June 17, 2003

Cameras and microphones that capture what you see and hear; sensors that record what you feel. Global positioning satellite devices that log every movement; biomedical sensors that monitor vital signs. Internet activity, telephone calls and voicemails stored; mail and faxes scanned. Links established to every radio and television broadcast heard and every newspaper, magazine, book website or database seen would be recorded.

Sound like Brave New World? Welcome to LifeLog, a new project of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA). Four LifeLog contracts will be awarded this summer to capture a person's "experience in and interactions with the world."

DARPA's "Terrorism Information Awareness Program" was presented to Congress on May 20, 2003. With projects such as MInDet (Misinformation Detection), ARM (Activity, Recognition and Monitoring) and LifeLog, DARPA develops tools to detect, classify and identify "terrorists" based upon profiles and patterns.

On September 15, 2001, four days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, CIA Director George Tenet presented a top secret "Worldwide Attack Matrix" Ñ an assassination hit-list targeting individuals in 80 countries around the world Ñ to President George W. Bush. Within months, both the United States and Israel declared open season on dissidents. Covert ops and, particularly, assassination, are presented now as standard military and intelligence procedures in the new and open-ended "War on Terror."

From Murder, Inc. to Total Control: The Architecture of the Police State examines methods used by the ruling class to control opposition and to suppress dissent here and abroad.