Posted originally on the CTH on December 25, 2024 | Sundance
The surveillance state is an outcropping of the Fourth Branch of Government, which is, essentially, the unelected intelligence community in control of our government.
The surveillance state comes from the creation of the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) which is an entirely inward-looking agency. Prior to the Patriot Act, the surveillance sweep searching for terror threats focused outward, looking outside the U.S borders. The Patriot Act took the surveillance sweep a full 360 degrees and looked inside the Homeland for terror threats. Hence, DHS was created.
The office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was also created by the Patriot Act, and was specifically created as the pivot point to combine the surveillance sweeps. The Pentagon and CIA intel agencies sweeping outside the U.S. and the DHS sweeping inside the U.S.
It was the creation of The Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) that destroyed what remained of privacy protections within the constitution (4th amendment). Americans are no longer secure in their ‘papers and effects’, nor protected by the ‘probable cause’ need for warrants. The erosion of the 4th amendment was absolutely connected to the creation of DHS; there is zero doubt about this cause and effect.
With the ODNI and DHS created, the sub-silos of the surveillance state then began. The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) is one agency within the Dept of Homeland Security that was an outcome. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also gained massive tools within this new system.
The key point behind all of this context is what I refer to as the ‘Surveillance State.’ American citizens have lost all privacy protections within this new system of surveillance, that has extended far beyond even what most people fathom.
When you understand the root origin of the Surveillance State, then the discussion turns to what we have accepted within its creation, and what is the current status of American Liberty as an outcome of it.
The fact that this system was weaponized by Barack Obama and Joe Biden to target their political opposition is only one aspect of this dynamic. Yes, it is a big issue, and yes what they did was horrific, corrupt and in my opinion unlawful. However, their ability to weaponize this system only existed because the domestic surveillance state was created and authorized by the legislative branch of government.
Now we are left arguing about who controls a system that should never have been authorized.
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♦ We have outlined exhaustively how Obama and Biden weaponized this surveillance system. Now, we shift to discuss the system itself against the backdrop of President Trump and our new technology MAGA allies.
All of President Trump’s cabinet and key appointments carry the same outlook toward the surveillance state. They fundamentally believe the system is needed, the DHS system holds national security value, and the capacity within the DHS system is only a problem when corrupt political operatives are in charge of it. If good, virtuous and moral people are in charge, the DHS surveillance system is okay.
I have talked to many of them, key people including Devin Nunes for perspective, and I can say directly that President Trump’s team believe the system is good and necessary, it was just controlled by bad actors.
To be clear and fair to readers, I disagree with the Trump administrations’ foundational perspective of the Surveillance State. I do not believe the system holds greater benefit than it does cost. However, that is not the primary reasoning for my opposing viewpoints.
There are two larger issues within this surveillance state. The first, is the potential weaponization of it; this is a simple matter of accepting the historic reality of it. The second issue is an issue that will surface quickly in the next few years, just as rapidly as the advances in technology that support it.
• President Trump is going to unwittingly create a ‘caste system’ within the surveillance state. He will not do so with willful, corrupt or malicious intent, rather it is an inherent problem built into any surveillance network.
There are going to be tiers of people who are not subjected to the rules of the Surveillance State. There are going to be tiers of people, powerful, influential, some intensely rich people, to whom the application of the surveillance does not exist.
I have already seen this ‘tiered’ system starting to come into place. I have witnessed firsthand the outcomes of the software being deployed within the design of their building. I have witnessed real identities masked by the system as an outcome of their status. Facial recognition programs that black out search results based on arbitrary definitions and determinations of those who control the surveillance application.
Inside the surveillance system, supported by the policy team behind President Trump, there will be classes of people. Just as we defined “essential workers” within the COVID-19 pandemic. This essential group will be classed based on their administrative value to the government operators who control the mechanics of outcomes; perhaps “essential administrators.” This is a natural outcome of the mindset behind “continuity of government,” the baseline for the Patriot Act creation.
The system to classify Americans by personage is currently being developed inside the silos of the Intelligence Community, the Dept of Homeland Security and combined with the technological creations of those who are contracted to build it – like Palantir (Peter Thiel).
Within this matrix of categorized Americans there will be those who are not subjected to the surveillance, their constitutional rights will be protected, and they will be afforded all benefit of personage. However, there will be lower classes who are continual targets for it who do not have such protection. There is no way to avoid this caste system outcome; in fact, many components of it are already in place.
[PERSONAL NOTE: Even when given the opportunity to join or align with the elite group, I decline. I am an American, of no greater or lesser value than any other American. Unfortunately, my internal compass viewpoint is not carried by those who are currently building or will operate the system. I do not fault them, for it is perhaps an expected weakness within human nature to align with those of greater benefit when the benefit can transfer to a lifestyle of greater abundance. I do however let them know they are defining their own moral compass heading. It was with this perspective I previously presented this image. I embrace my choice.]
President Trump’s unwitting authorization of the caste system within the Surveillance State will be the issue of debate in a few short years. I do not hold positive perspective on the outcome of litigation because the judicial branch has already conceded their view of liberty to those in the executive branch who hide behind the shield of “national security.”
♦ This brings me to the technology group who are creating the system unwittingly supported by President Trump. Peter Thiel (Oracle), Elon Musk (xAI, SpaceX), Larry Ellison (Oracle), David Sacks and a host of mutually aligned artificial intelligence builders stand to benefit financially from a technologically efficient Surveillance State. Their companies and their AI software products are the targeting tools within the DHS surveillance system itself.
The tools created by Palantir et al, are multifunctional. They can be used by the Pentagon and CIA for military application, and they can be used by DNI, DHS, FBI and TSA for domestic application. Just as the Patriot Act redefined “terror threats” to begin sweeping 360 degrees, so too are the tools of the surveillance state designed for both foreign and domestic application.
There is no way to avoid being the target of a weapon once that weapon is created. However, unlike the mutually assured destruction within the nuclear analogy, there will be no threat of mutual application within the surveillance bomb.
There are going to be castes of people not subjected to the outcome of detonation; therein lies my biggest point against it.
Some are starting to awaken to this issue. I have recently seen commentator Laura Loomer begin questioning the motives of Thiel, Musk, Ellison, Ramaswamy, Sacks and crew. However, no one has yet noted the strategic insurance policy, JD Vance.
Lastly, I do not fault President Trump for this predictable outcome. Few people can fathom the scale and consequence of the big picture items that lay on the desk of President Trump.
What the technocratic team are doing in the supporting offices of the White House cannot be micromanaged by the same person who is trying to confront globalism, stop illicit trade schemes, provide national security, stop geopolitical unrest, unravel foreign wars and simultaneously prioritize the domestic dangers presented by the collapsed and borderless sovereign nation state of America.
Do you really believe President-elect Donald Trump is aware the person he announced as chief-of-staff for Pam Bondi is/was the same person used by Rod Rosenstein to construct the Robert Mueller targeting operation? Am I to believe that Chad Mizelle just had a lapse in momentary judgement, and Donald Trump knows the background of Mizelle at that critical moment in 2017. Just stop; we accept in brutally honest fashion, there are going to be a few aspects of non-winning amid the DC confrontation. President Trump cannot ‘know everything’ and simultaneously confront everything as a priority; at a certain point, even he has to trust their intents.
What I am warning about now, is something entirely predictable that is looming in the near future; like, within 18 months.
At a certain point, the financial interests of the technocratic team who helped win the 2024 election will no longer be in alignment with MAGA Americans. At that point, I have no doubt President Trump will align with our side in the just cause of liberty.
When the sh*t hits the fan and all of these connected interests’ surface, I am optimistic President Trump will support our position; I do not question that at all. However, we must accept the consequence of that non-alignment is going to make those same technocratic MAGA billionaires shift from united allies to lukewarm defenders.
Peaceniks don’t build bombs; and those who genuinely believe in liberty do not build nor support domestic surveillance networks that can be weaponized depending on who is in power.
