James Bamford, expert on the National Security Agency, writes about its massive data collection center in Utah. He quotes a former NSA official: “We are that far from a turnkey totalitarian state,” holding his thumb and forefinger close together. (Thanks to Bob Schlereth.)

The threat to human freedom from domestic spying is enormous. It is a threat to everyone, including all those who consider themselves as law-abiding and are unworried by such developments. One reason is that the elite powers who have access to personal information on everyone can use that information to control anyone. They can do so at their whim or according to their political biases or personal aims and self-interests. Another reason is that existing laws already can be used to remove anyone or suppress anyone. When combined with information on anyone, the state’s powers are magnified. A third reason is that even more draconian laws can be enacted whenever there is a real or concocted “emergency” or even simply because of war. A fourth reason is that public control over the nation’s elite is vanishing. The public has no direct ways to control the use of domestic intelligence. A fifth reason is that a coup d’état can establish one man as dictator. And, given his control over both information and armed forces, he will be extremely powerful and difficult to dislodge. And such a coup would totally end the republic anyway.

While people’s attention is being diverted to non-existent threats overseas or terror threats, far greater threats are occurring inside America. The terror threats and the entire war on terror are functioning as means by which the nation is being moved toward a totalitarian future.

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