Schneier on Security

name.withheld.for.obvious.reasons • May 14, 2013 6:48 PM

Introduction
A subtle, but grandiose scheme to realign the government(s) of the United
States into a military junta is past the planning stages. Dissecting the means, methods, and motives of the Military Industrial Complex’s strategic conversion of civilian authority into a new “National Security Corporate Military Services Complex” is a task endeared to the forensic scientist not to political or social scientists. The forensic scientist discerns elements of the past; how did they meet their end, what is the present evidence, and all formalized to build an evidentiary chain of events that include motive, means, and opportunity. It is necessary to retrieve and analyze the remains of the past five decades in order to understand the nature of the crime that is being committed today. This crime is most heinous; it is a crime against the whole body of the sovereign, against the citizens of the United States
of America.

Today the “National Security Corporate Military Services Complex” maintains
a low profile as it installs the necessary controls and instruments that will subvert the civilian government of the Unites States of America. Under the umbrella of state secrets, it is infeasible to accurately describe and enumerate the components, vehicles, conspirators, and functionaries that would have the citizens of the United States of America converted into a subservient population stripped of democratic governance, the bill of rights, and their role as sovereign. The strategic effort to transform government, codified in multiple domains, across commercial, governmental, and academic institutions involves thousands of actors doing their part. From moneyed elites, politicians, state and local officials, and the companies that profit from the direction (or misdirection) the country is heading. This is not a conspiracy; it is a “logical” coup.

The Duality is the Singularity
Arising from several sources, the “Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the
United States (2)”, the Pentagon posits a theory that views a role in governance granting the military preeminent sovereignty. The first neo-conservative theory that enumerated the deliberate transformation of the Pentagon was expressed in a pre neo-conservative thesis on warfare and the projection of U.S. military power, Shock and Awe (3).” Recently the narrative has been modified to suit a new set of conditions and fears from within the Pentagon. These fears are twofold. The first and equally weighted fear is the concept of free peoples-citizens that may vote to change
representatives or legislators indifferent or hostile to the Pentagon and thus are a direct threat to the current Military Industrial Complex. For years, the Pentagon has viewed the civilian population as a threat to not only to their authority, but also to their very existence. For senior, career officers, the citizen appears as an existential threat to military leaders in every faction of the armed forces.

The second, and equally freighting fear, is that military program and authorization budgets are under stress as sequestration forces members of the Department of Defense (DoD) to re-orient internal priorities and balance
them with expectations. The issues surrounding the DoD when it comes to
budgets is a subject worthy of a thesis by itself, but it is understood that the Pentagon has no knack for efficiency or effectiveness when it comes to priorities and procurement. The Pentagon is seen as a post-facto jobs program, where large systems such as a new series of nuclear submarines are under contract to replace the Ohio class nuclear submarines in the fleets today promises to fill the coffers of the contractors for years. The process of procurement makes any system developed for the DoD seem like a lifetime project. This is relevant in that the DoD should get its own house in order. For too many decades, the endless stream of contractors (Harris Corporation,
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, Rockwell, Northrup
Grumman, and many more) firmly attached to the teat of the U.S. taxpayer are crying foul as budgets are being sliced and diced. The plethora of military
service concerns that “surged” the congressional armed services committees
in late 20102 and early 2013 represented a vast array of branch officers and contracting executives. The cry was deafening, branch and service officers were claiming an adverse impact on readiness, the dangers of not being able to deploy forces-not just a lie but also an outright theft from the United
States taxpayer. The Pentagon seems incapable of grasping the true threat to
the organization-the decimation of the United States economy.

More than One Pretty Penny
With what is most certainly a 10 trillion dollar budget in the last ten years, the fact that any Pentagon official or contractor is crying foul is just plain absurd. Nowhere in the annuals of time has some much been spent to achieve so little (Saddam and Bin Laden are dead). Why not just put a wanted poster up “Wanted: Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden, 5 Trillion Dollar Reward Each”. Recent senate and congressional hearings for the Department of
Defense have produce a small reprieve for the Pentagon. Ironically, there
were no expert witnesses called before the house or senate committees
proffering that the procurement of new aircraft carriers, fighter jets,
submarines, and no less than 24 other systems be suspended or curtailed? Let
alone “the fact” that the entire DoD (moreover the federal government)
procurement system is an inefficient, spend as much as you can before
October, disaster that has yet to be addressed. And, what of the DoD’s
inability to accurately assess risk, requirements, and force structure? When
Donald Rumsfeld declared that the Iraq war (portions to be paid by Iraqi
oil) would be 250 billion dollars, have 500,000 trained Iraqi security personnel in 2 years, and a bouquet of flowers-no one called him on it.

Reminds one of Microsoft in the mid 1990’s thinking the Internet was a fade.

Where are the indignant taxpayers, having been fleeced twice in the last
decade-once by the Wall Street barons-and continuously by the military
industrial complex’s endless wars? Is the legacy to their children “Sorry
kids, we weren’t smart enough to discern the facts and we really bungled it up-hope you can come up with 100 trillion dollars. Call me if you need anything else.”

You Shoot a Cop!
After the destruction of the twin towers in New York City on 11 September
2001, the belief that things would change was dashed a month later after the near unanimous passage of the U.S.A Patriot Act by the house and senate. On September 12, 2001, it seemed like the moment to get serious regarding government functions, the Military Industrial Complex would act out of loyalty to the sovereign and not just to profits. However, it would all be
for not, the tragedy that represented an attack on U.S. soil was not transformative, the whores of the federal government showed up in force
(with stock portfolios in hand) to “assist” the government in its “War on
Terror”. Momentum for the wholesale exodus of taxpayer dollars has a
backdrop, the pliability of a frightened congress and executive. One portion
of government had a different reaction; Senior Pentagon officials may not have been able to rub the stains from their trousers, the Pentagon had taken a direct hit, how could the most powerful and awesome force in the world be
taken so easily. This, it seems, prevented Pentagon officials from standing up to do the right thing. The towers in New York having tumbled to the ground as dust and debris was not of importance, the modern U.S. military is based on exceptionalism; attacks on the Pentagon are seen as the most
destructive force in the world, not to be confused with some civilian event. Anecdotally, this is similar to what happens when a police officer is shot;
every officer is on duty looking for the gunman. But, if the average Jane or
Joe is gunned down in the streets, homicide detectives will write a report
and get to it when they can. Individuals shooting civilians is not as important, when someone starts shooting at police officers a whole new set of priorities are put into play. Ideally, Pentagon officials should have been so moved by the event that even the most recalcitrant members of the Pentagon would have stood up to do the right thing. . But no, before the
paint dried on the U.S.A. Patriot act, the wheels came off the vehicle of reason and the country was on a course destine to bankrupt the country-morally, ethically, and financially.

Afternoon Tea
The contracting cabal was waiting in the wings for what was sure to be a bonanza of procurement and programs that would fill the floor and hidden vaults of their companies. The problem of runaway defense spending was only beginning, as the political class ginned up the need to go to war in Iraq, the Fed whores were busy drafting statues, directives, and new authorities to insure the continued feeding at the troth. What was a golden opportunity to promote responsible government spending and seize the moral authority was lost before most of the political class and cowering intelligentsia even woke up. Nevertheless, it was not until years into a conflict that consumed an annual $1,000,000,000,000.00 (one trillion dollars) did questions about the efficacy and rationale of the efforts to exercise the U.S. military in an amorphous series of wars. European intellectuals were confused, after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, they believed that the United States citizen, or even the political class, would recognize their folly. To this day, the majority of congress still refuses to address the issues of reckless abandon that was the war in Iraq. It wasn’t until the year 2007
when Republicans (Reaganites) realized that George W. Bush had signed a budget for over 2.5 trillion dollars thus giving birth to the Tea Party.

More problematic than the budget issues, the encroachment of military practices and procedures into civilian law was starting to expand at an alarming rate. With non-functional military courts, secret intelligence courts, and a new “classified” U.S. Justice Department adding to a farcical exercise described as transparent government, nary a cry was made by legal advocates outside of government. Run by secret fiat, courts, and judges, the citizenry could no longer be made privy to evidence-citizens in U.S. courts were denied access to accusations and evidence used to prosecute them. Okay, so we have suspended some rights temporarily, it’s all for the greater good, right???

Wrong!!!
Over time, the new “National Security Corporate Military Services Complex”
was busy making as many transgressions upon citizens as it could get away with-and more. When in 2005, held by the press for two years before being published in the New York Times, it was discovered that AT&T and the NSA
were involved in secret wiretap program did the public become aware of something more than FISA approved activities. When it was exposed, no
one-including the senate select committee on intelligence-knew that a secret program had been ordered by then President George W. Bush and was being carried on in this country. Another blow to the constitution came during the
Supreme Court’s hearing of an Illinois case involving two lawyers and the
eavesdropping on privileged attorney client communications. As the justices
threw the lawyers a bone by calling the act unlawful, it then struck a blow right into the heart of the constitution, eviscerating another constitutional edict. The Justices, fresh from the verdict of Citizens United, ignored the fact that congress had passed a law in direct
contradiction to the 2nd article of the U.S. constitution that congress shall pass no ex post facto law. The immunity law passed to protect participants in the NSA domestic wiretap program from civil actions stands in direct contravention of the stated article.

Where is the United States citizenry?