his staff.   Now, William (Bill) Hartung – – his email in item #3.   

It is looking as though Father John Dear may not be able to make it to Saskatoon as earlier envisioned.  But that’s okay:  he and the others who are in Court over trespassing on Creech Air Force Base over Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (Lockheed Martin) know our network is behind them.   

man, we are stronger than rats and dragons

– and had forgotten it and always knew.  

(From   2011-01-13 “All our Cowardice and Servility” from the Museum of Non-violent Resistance at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin) 

Maybe we can make the industries of war in Canada and armoured vehicles in Canadian cities an election issue?

2011-03-08 Lockheed Martian & FBI – Next Generation Identification System (biometrics)

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 082011
 

The following are various news reports on the enlargement of the FBI’s capability, working with Lockheed Martin, for data bases that contain biometric information on citizens.   You will see the same thing as we saw here in Saskatoon for the announcement of Lockheed Martin’s $3.5 million donation to the Sask Indian Institute of Technology – – Lockheed Martin writes the news releases for the public entity (the FBI or SIIT) , a common practice.

CONTENTS

  1. Enlargement of FBI facility for “Next Generation Identification System”, article from local paper in West Virginia
  2. New American article, “FBI Announces Creation of Biometric Database“
  3. LOCKHEED MARTIN’S NEWS RELEASE ON THE “NEXT GENERATION IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM”
  4. THE ANNOUNCEMENT IN 2008, “LOCKHEED MARTIN AWARDED NEXT GENERATION IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM”

RELATED POST:   2009-07-01   The National Security Agency (NSA) is planning to build a $1.6 billion storage facility in Utah to warehouse personal data.

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1.  Enlargement of FBI facility for “Next Generation Identification System”, article from local paper in West Virginia

Bennett writes: 

I read the following and said to myself: “Shades of George Orwell and book 1984”    

March 21, 2011

CHARLESTON, W.Va. —

The Clarksburg FBI complex is taking part in a $1 billion project that will enable law enforcement agencies to identify criminals and terrorists by physical characteristics more quickly and accurately, an FBI official said Monday in Charleston. 

Earlier this month, the FBI center unveiled its “Next Generation Identification System,” which will slowly replace an older system that can no longer handle the volume of fingerprints sent to Clarksburg. 

“It’s bigger, better, faster,” said Stephen Morris, a deputy assistant director at the FBI Center. “It increases capacity and accuracy.” 

Morris spoke Monday at a Charleston Rotary Club luncheon at the Civic Center. 

The NGI system, built by Lockheed Martin, allows FBI employees to conduct automated fingerprint searches and exchange information with more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies. 

The FBI’s fingerprint examining staff also received new “advanced technology workstations” that will help increase accuracy, Morris said. 

Under the system, state and local police officers also will eventually use hand-held devices to scan suspects’ fingerprints and send the images electronically to the FBI center. 

“It’s a quick scan to let police officers know if they should let the person go, or take him into custody,” Morris said.  

In later stages, NGI system also will be expanded to include the analysis of palm prints, handwriting, faces, human irises and voices. 

“Our job is to study those and see how reliable they are for law enforcement,” Morris said. 

The FBI plans to increase the size of the Clarksburg complex significantly with the opening of a new 350,000-square-foot Biometric Technology Center in 2014, Morris said.  The FBI plans to share the facility with the U.S.Department of Defense. 

The FBI center, which opened in 1995, now has about 2,500 full-time workers and another 500 contract employees. 

The center analyzes and identifies nearly 168,000 fingerprints a day on average. The fingerprints are used to solve investigations, prevent crime and identify criminals and terrorists. 

Reach Eric Eyre at erice…@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.

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2.  New American article, “FBI Announces Creation of Biometric Database“

Written by Daniel Sayani   
Monday, 21 March 2011 15:04
2

The FBI announced last week that its new identification system has reached its initial operating capacity. Known as Next Generation Identification (NGI), the Lockheed Martin-built program serves as an incremental upgrade of the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or IAFIS — which will revolutionize law enforcement’s ability to process fingerprints.

NGI provides automated fingerprint and latent search capabilities, electronic image storage, and electronic exchange of fingerprints to more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies and other authorized criminal justice partners 24/7. Upon completion, the system will have the ability to process fingerprint transactions much more effectively and accurately.“The implementation announced today represents a tremendous achievement in enhancing our identification services. Already, we’re seeing how the NGI system is revolutionizing fingerprint identification in support of our mission,” said Louis E. Grever, executive assistant director of the FBI Science and Technology Branch.

“Lockheed Martin was there supporting the FBI when IAFIS went live in 1999, and we’re thrilled to be here for NGI today,” affirmed Linda Gooden, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions. “Technology like this is a powerful tool when it comes to protecting America’s citizens, and we’re proud to serve as a partner in that mission.”

“While IAFIS has been effective, criminal and terrorist threats have evolved over the past decade. Today’s environment demands faster and more advanced identification capabilities,” said Assistant Director Daniel D. Roberts, of the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division. “NGI represents a quantum leap in fingerprint identification that will help us in solving investigations, preventing crime, and apprehending criminals and terrorists.”

Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest recipient of defense industry contracts, and a leader in the field of biometrics, says that the new technology enhances the FBI’s background-check programs by giving investigators expanded and more timely access to fingerprints. They also note that they see the FBI contract as a means by which biometric surveillance can be increased: a press release from the defense contractor states that “[W]hile this meets the challenges of today, tomorrow holds the possibility of developing iris scanners, genetic scanners, and other advanced biometric solutions.“

The biometrics company was awarded the $1 billion contract to develop the new, enhanced identification system in February 2008. According to Leslie Holoweiko, a Lockheed representative, the company has also received government contracts to open the Biometric Experimentation and Advanced Concepts (BEACON™) center in White Hall, W.Va., to serve as a collaborative center in the development of integrated biometrics solutions for both current and future initiatives. She also indicates that the company is the lead systems integrator for the Registered Traveler program led by Verified Identity Pass, Inc. Lockheed is also the lead contractor for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program, a TSA initiative to protect ports by issuing a biometrically-based credential to vetted workers requiring unescorted access to the ports.

To date, the NGI system is the world’s largest biometric database, which the FBI expects to make available to a wide variety of federal, state, and local agencies, all in the name of keeping America safe from terrorists (and illegal immigration). The FBI also intends to retain (upon employer request) the fingerprints of any employee who has undergone a criminal background check, and will inform the employer if the employee is ever arrested or charged with a crime.

The Washington Post also says that the NGI database relies heavily upon real-time (or very nearly real-time) comparisons. This could include general face recognition, specific feature comparison (notable scars, shape of the earlobe, etc.), walking stride, speech patterns, and iris comparisons. To date, facial-recognition technology hasn’t exactly reshaped the face of law enforcement.

The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the increasing inability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people’s bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.

The use of biometric data is increasing throughout the government. For the past two years, the Defense Department has been storing in a database the images of fingerprints, irises, and faces of more than 1.5 million Iraqi and Afghan detainees, Iraqi citizens, and foreigners who need access to U.S. military bases. The Pentagon also collects DNA samples from some Iraqi detainees, which are stored separately.

The Department of Homeland Security has been using iris scans at some airports to verify the identity of travelers who have passed background checks and who want to move through lines quickly. The department is also looking to apply iris- and face-recognition techniques to other programs. The DHS already has a database of millions of sets of fingerprints, which includes records collected from U.S. and foreign travelers stopped at borders for criminal violations, from U.S. citizens adopting children overseas, and from visa applicants abroad. Therefore, there could be multiple records of one person’s prints.

“It’s going to be an essential component of tracking,” warned Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s enabling the Always On Surveillance Society.”

Advocates of civil liberties (inspired by John Locke’s belief that one’s natural rights to life, liberty, and property entail a fundamental right to be free from government intrusions into bodily autonomy) also are concerned that the creation of this biometric database can unconstitutionally infringe on the Fourth Amendment rights of the American people. (The New American discussed many of these concerns in a previous analysis of the DHS’s creation of a genetic scanning program, which could easily metastasize into a government DNA database.)

Privacy advocates also are concerned about the ability of people to correct false information. “Unlike say, a credit card number, biometric data is forever,” noted Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology forecaster. He voiced his concern that the FBI, whose computer technology record has been marred by expensive failures, could not guarantee the data’s security. “If someone steals and spoofs your iris image, you can’t just get a new eyeball,” explained.

By 2013, the FBI says that it hopes to expand the NGI system to “fuse” fingerprint-, face-, iris-, and palm-matching capabilities into one mega-database, according to Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI’s biometric services section chief. In addition, Lawrence Hornak, director of the West Virginia University Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), indicated that the government’s goal is “ubiquitous use of biometrics.” A traveler may walk down an airport corridor and allow his face and iris images to be captured without ever stepping up to a kiosk and looking into a camera, he said.

For those who champion constitutional rights, this latest milestone represents yet another step in the erosion of natural rights and individual liberties, and a turn toward a more robust, authoritarian police state.

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2.   New American article, “FBI Announces Creation of Biometric Database“

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/6771-fbi-announces-creation-of-biometric-database 
FBI Announces Creation of Biometric Database | Print |  E-mail

3.  LOCKHEED MARTIN’S NEWS RELEASE ON THE NEXT GENERATION IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2011/3-8-2011-fbi-announces-ngi-ioc.html

FBI Announces Initial Operating Capability for Next Generation Identification System

CLARKSBURG, W.Va., March 8th, 2011 — New technology designed to revolutionize law enforcement’s ability to process fingerprints has reached its initial operating capability, the FBI announced today.

The Next Generation Identification System (NGI), built by Lockheed Martin, delivers an incremental replacement of the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). NGI provides automated fingerprint and latent search capabilities, electronic image storage, and electronic exchange of fingerprints to more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies and other authorized criminal justice partners 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Upon completion, NGI will have the ability to process fingerprint transactions more effectively and accurately.

“The implementation announced today represents a tremendous achievement in enhancing our identification services. Already, we’re seeing how the NGI system is revolutionizing fingerprint identification in support of the FBI’s mission,” said Louis E. Grever, executive assistant director, FBI Science and Technology Branch.

“Lockheed Martin was there supporting the FBI when IAFIS went live in 1999, and we’re thrilled to be here for NGI today,” added Linda Gooden, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions. “Technology like this is a powerful tool when it comes to protecting America’s citizens, and we’re proud to serve as a partner in that mission.”

“While IAFIS has been effective, criminal and terrorist threats have evolved over the past decade. Today’s environment demands faster and more advanced identification capabilities,” said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division. “NGI represents a quantum leap in fingerprint identification that will help us in solving investigations, preventing crime, and apprehending criminals and terrorists.”

In addition to the new fingerprint identification technology, the NGI program has also delivered Advanced Technology Workstations to the FBI’s fingerprint examiner staff. The workstations include significantly larger display screens with higher resolution and true color support, allowing staff to see more detailed attributes of biometric data for more efficient decision-making. 

Lockheed Martin Media Contact: Kimberly Jaindl, kimberly.jaindl@lmco.com, 301-519-6400

FBI Media Contact: Criminal Justice Information Services Division, 304-625-5820, www.fbi.gov

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4.  THE ANNOUNCEMENT IN 2008, “LOCKHEED MARTIN AWARDED NEXT GENERATION IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM”

http://www.alienexistence.com/index.php?topic=1461.0 

Lockheed Martin awarded Next Generation Identification System
« on: February 13, 2008, 12:09:07 AM »
 
The FBI announced today it has awarded Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions the contract for the design, development, documentation, integration, testing, and deployment of the Next Generation Identification (NGI) System. The contract will consist of a base year and the potential for up to nine option years. The NGI System will expand on the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division’s current Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), which is primarily a fingerprint-based identification system operated and maintained in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The NGI System will provide improvements to current services and new functionality for the criminal justice, national security, and civil communities
 
The industry of identification systems is moving beyond dependency on a unimodal (e.g., fingerprint) biometric identifier and is beginning to incorporate multimodal biometrics such as iris and facial imaging. Due to the many issues associated with identity theft, lost and stolen documents, and the ability to spoof standard name-based identity management systems, coupled with the rapid advances in technology and the nation’s focus on combating terrorism, there are increasing needs for new and improved identification services. In line with this trend, the NGI System will advance the integration strategies and indexing of additional, lawfully authorized, biometric data, providing the framework for a future multimodal system which will facilitate biometric fusion identification techniques. This framework will be expandable, scalable, and flexible to accommodate new technologies and emerging biometrics standards, and will be interoperable with existing biometric systems.

It is important to note that the NGI system will not expand the categories of individuals from whom the fingerprints and biometric data may be collected; however it will allow for the collection of additional biometric data from criminals and terrorists. Although fingerprint data will remain the primary means of identification, the collection of additional biometric data will be used for investigative purposes and to assist in the identification process.

“IAFIS has been a fantastic tool in support of criminal justice and the war on terror. Our partners on the Advisory Policy Board (APB) and National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council have defined a need for more modern technology that supports their current mission requirements. NGI will give us bigger, better, faster capabilities and lead us into the future. We have added additional capabilities to our current system, and are working with the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, and State and the international law enforcement community in making our communities and nation safer. NGI will leverage the biometrics expertise in the north-central West Virginia area,” said Thomas E. Bush, III, Assistant Director of the FBI’s CJIS Division.

Committed to providing the highest quality biometric identification techniques, the FBI has employed a shared management approach with its partners through the CJIS APB and the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council to define the NGI System requirements and capabilities. These groups include representatives from criminal justice, national security, and civil agencies throughout the nation.

Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions will be developing the foundational framework which includes new technologies, emerging biometric standards, and interoperability with existing biometric systems. Additionally, Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions, along with the FBI, will conduct trade studies to support a multi-biometric framework as the new capabilities are phased in according to schedule throughout the development cycle. The NGI System will enhance fingerprint and latent print processing services, and increase system availability, accuracy, and capacity. The NGI System will provide enhancements to the FBI’s Interstate Photo System by expanding the photo repository and providing photo search capabilities. Improvements will further expand disposition submission capabilities. Furthermore, the IAFIS repository will be enhanced to improve its infrastructure, provide single identity management, and support new biometric modalities such as iris imaging. In addition, a National Palm Print System will be created to provide a centralized national repository for palm print data to allow for comparisons of latent palm prints left at crime scenes against that repository.

A full and open competition was used for the award of the NGI contract. The FBI and Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions will take an incremental approach to the implementation of the NGI System.

source: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/ngicontract021208.htm  (INSERT:  Sandra, Mar 2011.  This webpage no longer exists.) 

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2011-03-07 UPDATE Census Lockheed Martin: the U.K. & Scottish Censuses are cookin’! Since March 4th.

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 082011
 

2011-03-07    Tony Blair’s aide, David Manning, helped prepare for war on Iraq, then became ambassador to U.S. in 2003.  In 2008 he returned to the U.K. to become a Director of Lockheed Martin U.K.   Lockheed Martin USA helped sponsor his going-away party.  Lockheed Martin is doing the U.K. census.

2011-03-06   The Real News (short video newscast):  Census in Crosshairs: US arms maker link launches UK privacy fears   http://therealnews.com/t2/component/seyret/?task=videodirectlink&id=9279  

YouTube -News cast  –  UK Census Controversy    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUSUieqKU3Y&feature=player_embedded

2011-03-07   Scotland:  Human rights group urges 11th-hour census U-turn over Abu Ghraib abuse concerns. 

2011-03-07   Census “conditional acceptance letter”!  

2011-03-07   Census Lockheed Martin:  Geoff writes to his friends about his intentions.

2011-03-07 York Regional Police, Vancouver Police, Saskatoon Police — all getting armoured vehicles. From March 2010, Vancouver: “The RCMP said the so-called “Cougars for cops” is a national program, and residents of other cities can expect to see the vehicles on their streets too.”

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 072011
 

I think we had better do something.

Things are unfolding . .

CONTENTS

  1. COMMENT
  2. YORK REGIONAL POLICE GET VERSATILE ROLLING FORTRESS, GLOBE & MAIL, MARCH 7, 2011
  3. METRO VANCOUVER POLICE ANNOUNCE ARRIVAL OF ARMOURED RESCUE VEHICLE, VANCOUVER SUN, MARCH 2, 2011
  4. SASKATOON,  POLICE SHOPPING FOR ARMOURED VEHICLE,  STAR PHOENIX, JANUARY 25, 2011
  5. OTTAWA COPS GET NEW TOY, OTTAWA SUN, MARCH 24, 2010
  6. MARCH 24, 2010:  “ARMOURED VEHICLES ADOPTED BY B.C. RCMP, OTHER CITIES CAN EXPECT TO SEE THE VEHICLES ON THEIR STREETS, TOO”
  7. READER COMMENTS ON YORK POLICE ARMOURED VEHICLE (MARCH 7, 2011)
  8. “LIGHT ARMOURED VEHICLES” (LAVs), WHAT ARE THEY?   (AMERICAN WEAPONS MANUFACTURER, CAMBLI INTERNATIONAL IN QUEBEC)
  9. Feb 20, 2011,  OSHKOSH DEFENSE (AMERICAN) UNVEILED ITS PROTOTYPE FOR CANADA’S TACTICAL ARMOURED PATROL VEHICLE (TAPV) PROGRAM
  10. MYTHS FOR PROFIT:  CANADA’S ROLE IN INDUSTRIES OF WAR AND PEACE (THANKS TO AMY),  +   “FROM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TO PERMANENT STATE OF WAR”  (U.S.)  +  REPLY FROM WILLIAM HARTUNG “PROPHETS OF WAR:  LOCKHEED MARTIN AND THE MAKING OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX”.

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1.  COMMENT

Compare:

  • the report on the armoured vehicle (AV) for Vancouver  from last year (item #5) and
  • the information on the sales of these “rolling fortresses” in Item #7  (LAVs, What are They?”).
  • the announcement March 2 this year,  another armoured vehicle for Vancouver (item 3)

When I compare, I would say that last year’s Vancouver report is not truthful.  “Thou doth protest too much.”  They went to great lengths to downplay the LAV (Light Armoured Vehicle) – –   it was just “gathering dust and out of service”, so what the heck,  shrug, shrug, we just got it for free.

The text from item #7 (LAVs what are they?)  says:    “Vancouver Police Department – 1 (LAV) delivered in 2010[2] from tender after 2008[3] ”    Hardly sounds like “gathering dust and out of service”.   (I wrote that sentence before finding out today, thanks to Jennifer, that the Vancouver Police have just added another LAV to their arsenal.   This time it’s just a “rescue” vehicle.  Words to comfort us, words used as propaganda.)

Item #7:   The  Comments from Readers (Globe & Mail) on the York Police purchase of an LAV cut to the core of the matter.   I cannot find a similar out-pouring of resistance in Vancouver?

In 2010 I said that we needed to be pre-emptive, to stop the LAVs from happening in other cities.    We need a Wiki leaks  . . .   Do your City Police have an LAV on order?  (“Other cities can expect to see the armoured vehicles on their streets, too”.)  I just found out today that the Saskatoon City Police, too, plan to spend our tax dollars on an LAV.

The “defense” contractors exist ONLY because of our tax dollars.   It is abundantly clear:  they have set up in Canada, they produce armoured vehicles for war – – but there is another lucrative market.   Us.

They can sell their war machinery to our municipalities and police organizations.   HOWEVER,  they have to create an enemy to go along with the war weapons.  Otherwise, there is no market.    Looks like we’ve become the enemy.   Else why would they need these LAVs in our cities?

The greater the inequities in the society, the greater the stresses because of failing economic conditions (brought on because we are not transitioning off fossil fuels),  stresses from the depletion of water supplies, inequity and injustice when CEOs think they are worth from $3 million to $65 million when they aren’t even the ones that do the work  – – the MORE money we spend on very expensive armoured vehicles, the less money there is to invest in programmes that will actually help people.  That is the way to “security”.  Instead, we are creating an economy based on violence.  By allowing our tax and resource revenues to be spent on the war industry, we are creating our own civil unrest and un-doing.  Our own massive debt, same as in the U.S.   Our own tax dollars are used against us as you see with the rolling out of armoured vehicles across the country, if we don’t stop this.

My Income Tax Installments are due March 15 and April 15.   As I did last year, I will deduct the portion that represents military spending by the Government.  See Conscience Canada.   It is now not so much a matter of conscience, as it is a matter of survival of this country.  I will also be working my buns off to help get as much resistance to Lockheed Martin as possible  in the U.K.  (March 27) and then in the Canadian census in May.   Stop the authors of destruction wherever the opportunity exists.

These are troubling and urgent times.  Rally the trooops!!   /Sandra

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2.  YORK REGIONAL POLICE GET VERSATILE ROLLING FORTRESS, GLOBE & MAIL, MARCH 7, 2011

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/york-regional-police-get-versatile-rolling-fortress/article1932035/

TIMOTHY APPLEBY

Globe and Mail Update

Published Monday, Mar. 07, 2011 6:00AM EST;   Last updated Monday, Mar. 07, 2011 6:04AM EST

133 comments

Built for comfort it is not. Sleekly elegant? Negative. Fuel-efficient? Forget about it.

But when members of the York Regional Police (YRP) swat squad climb into their new armoured truck and rumble noisily to the scene of a gun call or a risky arrest, what they will have is a versatile, rolling fortress.

More related to this story    Police keep range of equipment acquired for G20 summit

The Thunder 1, as it was named by its Quebec manufacturer, Cambli International of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, was custom-designed for YRP (York Regional Police), which until December did not have such a vehicle at all – the only police service in the Greater Toronto Area without one.

And with a price tag of $340,000, it was not inexpensive. But it was $10,000 cheaper than the more widely deployed BearCat armoured vehicles, made by Massachusetts-based Lenco Industries Inc., popular with U.S. police, and it has a larger capacity, with 10 seats rather than eight. Staff Sergeant Gregory Harper, who commands York’s 24-officer Emergency Response Unit, reckons it was a bargain.

The Thunder 1 is technically unique. Police in Vancouver have a similar vehicle, but because much of York Region is rural, calling for an off-road capability, the tires on this truck are slightly bigger, providing more clearance. The Vancouver truck also has dual rear axles, and it is black rather than grey.

If the boxy shape looks familiarly old-fashioned, that’s because Cambli’s chief line of production involves Brinks trucks, which have a basic design that has hardly altered in decades.

The truck was a parting gift from former York police chief Armand La Barge, who retired the same month the long-sought-after Thunder 1 arrived. Its acquisition gathered pace two years ago, when YRP had to call in the Toronto police tactical squad to handle a distraught man threatening to detonate a car bomb on Highway 400.

Inside the Thunder 1, it’s a surprisingly smooth ride.

It’s been deployed just a handful of times so far, most recently on Friday when it was dispatched to aid in the arrest in Richmond Hill of a man wanted for armed robbery.

“Its sole purpose is the protection of our officers and being able to move them into a dangerous environment,” Staff Sergeant Harper said. “It was a worthwhile investment. Very worthwhile.”

WHAT YOU GET

So what do you get for $340,000 when you buy a Thunder 1? Primarily a vehicle that affords state-of-the-art security for the police inside it.

The chassis and power train are built by International Truck and Engine Corp., and resemble the design of the big dump trucks the company makes: A Maxx Force DT, 285 HP Turbo engine; an Allison 3500 EVS transmission; and a 163-inch wheel base. It weighs more than 15 tonnes, and it has a top speed of about 130 km/h.

Its payload is a little over three tonnes, and its fuel tank holds 50 U.S. gallons.

The console is much the same as a commercial truck. But there the similarities cease. As with some small military planes, the 10 seats comprise two at the front, two flip-up seats facing forward, and three on each side in the truck’s rear facing each other.

The truck carries no weapons, but it has 12 gun ports for the heavily armed police inside who do – five on each side and two at the rear.

The precise thickness of the reinforced steel and steel glass that protect occupants against any ballistic threat is not something police are anxious to disclose. But thick it is.

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3.  METRO VANCOUVER POLICE ANNOUNCE ARRIVAL OF ARMOURED RESCUE VEHICLE, VANCOUVER SUN, MARCH 2, 2011

http://www.vancouversun.com/Metro+Vancouver+police+announce+arrival+armoured+rescue+vehicle/4373207/story.html    (Click on the news link.  Look at the picture.  ” … the rescue vehicle will be used to help extract people from life threatening circumstances”.  Please explain.  The picture is of an armoured vehicle, like the ones used in war zones.)

Abbotsford Times March 2, 2011 Comments (1)

The new armoured rescue vehicle purchased for the Municipal Integrated Emergency Response Team will enter service this week.

Photograph by: APD handout, for the TIMES   (Click on the news link.  Look at the picture. 

It’s big, and it’s coming to Metro Vancouver.

Abbotsford police have announced that the armoured rescue vehicle purchased for the Municipal Integrated Response Team (MIERT) will enter service this week.

Looking more like a tank, the rescue vehicle will be used to help extract people from life threatening circumstances, or when the police and public may be in danger due to the presence of weapons.

Civic and Police leaders from Abbotsford, Delta, New Westminster and Port Moody came together to purchase the new vehicle.

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4.    SASKATOON,  POLICE SHOPPING FOR ARMOURED VEHICLE,  STAR PHOENIX, JANUARY 25, 2011

(July 2011: web address no longer valid.  http://www.leaderpost.com/news/todays-paper/Police+shopping+armoured+vehicle/4161626/story.html )

By David Hutton, Saskatchewan News Network; Postmedia News, January 25, 2011

– The Saskatoon Police Service is shopping for a bulletproof armoured rescue vehicle (ARV) to beef up its fleet.

The roughly $350,000 military-styled vehicle would be used in critical situations involving firearms to protect officers, police officials say.

“We have to weigh the safety of our officers and safety of citizens and that’s what we’re trying to have the vehicles for,” said police Chief Clive Weighill. “We’re doing more high-risk warrant executions where there are firearms involved.”

As the drug trade intensifies in Saskatoon due in part to the lure of the strong economy, police officers are coming across more firearms when they execute search warrants on drug houses, Weighill said.

The police service has been socking away capital money for five years to fund an ARV, which would be used by the emergency response team, he said.

A request for companies which manufacture ARVs to submit bids has been advertised and police hope to have the vehicle by the end of 2011. ARVs range in price from $325,000 to $375,000.

“It sounds like a lot of money but a (fully outfitted) patrol car is $60,000,” Weighill said.

“Everything we buy now seems to be expenive.”

Other cities have used ARVs for high-risk situations such as search and arrest warrants, hostage-taking situations, escorting high-risk prisoners, responding to emergencies at the airport and providing cover in the event police and paramedics need to rescue people from dangerous situations.

The focus in Saskatoon will be on potentially lethal arrest warrants, standoffs and conflicts involving a suspect with a high-calibre weapon, Weighill said. The vehicle, which can typically hold 10 people, can get officers close to or citizens out of risky situations safely.

There have been times when members of the emergency response team have had to hold up steel plates over the windows of a police SUV to protect themselves from potential fire, Weighill said.

“This is really about the safety of our officers,” he said.

The expected lifetime of the ARV is 10 to 15 years and it would be only be used during emergencies, Weighill said.

Ottawa police recently purchased the BearCat, which is similar to what the U.S State Department uses in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, and is used by U.S. Marines for perimeter protection at nuclear submarine bases. The three-metre tall vehicle has military-grade steel armour, bulletproof windows, run-flat tires, a 350-horsepower, twin turbocharged diesel engine and other classified items.

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post

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5.  OTTAWA COPS GET NEW TOY, OTTAWA SUN, MARCH 24, 2010

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/03/24/13343821.html#/news/ottawa/2010/03/24/pf-13343931.html

Friday, March 11, 2011 

Force will put armored car to good use: Chief

By DOUG HEMPSTEAD, Ottawa Sun

Last Updated: March 24, 2010 2:35pm

Click here to watch the video

Ottawa Police unveiled their new Lenco BearCat armoured vehicle Wednesday. 

Ottawa Police say the city will definitely get its money’s worth out of its new $365,000 armoured vehicle.

“Probably we’ll use it 25 to 50 times a year,” said Chief Vern White, who indicated the vehicle — a Lenco Bearcat — was custom designed for Ottawa Police.

He suggested the vehicle represents a “growing up” of the local force, which previously has simply borrowed a similar vehicle from the RCMP when needed.

“The largest police services in the country have purchased vehicles similar to this and for the same purpose. We’ve been going on calls and hoping that we can get to the call and get close enough without being put under fire, and many times find ourselves in high-risk situations,” said White.

To that end, specifically, the Bearcat is a bullet-proof all-terrain vehicle which will be used for gun calls, hostage-takings, injured people, officer rescues and high-risk warrants.

The American-made vehicle ended up costing nearly $15,000 more than originally thought. Last fall the police board approved the spending of $341,147.

Tactical officer Const. Jim Hutchins was part of the group who helped decide exactly what kind of options and accessories the vehicle needed for it to be best suited for use in Ottawa.

“We actually canvassed services across the country of comparable size, I believe there were 27 services we looked at,” Hutchins said.

Looking over Ottawa Police’s own numbers, he said the vehicle could have been used in 30% of the tactical calls over the past three years.

The vehicle doesn’t require a special licence to drive — something tactical officer, acting Staff Sgt. Jeff Kilcollins said his team members are looking forward to doing.

“This is a Cadillac, quite frankly,” said Kilcollins. “This is a very well-built and well-researched vehicle.”

The 10-ton Bearcat is too big and heavy to be parked at police headquarters on Elgin St. and although it was unveiled to the media at the new west-end headquarters, the Bearcat will be stored in a central location.

It won’t be used for regular patrols.

doug.hempstead at  sunmedia.ca

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6.     MARCH 24, 2010:  “ARMOURED VEHICLES ADOPTED BY B.C. RCMP, OTHER CITIES CAN EXPECT TO SEE THE VEHICLES ON THEIR STREETS, TOO”

The article is at:    http://news.ca.msn.com/local/britishcolumbia/article.aspx?cp-documentid=23717966

From email Mar 24, 2010:

Will you contact your Mayor and Council and the heads of your RCMP and police, etc. to advise that we do not want armoured vehicles in our cities?  Nor do we need them.    …   (for full text, click on  2010-03-24 Armoured vehicles adopted by B.C. RCMP. Other cities can expect to see them, too. )

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7.   READER COMMENTS ON YORK POLICE ARMOURED VEHICLE (MARCH 7, 2011)

Tragically Quipped   6:19 AM on March 7, 2011

This is a crowd control vehicle, not something to use for “risky arrests.”

Afraid we’ll take to the streets?

  • 7:31 AM on March 7, 2011

My Gawd! What are we coming to in Canada!

I have not seen anything this crazy since the LA cops introduced an Urban Assault Vehicle.

What is terrifying about this is not the vehicle as much as the mentality, the culture of raw brutality, this equipment represents.

Canadians need to reassess our personal security and ask: ‘Is the enemy within?’

  • Caradoc    8:03 AM on March 7, 2011

I went to high school with a guy who’s now a detective with the York Regional Police. He was, and probably still is, hands down the most bullying, intolerant, dim-witted dufus one could imagine. Anyone who has seen ‘Clockwork Orange’ where the former gang punks (‘droogs’) become police would understand completely.

My dad was a cop, and he was the first to say ‘the ones you really have to watch are the cops’. Every division or station is a potential gang clubhouse.

Libya, yes.
York Region, no.

Call it the UOVTRIV.

Useless Over The Top Intimidation Vehicle

  • Teapots   7:41 AM on March 7, 2011

So that’s what a gravy train looks like.

  •  gb_eh      6:12 AM on March 7, 2011

What a complete waste of tax payer money… didn’t realize that York region was a strong hold of criminals. I don’t remember hearing about swat team being used heavily in that area?

  •  Gardiner Westbound   6:32 AM on March 7, 2011

Toys for boys!

  • Mark Shore    8:21 AM on March 7, 2011

As far as I can recall, there has never been a past incident in York, the GTA, or anywhere in Ontario where such vehicle was actually required.

Just one more example of the increased militarization of Canadian police forces (the US has gone a lot farther down that road), and the way our paid employees use our money to distance themselves from – and intimidate – the public they nominally serve.

  • Astutent   7:12 AM on March 7, 2011

Let’s see…

The O.P.P. is the highest paid entity in Canada.

RCMP officers make ~$80,000/year plus benefits by year 3.

Officers get away with gross abuses (taser deaths, wrongful arrests, beatings, etc.) because the SIU is useless.

Due to recent legislation, police are now able to pull you over for absolutely no valid reason (“to confirm your eligibility to drive”)

The G20 catastrophe speaks for itself.

And now this.

People of Canada, welcome to the Police State.

  • SlaterSmith1    7:53 AM on March 7, 2011

When have we ever demonstrated a need for something like this?

  • SnapDeadRythym   7:09 AM on March 7, 2011

At some point the empathy shifts from victim to criminal. Just a general heads up.

  • G Allen   6:57 AM on March 7, 2011

Sure, why not. Police forces in Canada aren’t expected to use budget money responsibly. They can do whatever they want in the name of public safety. Crime rate going down? Let’s ramp up budgets because no one can challenge us.

Sadly, we are not so different from many of those countries we deride when we read their news.

  • Ab1   6:50 AM on March 7, 2011

Can everyone say Police State?

  • JohnD    6:36 AM on March 7, 2011

Welcome to the new South Africa…. I can’t believe that we are spending precious tax dollars on these vehicles. We don’t need them… but if we build them, they will be used, and therefore create situations that will justify their presence.

This is a CON dream if I ever saw one. Oh Canada.

  • Masdar    8:01 AM on March 7, 2011

Perhaps the police forces will need this rolling tank, with gun ports, for use in the next G20 summit to control the peaceful protesters.

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8.       “LIGHT ARMOURED VEHICLES” (LAVs), WHAT ARE THEY?   (AMERICAN WEAPONS MANUFACTURER, CAMBLI INTERNATIONAL IN QUEBEC)

LAVs are war machinery.  You will see them in pictures of war AND you see them in pictures of police-state crack-downs on citizens.   Watch for them in newscasts – – you will have seen them.

The Lockheed Martin INDEX talks about the Canada First Defence Strategy and how the Canadian economy is being transformed into one that, like the American, is dependent upon making enemies in order to justify war.   Now we have this (another) American company situated in Canada, Cambli International, selling LAVs to municipal police forces in Canada  . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambli_International_Thunder_1

Cambli International Thunder 1 is an armoured police tactical vehicle built by Cambli International Incorporated of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

The 4 X 4 wheeled light armoured vehicle (LAV) is based on the company’s armoured car platform using International 7400 SFA chassis. Armour plated body and bullet-proof glass gives the vehicle ballistic protection from high calibre weapons.[1]

The vehicle is being marketed to civilian agencies or police forces in Canada and the United States. Thunder 1 targets law enforcement agencies looking for a cheaper alternative for armoured rescue vehicles.

So far the vehicle has been sold to one user:  (INSERT:  they then list two)

Vancouver Police Department – 1 delivered in 2010[2] from tender after 2008[3]

York Region Police – 1 delivered in 2011[4]

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9.  Feb 20, 2011,  OSHKOSH DEFENSE (AMERICAN) UNVEILED ITS PROTOTYPE FOR CANADA’S TACTICAL ARMOURED PATROL VEHICLE (TAPV) PROGRAM

http://defense-update.com/wp/20110220_oshkosh-tapv.html

Oshkosh Defense unveiled its prototype for Canada’s Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle (TAPV) program, as well as the company’s plans to work with its subsidiary, London Machinery, Inc. (LMI), to leverage that company’s new facility in London, Ontario, in pursuit of Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) vehicle programs.

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10.    MYTHS FOR PROFIT:  CANADA’S ROLE IN INDUSTRIES OF WAR AND PEACE (THANKS TO AMY),  +   “FROM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TO PERMANENT STATE OF WAR”  (U.S.)  +  REPLY FROM WILLIAM HARTUNG “PROPHETS OF WAR:  LOCKHEED MARTIN AND THE MAKING OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX”.   

Please click on  MYTHS FOR PROFIT  .  There is important background information related to the rolling out of these armoured vehicles across Canada. 

2011-03-07 An effort to clean up Canadian politics: Change the channel on attack ads!

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?  No Responses »
Mar 072011
 
The use of attack ads by political parties is a substitute for dealing with issues. The ads are effective –  if they cause people to dis-engage, thereby leaving Government to the Corporatocracy.

Attack ads should be a reason for us to get MORE involved, not less.  I urge you to watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-GekKKNUTU  and pass it along. Put an end to attack ads.  There is no place for them in a democracy.  We have important issues on which we need to make progress.  We need ideas, discussion and positive ways to move forward.

The effort to clean up Canadian politics (Green Party – below) suggests facebook and twitter tools.  They missed email – – pass this along!  And they missed good old mentioning it to your neighbours.  You can be fed up …  but you can easily do something about it.   Talking about it and “changing the channel” when attack ads come on will make a difference, simply because there are so many of us.  attack ads; there is no place for them in a democracy!

I posted this to Stephen Harper’s wall on facebook (discovered that you have to click on “like this” before you can make a comment)  –  there’s a picture of him with Saskatchewan fans at the Tim Horton’s Brier (Curling Tournament): 

I wish all your ads could be so civil. Attack ads turn citizens off. Which serves a purpose: it leaves Government to the Corporatocracy. There is no place in a democracy for attack ads. Give them up please. 

 
Attack ads are spiraling out of control. If you’re disgusted with negative politics and the state of Canadian democracy, it’s time to change the channel!

The Green Party of Canada is sending a message to the other political parties: Canadians are sick and tired of attack ads. We’re sending the message with an attack ad of our own – an attack ad on attack ads!

You can help send the message to the other political parties by taking the ad viral across the internet.

Sub-header: Here’s what you can do:

1)   Share this ad on your Facebook page.  Use (http://youtu.be/j-GekKKNUTU). Ask all your friends to share it too.

2)   Tweet this link (http://green.ca/lGp) on Twitter with the tag #GPC. Ask your followers to RT.

3)   Go to the Facebook pages of Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff and post the Youtube link (http://youtu.be/j-GekKKNUTU) as a comment on their most recent wall post.

http://www.facebook.com/MichaelIgnatieff

http://www.facebook.com/pmharper

4)   Tweet the following messages to Harper and Ignatieff:

@pmharper @M_Ignatieff Sick of attack ads! Pull them now. http://green.ca/lGp

Census Lockheed Martin: Geoff writes to his friends about his intentions.

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 072011
 

Friends, 

I am very keen to draw to people’s attention what I believe be to be a scandalous situation, a situation that is revealed in today’s Observer – see http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/19/census-boycott-lockheed-martin.

You may not know that Lockheed Martin – the world’s second largest weapons manufacturer – is to be the main company behind the processing of the UK census which will be carried out on March 27th next. This is a company that has moved into surveillance and intelligence in a big way and whose Vice President has said that it is her aim to “know everything about everyone, everywhere”.

This is an American company which, under the US Patriot Act, can be obliged to hand over any of their data to the US government, which can then be made more widely available, even to private US companies. In fact a Twitter group, only last month, was obliged to hand all the information they held about Julian Assange and Wikileaks to the US government.

Lockheed Martin builds cluster bombs among a range of weapons, they build Trident nuclear submarines, and they own one third of the Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory. Could any of you imagine the American government asking a similar British weapons manufacturer to process their census data? 

Of course our Office of National Statistics say that our census data will be perfectly safe – but they would say this wouldn’t they. Do you really trust our government with your data – have they always kept it safe? Under the guise of ‘national security’ our government can get away with hiding anything that might happen to any of our data/information – look how BAE Systems were shielded in the armaments deals with Saudi Arabia – and now BAE Systems have been granted immunity by the Serious Fraud Office from any further prosecutions. I wonder if you or I could obtain such immunity? 

An important point to make is that the census data is really important in the sense that it is used in all sorts of socio-economic research and for the government to distribute funding to county and local councils. But, by hiring Lockheed Martin to process the data, it seems that we have moved this activity from something that is worthy and useful, to an activity that may be regarded as part of a state’s security apparatus. I find this sinister indeed. And Lockheed has ambitions to take over the census for as many countries as they can. We have also generated a situation whereby the census itself becomes increasingly unreliable as more and more people question the fact that they are being obliged to deal with a company that in no way can be classed as ‘ethical’. 

I intend to not fill in the census form but to attach a letter to it saying that I am perfectly happy to provide the Office of National Statistics with my census information as long as they first give me a signed affidavit stating that in no way will my data (in any form) be received, handled or processed by the Lockheed Martin company or its employees. Thus, I should have the right to not knowingly be obliged to deal with what I consider to be an unethical company. 

Cheers 

Geoff
—
Dr Geoff Meaden
Tel: 01227 752275
Email: geoff.meaden  AT   gmail.com

2011-03-07 Census “conditional acceptance letter”! (UK)

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 072011
 

Geoff (from the UK) writes:

See what you make of this for a good idea??!! 

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Tim Valentine    Date: Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 8:07 PM
Subject: census

have you seen this census conditional acceptance letter:

http://www.tpuc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=29456

Census Conditional Acceptance

Postby starbuck25 » Sun Feb 27, 2011 1:34 pm

I have no intention of filling in the Census form next month, I thought I’d share the conditional acceptance notice that I intend to send to them recorded delivery:
Dave: of the Murphy Family
c/o STREET,
TOWN,
COUNTY
[POSTCODE]

Office for National Statistics
Government Buildings
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8XG

Notice of Conditional Acceptance and Request for Clarification

Dear Ms. Matheson,

I write in response to the Census form received on –/03/2011.

I must admit to being a little confused, it was my understanding that the census was instigated as a simple numerical count of the population; however, the information required in this census form far exceeds this mandate.

I am happy to complete this census form subject to receipt of clarification of the following points.

    1. What law requires me to complete the census?
    2. From where does the Office for National Statistics derive the lawful authority to demand private information?
    3. Is there a limit to invasion of privacy?
    4. Is the Office for National Statistics lawfully authorised to demand Private property?
    5. How can we be penalised for failure to provide information
    6. Are there any circumstances whereby security agencies may access census information?
    7. Since census data be requested by law enforcement, can I not answer so as to not to incriminate myself?
    8. Since every government database has been hacked, leaked, lost or compromised in some fashion, how can the Office for National Statistics claim data security with any confidence?
    9. Is the Office for National Statistics responsible for mishandled data?
    10. What evidence do you have that I am a United Kingdom Resident?
    11. Can you confirm or deny that the census data will be handled by an American Arms Manufacturer Lockheed Martin?
    12. Can you confirm or deny that all U.S. companies are subject to the Patriot Act which allows the U.S. Government full access to any data in that company’s possession?
    13. Can you confirm or deny that the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 section 39 subsection 4 would allow disclosure of personal information to any and/or all o the following:
    • The 56 geographical and 8 non-geographical UK Police Forces.
    • The three UK Intelligence Agencies (MI5, MI6 and GCHQ).
    • The Department for Work and Pensions.
    • Private investigators working for the Department for Work and Pensions to hunt down “benefits cheats”.
    • Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs tax investigators.
    • “Approved” Insurance Industry “anti-fraud” investigators / private investigators.
    • The Home Office Borders and Immigration Agency.
    • The Serious Organised Crime Agency (either for domestic investigations into Serious Crimes, or for these and also for minor investigations if requested by a Foreign Law Enforcement agency under Mutual Legal Assistance treaties.
    • Lawyers in civil Court Cases e.g. for Divorce or Libel or Copyright Infringement etc.
    • Local Authority Trading Standards departments.
    • Local Authority Environmental Health departments.

Please provide your response in the form of a Statement of Truth, sworn under penalty of perjury and upon your full commercial liability within seven (7) days of receipt of this notice, I respectfully return your census form until such time as these conditions are met.

If I do not receive such a response conforming to the above criteria within, it will be deemed a tacit agreement by your acquiescence that this census is unlawful and that I have no obligation to participate.

Sincerely without malice, ill will, vexation or frivolity

By: Dave: of the Murphy family
All Rights Reserved – Without Prejudice – Without Recourse – Non-Assumpsit
Errors & Omissions Excepted

Enc: Original paperwork as received

2011-03-07 Huge row brewing in Scotland: Human rights group urges 11th-hour census U-turn over Abu Ghraib abuse concerns.

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 072011
 

Sandra, 

Thought you might like to see the huge row that is brewing up in Scotland regarding the lovely CACI International Corp that is looking after their census. This will give you a flavour of all the activities and there might be some useful hints here of things that your campaign might like to try out.  

We should give some thought as to how it is that two “nasty” US companies, both of whom have been involved with prisons, torture, etc in Iraq, should happen to land contracts to carry out census gathering tasks in the UK.  I am sure that pushing a knowledge of “this coincidence” could be a useful line of protest. How and why did this happen? Maybe you are already onto this.

Cheers    /Geoff.

http://www.sacc.org.uk/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=853&catid=27 

SACC urges 11th-hour census U-turn over abuse concerns

 Print 
03 March 2011
SACC Press Release
Thursday 3 March 2011Human rights group Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) says that the Scottish Government should make an 11th-hour U-turn over the involvement in the Scottish census of defence contractor CACI – a firm that provided interrogators who worked at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at the height of the prisoner abuse scandal and has yet to be held to account for its actions.

The census is due to be held on Sunday 27 March. But SACC says that it isn’t too late for the Scottish Government to cancel the contract with CACI and postpone the census until it can be carried out without CACI’s involvement. SACC says the the extra costs could be met by seeking compensation from CACI. SACC believes that CACI may have given the Scottish Government a misleading picture of the progress of lawsuits brought against the company by former Iraqi detainees. Re-scheduling the census would create jobs in Scotland and would allow the country’s statistical data to be built on sound ethical foundations.

CACI Ltd was in 2008 awarded a £18.5 million contract for key information technology work and other services for the Scottish Census. CACI Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based defence contractor CACI International.

Richard Haley, Chair of SACC, said:

“Of course postponing the census would be disruptive. But anything would be better than continuing with the unethical and misguided arrangements that the Scottish Government seems to believe it is stuck with. It’s a matter of record that staff employed by CACI International interrogated people detained without charge at Abu Ghraib. They did so under US rules of engagement that permitted sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation and intimidation by dogs. SACC and other human rights groups believe detention and interrogation in these circumstances violates international human rights norms.

“A large number of former Abu Ghraib detainees have brought civil cases against CACI International in which they allege CACI’s responsibility for even more serious abuses, including torture with electric shocks, beating, forced nakedness, forced participation in physical activities to the point of exhaustion, sensory deprivation, deprivation of food, deprivation of oxygen and torture with extremely hot and cold water. CACI has publicly denied any wrongdoing but it has not so far responded in court to the substantive allegations. Instead, it is trying to claim that it is immune from legal action because it was working for the US Government. CACI is trying to avoid being held to account for its actions at the same time as it is trying to use the Scottish census to launder its reputation.

If the Scottish Government won’t cancel the contract, I hope that people in Scotland will use census day to say no to this dirty business.”

Householders are legally obliged to complete and return their census forms and could face fines of up to £1000 if they don’t do so. But the risk of prosecution is slight. According to official estimates, over 200,000 people were missed from the 2001 Scottish census. But just 3 people were “successfully” prosecuted. People upset at CACI’s involvement in the census could also choose to supply inaccurate information on their census forms. Prosecution over this would be extremely difficult.

SACC will campaign for researchers to boycott data obtained from the 2011 census unless the contract with CACI is cancelled. We hope that the census will stand, for as long as the records exist, as a monument to the victims of Abu Ghraib and the victims of corporate human rights abuse everywhere.

Notes for Editors

  1. The US Supreme Coury is currently considering whether to allow one of the lawsuits against CACI to go ahead. The case, known as Saleh et al v. Titan et al., has been brought by over 250 Iraqi torture victims against CACI International Incorporated and Titan Corporation (now L-3 Services).
  2. Another case involving CACI is currently before the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Virginia. The case, known as Al Shimari v. CACI et al. has been brought by four Iraqi torture victims against CACI International Inc., and CACI Premier Technology, Inc.
  3. SACC launched a petition in 2008 calling on the Scottish Government to cancel the contract with CACI. CACI International threatened two SACC members with legal action over the petition. After taking legal advice, SACC declined to remove or change the petition. No legal action has followed. The petition is no longer open for signatures but the text of the petition is still available online
  4. In a letter dated 7 October 2008 to John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, SACC said: “We think that CACI’s involvement in the running of Abu Ghraib prison, and its close links to US defence and intelligence interests, make CACI International and all its subsidiaries unfit for any role in the Scottish census.”
  5. More information about the Scottish census

2011-03-07 Tony Blair’s aide helped prepare for war on Iraq, then became ambassador to U.S. in 2003, in 2008 becomes a Director of Lockheed Martin U.K.

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Mar 072011
 

Geoff writes:  I have been directed to the following article that appeared in The Times in 2008. 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5163070.ece

It appears that Sir David Manning was Blair’s right-hand man in the early part of this century as well as being the UK ambassador to the USA during the main Iraq war years. It might be conceived that this is a very strong link in sending the English census to Lockheed Martin. 

Cheers 

Geoff 

From The Sunday Times

November 16, 2008

Tony Blair’s former Iraq aide joins defence giant

Marie Woolf and Solomon Hughes

The former Downing Street foreign affairs adviser who helped Tony Blair prepare for the invasion of Iraq has joined the UK board of a multinational arms manufacturer that supplied military hardware for the war.

Sir David Manning has become a non-executive director of the British arm of Lockheed Martin, which develops jet fighters and missiles.

Manning was a top foreign office mandarin when he was seconded to Downing Street around the time of 9/11. He was at Blair’s side throughout the build-up to the Iraq war and was sent to Washington as ambassador soon after the invasion in 2003.

Lockheed Martin was among the firms that sponsored a leaving dinner for Manning when he left Washington last year. It confirmed that he had joined the company and said he would prove an asset to its UK division.

The corporation builds the Hercules transport plane, a workhorse for British and American forces. Among the weapons it makes are the hand-held Javelin antitank missile and the helicopter-launched Hellfire missile and its associated Longbow targeting system. All were used in the Iraq war.

Manning has also taken a job on the advisory board of Hakluyt, a private intelligence firm partly staffed by former MI6 officers.

Hakluyt was set up by former MI6 agents in 1995. The firm once hired a former German agent to spy on environmental campaign groups such as Greenpeace on behalf of oil companies. It was unavailable for comment.

The decision of the former diplomat to take up the posts, which will appear on the official government register in the next fortnight, is being questioned by opposition MPs. Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, said: “Here’s another example of unsavoury revolving doors.”

Manning’s appointments have been approved by the government watchdog that polices jobs taken up by former ministers and civil servants. There are restrictions on the personal involvement of such appointees in lobbying Whitehall.

2011-03-05 CTV News coverage: Mercury in dental amalgams.

 Mercury poisoning, dental amalgams. See also Vaccinations.  No Responses »
Mar 062011
 

This brief CTV news cast will motivate you to email the Government:  ban dental amalgams!    Email:  mercury@ec.gc.ca  

(The Government consultation on mercury is going on now.)

 If the amalgams do not get banned, you are not allowed to complain if you didn’t register your input!

“HOW TO” REGISTER YOUR INPUT:  click on 2011-03-01  (Most mercury-filled products to be banned in Canada.  Mercury is still safe in the human mouth but no where else.  The Government invites your input.) 

THE CTV NEWS CAST:

Click on:   (UPDATE:  this URL is for today’s news.  I expect that the video on mercury in dental amalgams is in their Library of videos (March 5, 2011) but with a quick search I couldn’t find it.   Thankfully some of the video is transcribed below.   http://www.ctv.ca/nationalnews/#TopVideoAn  )

The government cracks down on the use of mercury …   There is a short ad and then the footage regarding dental amalgams.

Excerpts transcribed:  “The Canadian Government is proposing new restrictions on the use of mercury which has long been linked to very serious health problems  …  so Ottawa is going to ban the use of mercury in many of the products we use.  However, the single largest source of mercury exposure will not be on the list.  … It’s insane that we’re still putting mercury in people’s mouths. …  (the ban) Covers only 30% of mercury in consumer products  …  Biggest sources will face fewer restrictions …  compact fluorescent lights  … Those amalgam fillings will be totally exempt from controls. 

(Dr. Gitte Fredericksen, dentist)  …  No, It absolutely doesn’t make any sense that you can not have it in a thermometer but you can have it in a patient’s mouth .. .. (amalgam) cheaper, longer lasting solution for those who can’t afford porcelain or plastic.   For some people it’s a cost factor.  While conceding that amalgam is the largest single source of mercury exposure Health Canada insists it is:  “not causing illness in the general population”   … while some European countries have banned amalgam Canada simply advises that pregnant women and kidney patients should avoid it …” 

It’s important to let the Government know that dental amalgams (they all contain mercury) need to be banned in Canada. 

“HOW TO” REGISTER YOUR INPUT WITH THE GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION:  click on 2011-03-01  (Most mercury-filled products to be banned in Canada.  Mercury is still safe in the human mouth but no where else.  The Government invites your input.)

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