The Bush Administration is proceeding with its plan to train firefighters to help identify terror suspects in a move that could threaten not just civil liberties but the firefighters themselves.
As previously discussed on this blog, firefighters are being trained to help identify terror suspects. The Homeland Security people have realized that fire inspectors and firefighters can do someone that it cannot as a general rule: enter homes without a warrant. This is the latest effort to create a network of people asked to perform such a role. The Bush Administration has previously enlisted truckers, medical staff, postal workers, and of course telecommunication companies. It moves us closer to the goal of “total transparency” often discussed among security people: making people more visible to surveillance and monitoring.
It also seems to confirm the statement of the deputy national security director that Americans need to simply get over their old-fashioned concepts of privacy. For Kerr’s dismissal of privacy, click here
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