{"id":3807,"date":"2012-02-09T13:30:04","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T19:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/?p=3807"},"modified":"2012-02-09T13:30:04","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T19:30:04","slug":"you-might-be-a-terrorist-if-new-indicators-from-the-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/?p=3807","title":{"rendered":"You Might Be A Terrorist If…New Indicators From The FBI"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was written in response to the FBI’s newest slant on the “war on terrorism” which includes 25 flyers which are being distributed to local businesses across the U.S. to help “promote suspicious activity reporting.”\u00a0 Of particular interest was the flyer regarding internet cafes:\u00a0 always paying for your coffee with cash, trying to protect your identity and screen from others, etc.\u00a0 The article reads as follows:<\/p>\n

CAT<\/strong>, SLATT, and Yet More Security Measures<\/strong><\/p>\n

The FBI and Department of Justice, under the Communities Against Terrorism (CAT)<\/a> initiative, are distributing flyers to local business owners throughout the nation in an attempt to \u201cpromote suspicious activity reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the Communities Against Terrorism (CAT) initiative, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are asking owners of certain types of businesses to assist in counter-terrorism efforts.\u00a0 In conjunction with the Department of Justice, the FBI has produced 25 flyers that are being \u201cdistributed to local businesses in a variety of industries\u201d in an attempt to prevent acts of terrorism on U.S. soil.\u00a0 These flyers are not being released to the general public.<\/p>\n

While attempting to prevent terrorism on our nation\u2019s soil is definitely admirable, upon review of the list of flyers being distributed by the FBI and their \u201cpotential indicators and activities\u201d listed, it appears that many of these activities could be used to target average citizens.\u00a0 Some of the 25 businesses and industries listed include military surplus stores, financial institutions, motels and hotels, shopping malls, agricultural and home improvement supply stores, hobby shops and paintball stores, internet caf\u00e9s, and even tattoo parlors.\u00a0 Oddly, businesses such as firearms stores and demolition companies were not listed directly.<\/p>\n

Funding for CAT is provided through SLATT (State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training) as part of the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Bureau of Justice Assistance, which encourages local business owners to assist in the fight against terrorism.\u00a0 \u00a0SLATT provides both on-site and off-site training on how to spot potential terrorists.<\/p>\n

The flyers are fairly general in their wording, and much of what is contained in them is common sense.\u00a0 However, some of the \u201cpotential indicators\u201d almost seem outlandish.\u00a0 Flyers distributed to internet caf\u00e9s , for example, suggest that (with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy), You Might Be a Terrorist If \u201cyou always pay for your coffee with cash, are overly concerned about your privacy, or attempt to shield the screen from view of others.\u201d \u00a0Also, you need to be concerned if you log onto Comcast, AOL, or “other residential-based internet providers,\u201d as that may target you as well. \u00a0Need we remind the FBI and government there is something called \u201cidentity theft\u201d that is rampant, and that \u201cshoulder surfing\u201d is a real hacking problem?<\/p>\n

Other somewhat ambiguous and possibly confusing \u201cindicators\u201d include using Google maps to look at public venues or to view photos of large cities, taking \u201cinappropriate photographs or videos\u201d of \u201csymbolic targets\u201d (monuments, memorials), and being \u201coverdressed for the weather.\u201d Apparently what this means is that if you took your family on vacation to Washington, D.C. and you Googled maps of Washington and all the sites to see, \u201cyou might be a terrorist!\u201d\u00a0 Then, when you posed the family in front of all the memorials and monuments and took pictures and videos, \u201cyou might be a terrorist!\u201d\u00a0 And if you happened to see a homeless person sitting on the sidewalk with one too many pieces of clothing on, \u201che might be a terrorist!\u201d\u00a0 Oh yes, and if you paid for those McCoffees with McCash, \u201cyou might be a terrorist!\u201d<\/p>\n

You can view a complete list of the types of businesses and suspicious behaviors and activities listed for each at:\u00a0 http:\/\/publicintelligence.net<\/a>.\u00a0 A word of warning, however; when viewing more than a couple of the categories, my computer froze up and required a complete reboot.\u00a0 Perhaps yet another way you flag yourself as a potential terrorist!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening in America that we are allowing such outright fear-mongering and paranoia to become the norm?\u00a0 Where are common sense and wisdom?\u00a0 Through the use of \u201csecurity\u201d measures for our own good, we are becoming dehumanized.\u00a0 The Department of Homeland Security has the \u201cSee Something, Say Something\u201d campaign; TSA has its \u201cFirst Observer\u201d citizen-spy program as well as Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR), which was used during this past Superbowl.\u00a0 We\u2019ve become a country divided, it\u2019s \u201cus versus them,\u201d with \u201cthem\u201d being an enemy not yet fully defined but requiring more and more drastic security measures like the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the proposed Enemy Expatriation Act.\u00a0 Enough already!<\/p>\n

Oh, and did I mention I enjoy reading physics books at the local library where I researched this article after paying cash for a cup of hot chocolate at my local internet caf\u00e9?\u00a0 That\u2019s odd\u2026a police car just slowly cruised past my house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was written in response to the FBI’s newest slant on the “war on terrorism” which includes 25 flyers which are being distributed to local businesses across the U.S. to help “promote suspicious activity reporting.”\u00a0 Of particular interest was the flyer regarding internet cafes:\u00a0 always paying for your coffee with cash, trying to protect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-articles","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3808,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807\/revisions\/3808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}