The Watchers: the rise of America's surveillance state
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Description
Our surveillance state was born in the brain of Admiral John Poindexter in 1983. Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, realized that the United States might have prevented the terrorist massacre of 241 Marines in Beirut if only intelligence agencies had been able to analyze in real time data they had on the attackers. Poindexter poured government know-how and funds into his dream-a system that would sift reams of data for signs of terrorist activity. Decades later, that elusive dream still captivates Washington. After the 2001 attacks, Poindexter returned to government with a controversial program, called Total Information Awareness, to detect the next attack. Today it is a secretly funded operation that can gather personal information on every American and millions of others worldwide. But Poindexter's dream has also become America's nightmare. Despite billions of dollars spent on this digital quest since the Reagan era, we still can't discern future threats in the vast data cloud that surrounds us all. But the government can now spy on its citizens with an ease that was impossible-and illegal-just a few years ago. Drawing on unprecedented access to the people who pioneered this high-tech spycraft, Shane Harris shows how it has shifted from the province of right-wing technocrats to a cornerstone of the Obama administration's war on terror. Harris puts us behind the scenes and in front of the screens where twenty-first-century spycraft was born. We witness Poindexter quietly working from the private sector to get government to buy in to his programs in the early nineties. We see an army major agonize as he carries out an order to delete the vast database he's gathered on possible terror cells-and on thousands of innocent Americans-months before 9/11. We follow General Mike Hayden as he persuades the Bush administration to secretly monitor Americans based on a flawed interpretation of the law. After Congress publicly bans the Total Information Awareness program in 2003, we watch as it is covertly shifted to a "black op," which protects it from public scrutiny. When the next crisis comes, our government will inevitably crack down on civil liberties, but it will be no better able to identify new dangers. This is the outcome of a dream first hatched almost three decades ago, and The Watchers is an engrossing, unnerving wake-up call.
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ISBN:
9781400194827
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 91475bd2-0615-8aba-e815-f3d5dec06921 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | watchers the rise of americas surveillance state |
Grouping Author | shane harris |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-04-03 23:11:02PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-04-25 02:26:24AM |
Solr Fields
accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
auth_author2
Heyborne, Kirby
author
Harris, Shane
author2-role
Heyborne, Kirby,reader
hoopla digital
hoopla digital
author_display
Harris, Shane
display_description
Our surveillance state was born in the brain of Admiral John Poindexter in 1983. Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, realized that the United States might have prevented the terrorist massacre of 241 Marines in Beirut if only intelligence agencies had been able to analyze in real time data they had on the attackers. Poindexter poured government know-how and funds into his dream-a system that would sift reams of data for signs of terrorist activity. Decades later, that elusive dream still captivates Washington. After the 2001 attacks, Poindexter returned to government with a controversial program, called Total Information Awareness, to detect the next attack. Today it is a secretly funded operation that can gather personal information on every American and millions of others worldwide. But Poindexter's dream has also become America's nightmare. Despite billions of dollars spent on this digital quest since the Reagan era, we still can't discern future threats in the vast data cloud that surrounds us all. But the government can now spy on its citizens with an ease that was impossible-and illegal-just a few years ago. Drawing on unprecedented access to the people who pioneered this high-tech spycraft, Shane Harris shows how it has shifted from the province of right-wing technocrats to a cornerstone of the Obama administration's war on terror. Harris puts us behind the scenes and in front of the screens where twenty-first-century spycraft was born. We witness Poindexter quietly working from the private sector to get government to buy in to his programs in the early nineties. We see an army major agonize as he carries out an order to delete the vast database he's gathered on possible terror cells-and on thousands of innocent Americans-months before 9/11. We follow General Mike Hayden as he persuades the Bush administration to secretly monitor Americans based on a flawed interpretation of the law. After Congress publicly bans the Total Information Awareness program in 2003, we watch as it is covertly shifted to a "black op," which protects it from public scrutiny. When the next crisis comes, our government will inevitably crack down on civil liberties, but it will be no better able to identify new dangers. This is the outcome of a dream first hatched almost three decades ago, and The Watchers is an engrossing, unnerving wake-up call.
id
91475bd2-0615-8aba-e815-f3d5dec06921
isbn
9781400194827
last_indexed
2024-04-25T08:26:24.609Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Unknown
literary_form_full
Unknown
primary_isbn
9781400194827
publishDate
2010
publisher
Tantor Media, Inc
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
History
Intelligence service
Political science
Twenty-first century
United States
Intelligence service
Political science
Twenty-first century
United States
title_display
The Watchers : the rise of America's surveillance state
title_full
The Watchers : the rise of America's surveillance state [electronic resource] / Shane Harris
title_short
The Watchers
title_sub
the rise of America's surveillance state
topic_facet
History
Intelligence service
Political science
Twenty-first century
Intelligence service
Political science
Twenty-first century
Solr Details Tables
item_details
Bib Id | Item Id | Shelf Loc | Call Num | Format | Format Category | Num Copies | Is Order Item | Is eContent | eContent Source | eContent URL | Detailed Status | Last Checkin | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hoopla:MWT10757176 | Online Hoopla Collection | Online Hoopla | eAudiobook | Audio Books | 1 | false | true | Hoopla | https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/10757176?utm_source=MARC&Lid=hh4435 | Available Online |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hoopla:MWT10757176 | eAudiobook | Audio Books | Unabridged | English | Tantor Media, Inc | 2010 | 1 online resource (1 audio file (900 min.)) : digital. |