Nathan Crites-Herren
The Paw Print
Bluffdale is nestled in in a bowl-shaped valley opposed on either side by Utah’s Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. It’s the heart of Mormon country, where the followers of Joseph Smith and later pioneer Brigham Young arrived more than 160 years ago. Coming from the east to escape the rest of the world, to comprehend the words left for them by their god on golden tablets, the Mormons of Bluffdale have lived in genera l solitude since their exodus westward.
Through the decades Bluffdale has become the home to one of the largest polygamist sects in the nation, boasting a roster of 9,000 members and growing. The community even features a complex with numerous chapels, schools, a sports field and an archive. Overall membership to the sect continues to grow, prompting leaders to purchase more land in order to expand.
But new pioneers have been quietly moving into the area, mysterious interlopers who keep to themselves. And not unlike the polygamists, the newcomers are interested in collecting information and data in a massive archive. Over the past months workers in Bluffdale have been steadily constructing a massive government facility to house these newcomers, which is estimated to be five times larger than the White House.
This massive structure will soon be home to one of the largest domestic-spy centers in the country; where the National Security Agency (NSA) will continue its Orwellian tactics. This massive eavesdropping center will be a million square feet, with technological abilities to tap into telephone calls, read private e-mails, record internet usage, store purchases and a whole slew of random data that is part of the post 9/11 restructuring of the NSA.
When comparing the NSA to other security agencies like the CIA, the differences are stark. First of all, the NSA is about three times the size, it costs more and it’s the most secretive. Its main purpose is to eavesdrop, tapping into major communication links, listening to what people say around the world as well as in the United States. Whereas, the CIA focuses on purely human intelligence, recruiting spies and blowing people up with drone strikes. With the emergence of the technological age, NSA has become the major supplier of intelligence for the U.S. government, making it the most powerful intelligence agency not only in the U.S. but globally as well.
We can attribute the NSA’s massive growth and increased secrecy to the George W. Bush administration, which adopted ex-Department of Defense official, John Poindexter’s strategy of “Total Information Awareness.” Under this slogan, Poindexter and the Bush administration championed the idea of a massive and permanent espionage/ technological spy infrastructure that would be used seamlessly through defense agencies with no government body oversight. However, outcry from U.S. senate members eventually forced the Bush Administration declare an end to the “Total Information Awareness” campaign.
It seems that this so-called end to the NSA’s secrecy under the Bush administration only further helped the NSA to grow in strength and continue its domestic and international spy actives unabated. Even the so called liberal Obama administration has played lip service to the issue, allowing the NSA free reign to continue illegal domestic spying. In fact, former NSA employee and whistleblower William Binney went to the Obama administration numerous times with documented proof of NSA’s unconstitutional behavior but was turned away and subsequently threatened by the FBI at gunpoint after federal Indictments against him failed to come to fruition.
Indeed, the classic novel, “1984” published in 1949 by George Orwell clearly describes the American government apparatus today, a xenophobic plutocracy hell bent on knowing everything about everyone, all for our supposed security. They even have us fooled to, the American public is oversaturated with patriotic propaganda to the point where they will believe anything, exactly like the citizens of Orwell’s Oceania.
The NSA is the heart beat of the intelligence community and as this government continues to wrap its tentacles around the world, the NSA will become an even more integral part of the machine. Democrat, Republican or third party makes no difference; the U.S. government has proved that its interests are not in upholding the constitution but maintaining a security/police state at home and abroad.
Illegal governmental spying on citizens and the world outside of U.S. is nothing new. The latest installation of the NSA center in Bluffdale is a continuation of this saga that targets not only marginalized communities but the entire population of global citizens under the auspices of national security interests. This November cast your vote as you wish, but Big Brother is here to stay.
What’s Been Said…