US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies
By Ritt Goldstein
Sydney Morning Herald
July 15 2002
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html

The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.

The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".

Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.

As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.

Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits.


A pilot program, described on the government Web site www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage. Assuming the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.

Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports.

Present Justice Department procedures mean that informant reports will enter databases for future reference and/or action. The information will then be broadly available within the department, related agencies and local police forces. The targeted individual will remain unaware of the existence of the report and of its contents.

The Patriot Act already provides for a person's home to be searched without that person being informed that a search was ever performed, or of any surveillance devices that were implanted.

At state and local levels the TIPS program will be co-ordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which

was given sweeping new powers, including internment, as part of the Reagan Administration's national security initiatives. Many key figures of the Reagan era are part of the Bush Administration.

The creation of a US "shadow government", operating in secret, was another Reagan national security initiative.

Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in the movement for US law enforcement accountability. He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there, saying he was the victim of life-threatening assaults in retaliation for his accountability efforts. His application has been supported by the European Parliament, five of Sweden's seven big political parties, clergy, and Amnesty and other rights groups.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html

October 18, 1998 story on Mr. Goldstein from the Hartford Courant:
STATE MAN SEEKS ASYLUM IN SWEDEN;
AN ACTIVIST CLAIMS HIS EFFORTS TO START A CIVILIAN REVIEW BOARD FOR POLICE IGNITED A CAMPAIGN OF HARASSMENT, BUT SWEDISH AUTHORITIES HAVE DENIED HIS REQUEST.

It sounds like one of those "News of the Weird" column items: A Connecticut man is hiding in Sweden, where he seeks asylum, because he thinks U.S. police are out to get him.

The things is, it's true. The asylum part anyway.

Richard "Ritt" Goldstein, 47, became the first American in years to apply for asylum when he moved to Sweden last year. He said his activism in pushing for a statewide civilian review board for police resulted in daily harassment from police in Connecticut and other states.

Goldstein's asylum request was rejected by the Swedes last month, and since then he has been living a refugee's life, supported by private citizens and European human rights groups.

"I live underground," he said, during a phone interview Friday. "The thing is, very fortunately, there are those who looked at the work I had done and looked at the overwhelming evidence that I brought with me. Initially, there was a little skepticism, but here, unlike other places, they were not burdened by believing it can't happen. . . . Law enforcement wasn't a sacred cow to them."

Whether Goldstein is characterized as a kook making false claims or a legitimate poster boy for the crusade against police brutality depends on who is doing the talking.

Just last week, Amnesty International launched a new campaign calling attention to human rights abuses within the United States, citing "widespread and persistent" police brutality as one of the top problems.

Former Norwalk Mayor William Collins said Goldstein had a strong commitment to his work, which included arranging a hearing at the state capitol last year on forming a statewide police review board.

Goldstein also headed a group called the Standing Committee on Law Enforcement Development. "I found him very dedicated to his cause, which I supported very strongly," Collins said.

Connecticut police don't share that view.

Goldstein has made harassment complaints to several police departments, including Danbury, Norwalk, Wethersfield and Cromwell. His complaints date back to the 1980s, when his activism began.

The complaints seem to have a pattern: Goldstein told police his car or home or self was sprayed by chemicals or pepper spray, usually by someone in plain clothes that he was sure was a police officer.

His complaints were investigated, but police say the investigations led nowhere because Goldstein failed to provide promised witnesses, or wouldn't come in to meet with police.

"We investigated what we could," said Lt. John Salvatore of the Wethersfield Police Department. "We were not able to substantiate any of the claims."

Cromwell police arrested Goldstein in April 1997 for making a false report, in which he alleged that police used pepper spray on him at a local Super Stop & Shop.

Cromwell Police Capt. Thomas Roohr said investigators found no one who could remember seeing Goldstein at the market, or encountering pepper spray, a highly irritating substance.

Goldstein maintains that he passed a lie detector test in the Cromwell incident. But a warrant is now out for his arrest because he failed to show up in court.

Goldstein said he moved out of his Danbury apartment into various hotels across the state because he couldn't take the harassment. He moved to Sweden when he could no longer take the drain on his health.

"The harassment was off the scale," he said. "It's the kind of things you don't expect in America."

He said he never filed lawsuits in Connecticut against the police because an attorney told him such suits are impossible to win.

In Sweden, his case attracted attention when a letter on his behalf, signed by high-ranking clergy, ran in a Swedish newspaper. Legal experts also felt his case may have repercussions for the few immigrants from stable Western democracies who apply each year for asylum to a country within the European Union.

Goldstein's attorney in Sweden, Robert Camerini, said Goldstein was denied asylum because of his country of origin.

"It's my judgment it was denied not on the merits of what was presented, but because he was American," Camerini said. "If Goldstein had come from a Third World nation, then I think it would have been another question."

The Swedish government considers the United States a stable democracy with human rights groups of its own, groups that can help citizens with police complaints, said Nina Ersman, spokeswoman for the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Gunnar Sommarin, spokesman for Sweden's Alien Appeals Board, said whatever harassment Goldstein encountered did not seem state-sponsored. He said it was now up to the Swedish police to deport Goldstein.

As far as the U.S. government is concerned, Goldstein may apply for asylum in other countries or renounce his citizenship if he chooses.

Unless he needs to be extradited for a major crime, the government doesn't much care what he does, said Marie Rudensky, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the U.S. State Department.

"In our eyes, his status remains the same," she said.

In Sweden, Goldstein has exhausted his appeals. He has no plans to return to the United States, where he feels no one can help him, at any level of government.

He said his next recourse may be the European Court of Justice. In the meantime, he continues to live in Sweden.

"Hopefully, things will change here," he said. "You can't fool all of the people all of the time."

As one can see, the efforts of the Bush administration's FBI/CIA/big brother
mission to spy on and harrass citizens is definitely in effect.
Witness how easily anyone who challenges the state, or its agencies (whether
the FBI, police, etc.) are immediately called out to have their personal
character and integrity assassinated. Witness what happened to the
guy who videotaped the Inglewood police beating of a teenager, remember
what happened to J.H. Hatfield, and even weirdos like Michael Ruppert get
harrassed.
. The war against free citizens of the US and
their character is on...
And by the way, I could give a shit who Goldstein swindled in Sweden....

... WIERDOS like Mike Ruppert ...?

The man has evidence... on ... you know ... things ... about some pretty powerful folks ... wierdo? Are you high?!

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of exposing the character assasination attempt, but ... wierdo...?

The following excerpts from a regime propaganda document issued in January show why community organization and involvement is vital to the defeat of the stalinist Operation TIPS citizen spy program.

Operation TIPS is based on APPLICATIONS FROM CITIES!!!

"Applications from cities will be accepted in Fall 2002 for inclusion as one of the pilot programs."

So the way to defeat Operation TIPS is to demand that local officials make no such applications, or if they already have, that they withdraw them immediately. Where initiative and referendum is available, this would be a logical way to raise public consciousness and insha'Allah deal the regime a major defeat.

Note: the following excerpts mention "Fall 2002" as the target date to begin operation. The target date has now been moved up to August 2002.

---

The USA Freedom Corps Council will be created by executive order. The President will chair the Council. The Council will include the following as members:

Vice President;
Attorney General;
Secretary of State;
Secretary of Commerce;
Secretary of Health and Human Services;
Secretary of Education;
Secretary of Veterans Affairs;
Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service;
Director of the Peace Corps;
Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development;
Director, USA Freedom Corps Office; and
Director, Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

...

Create Operation TIPS: Terrorist Information and Prevention System

As part of the Citizen Corps, Operation TIPS -- the Terrorist Information and Prevention System -- will be a nationwide mechanism for reporting suspicious terrorist activity -- enlisting millions of American transportation workers, truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains and utility employees. Operation TIPS, a project of the U.S. Department of Justice, will start first as a pilot program in ten cities in America, affecting more than 1 million workers. Applications from cities will be accepted in Fall 2002 for inclusion as one of the pilot programs.

Operation TIPS will establish a national reporting system that would allow these workers, who have routines and are well positioned to recognize unusual events, to report suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities. Every participant in this new program will be given a Citizen Corps: Operation TIPS information sticker that could be affixed to the cab of the vehicle or placed in some other public location so that the toll free reporting number would be readily available to report any suspicious activity.

Everywhere in America a concerned worker will be able to call the 1-800 Hotline that can route calls immediately to law enforcement or a responder organization when appropriate. Importantly, this number will not supplant the existing 911 emergency system. Instead, it will take the stress off already burdened local systems needed for emergencies. The U.S. Department of Justice will provide $2 million in Fiscal Year 2003 to establish the hotline and assist with training and $6 million for the pilot programs and outreach materials.

Operation TIPS builds on the success of programs such as Highway Watch, which is a crime prevention partnership among the American Trucking Association and six states, and security training at the Global Maritime and Transportation School, which includes enhancing the ability of mariners aboard American vessels in island waterways and the Great Lakes to track and record potential threats.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/freedom-corps-policy-book-all.html

European parliament committee urges Swedes to rethink

Special report: the European parliament

Jon Henley
Thursday June 21, 2001
The Guardian

In a case that could have important implications for the EU's planned common asylum policy, a European parliament committee yesterday criticised Sweden's treatment of a US national who has been refused asylum on the grounds that he comes from a so-called "safe" country.
The parliament's committee on citizens' rights and freedoms, justice and home affairs threw its weight behind a growing international campaign by suggesting that Stockholm should re-examine the asylum application of Ritt Goldstein, who fled to Sweden in July 1997 after suffering what he claims was police brutality in the US.

In an opinion drafted by the British MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford, the committee called on the Swedish government to look again at whether its immigration authority had acted according to "the safeguards of the EU and United Nations High Commission on Refugees and its own national law, and to ensure that the application for asylum of Richard Goldstein is re-examined in accordance with these safeguards".

Mr Goldstein, 48, was a justice of the peace and successful businessman when, in 1995, he became involved in a campaign to reform the US police force by making its members more accountable.

Mr Goldstein claimed he immediately became the target of vicious reprisals which the US authorities and justice system were powerless either to prevent or redress. His home and office were ransacked, the tyres and steering mechanism on his car were tampered with and he was repeatedly sprayed with pepper spray. He was attacked so often, he said, that "it was no longer a question of whether I would be beaten up, but how often and how badly".

Mr Goldstein, who has been living in hiding in Sweden for nearly four years, said yesterday. "All I want is the chance to live normally. The committee has raised a shout that it will be difficult for the Swedish government to ignore."

The case, the only one of its kind in the world to involve a US citizen, has caused uproar in Sweden, raising doubts about existing concepts of political asylum and pitting human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch against a government that has so farrebutted all criticism of the immigration authorities' ruling.

MEPs from Britain and other countries have spoken out in support of Mr Goldstein, pointing out that his case raises serious questions about the EU's proposed common asylum policy and that definitions of terms such as "safe third countries" must be redefined.

In its rejection of his asylum application and appeal, the Swedish immigration board said Mr Goldstein's case was "manifestly unfounded" because the US is "an internationally recognised democracy" with "a functioning legal system" that did not allow the persecution of its citizens. Spokesmen from five Swedish political parties have also criticised their government's approach.

"Under the Geneva Convention, every person has the right to an individual review of their asylum application," said Marianne Andersson of the Liberal Centre party.

Hate to break the news, but the fact is that the Swedes found that Goldstein had been attacked repeatedly. He brought police reports with him documenting: how the steering on his car was purposefully unscrewed; that he was shot at; that he was repeatedly pepper sprayed, etc.

According to sources familiar with the case, he also passed several lie detector tests regarding his story, submitting those in evidence to Swedish authorities and Amnesty International's Swedish section.

What Swedish immigration said was that the attacks were by individual police, acting without authorization, and so Goldstein didn't need protection as the US is a democracy with a "just legal system".

Part of Goldstein's apparent problem was that he had no hard evidence to prove the police attacks (ie, video, witnesses willing to testify, etc). The other part of Goldstein's problem was the willingness of people to condemn him regardless of the facts.

In a radio interview of his I recently heard, he likened it to the way rape victims were once treated, saying that it's easier to demonize the victim than address the problem. He added that many police abuse victims are just assumed to have done something to "deserve it", or are fabricating their stories for an ulterior motive...just as once happened with rape victims.

And, just like with the rape victims, attacks on the victim's character have indeed been forthcoming. Two points for Goldstein.

Since Goldstein has some pretty sound journalism pieces that are being printed all over the world, including one that warned of internment camps two weeks before the LA Times broke their story, maybe it's not him that's crazy.