Duck and Cover: 2014 NDAA Passed Under Cover of Duck Blinds

[XLFD]

While people were getting ready for the Christmas holiday and debating whether Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson's words in the Louisiana wilderness were worth being suspended from a TV network for, an insidious bill worked its way through the US Congress in preparation to be signed into law most assuredly by the President.  So whether you were wondering how to roast the duck this Christmas, or whether you toasted or roasted the Duck Dynasty patriarch, or dealing with Scrooge McDucks, you more than likely missed this installment which was effectively ignored by the mainstream media.

The National Defense Allocation Act  passed the Senate in an 84-15 vote late Thursday night and clears the Pentagon to spend $607 billion, including $527 billion in base funding and $80 billion for America’s global operations.  It had already passed the House.

The bill contains many provisions such as requiring an independent investigation into reports of religious discrimination against troops sharing their faith and one insisting on Improved assistance for widows of troops killed in combat. 

But it has two sections that it's 2013 counterpart also had, provisions that were scrapped due to their unpopularity expressed by several representatives and senators and the public at large.  This time, it went under the radar of many because of the media focusing on other things and ignoring the warnings of such stalwarts of liberty like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.   

For two years, the NDAA has included provisions that purport to authorize the president of the United States to deploy the U.S. military to apprehend and indefinitely detain any person (including an American citizen) who he believes “represent[s] an enduring security threat to the United States.”

Regardless of promises to the contrary made every year since 2011 by President "You can keep your health plan" Obama, the language of the NDAA places every citizen of the United States within the realm of potential “covered" persons.  Any American could one day find himself or herself branded as belligerent and be subject to the complete confiscation of his or her constitutional civil liberties, his property, and to indefinite incarceration in a military prison like Guantamano.

In the NDAA for 2014 there is a frightening fusion of the federal government’s constant surveillance of innocent Americans and the assistance it will give to justifying the indefinite detention of anyone labeled an enemy of the regime.  Section 1071 expands on the scope of surveillance established by the Patriot Act and the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). 

Section 1071(a) authorizes the secretary of defense to "establish a center to be known as the 'Conflict Records Research Center.’,  The center's job would be to compile a “digital research database including translations and to facilitate research and analysis of records captured from countries, organizations, and individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.”  To accomplish this purpose, the secretary of defense will create an information exchange in cooperation with the director of national intelligence, where everything could be cloaked from the public because of national security. 

Section 1071(g)(1), defines a captured record as "a document, audio file, video file, or other material captured during combat operations from countries, organizations, or individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.”  Key to the functioning of this information exchange will be the collection of “captured records.” in our indefinitely extended (as per the AUMF) "war on terror" and the prior NDAAs’ classification of the United States as a battleground in that unconstitutional war.  The implication is that this could nullify almost all of the Bill of Rights.

Finally, when all the foregoing is couched within the context of the Snowden revelations regarding the dragnet surveillance programs of the NSA, it becomes evident that anyone’s phone records, e-mail messages, browsing history, text messages, and social media posts could qualify as a “captured record.”

After being seized by the NSA (or some other federal surveillance apparatus), the materials would be processed by the Conflict Records Research Center created by this bill. This center's massive database of electronic information and its collaboration with the NSA converts the United States into a constantly monitored holding cell and all its citizens and residents into suspects. All, of course, in the name of the security of the homeland. 

Back in the 1950s, our kids were instructed by the government how to 'duck and cover' because of a nuclear strike by the soviets; now we need to teach our kids how to 'duck and cover' attacks from our own government.

Senator Ted Cruz, one of the fifteen Senators who voted against said on his Facebook site, immediately after the session: 

"Today I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act. I am deeply concerned that Congress still has not prohibited President Obama’s ability to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens arrested on American soil without trial or due process.

The Constitution does not allow President Obama, or any President, to apprehend an American citizen, arrested on U.S. soil, and detain these citizens indefinitely without a trial. When I ran for office, I promised the people of Texas I would oppose any National Defense Authorization Act that did not explicitly prohibit the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. Although this legislation does contain several positive provisions that I support, it does not ensure our most basic rights as American citizens are protected.

I hope that next year the Senate and the House can come together in a bipartisan way to recognize the importance of our constitutional rights even in the face of ongoing terrorist threats and national security challenges. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee toward this common goal."

Can we fight back against this encroachment?  Yes.  Each state has the power to pass Anti-NDAA legislation, some already have.  Likewise, even some counties and cities have done the same.  This link shows what some government units have done to circumvent these provisions of the act.  The map below, up to date as of November, shows the states where legislation is in process or passed to protect the citizenry. 

Green states are where action has been started

Orange states are where bills have been introduced

Blue states are where laws have been passed.

White states are where no action has been taken.

In Michigan, the bill has made it to Governor Snyder's desk.

[Willy]

Good find X. I never heard about this. It's unbelievable how our rights are being taken away. Why has there been no challenge to the Constitutionality of the Patriot Act or the spying on American citizens.

[XLFD]

I thought I was paying attention, but I didn't learn about it until the deal was done.  Just before Christmas is a time of the year when politicians get tricky.  That's a big reason why they surreptitiously approve the City Manager and City Attorney on the council meeting just before Xmas.  So near Christmas, who's going to play Scrooge or Grinch (before they reform in their respective stories)? 

[XLFD]

Congratulations to all fellow Michiganders, Governor Snyder signed the bill which modestly attempts to nullify Section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Michigan joins other states who have sought to nullify the NDAA’s controversial indefinite detention clause.  See the story here:     http://benswann.com/breaking-michigan-nullifies-ndaa-indefinite-det...