Biometrics Without Borders

Border Identification Systems Now Set To Encompass American Citizens


Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
December 27, 2011

In what is a classic case of Orwellian double-think (at least at the level of the general public), the American borders, while remaining wide open to virtually every illegal immigrant wishing to cross, are also providing the U.S. government with justification for increasing tyranny under the guise of border security.

After years of turning a blind eye to illegal immigration or, in some cases, aiding and abetting the process, “concerns” about the security of American borders have provided the American people with “Constitution-Free Zones,” Border Patrol check points close to one hundred miles away from the actual borders, and laws that give state governments the right to demand the “papers” from law-abiding citizens. Even the drones that were once so controversial when used in Iraq and Afghanistan are now being used on the U.S. border as well as deep inside the United States with much less opposition than one would have originally thought.

However, with a recent announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), it seems we are now able to add one more act of oppression that is being justified by the porous claim of “border security.”

A recent report by Government Security News reveals how DHS has issued a grant to Accenture Federal Services to the sum of $71 million for the duration of 13 months. The official purpose of the contract is to “further enhance the capabilities of its immigration and border management functions.” Yet the truth is that the money, which actually comes from the taxpayer, goes toward the development and maintenance of biometric identification systems in relation to border security and border control.

Specifically, the contract awarded to Accenture is directly related to the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program. US-VISIT is both a biographic and biometric recognition system used by Federal, State, and Local governments to determine whether or not an individual can enter into the United States.

Although the US-VISIT program currently uses fingerprints and photography, the contract awarded to Accenture is designed to develop the system so that it is able to use iris identification, enrollment, and matching in addition to its current capacities.

The new technological capabilities will be implemented at first through a pilot program that will be, as of now, voluntary. However, both experience and history have shown that anytime a government agency claims a program will be voluntary, compulsion is soon to follow.

Regardless, the Accenture contract is also geared toward upgrading the US-VISIT program’s information sharing capabilities to include real-time biometric sharing with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Defense. This should be easily accomplished since the program already shares information with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Coast Guard, and the infamous Transportation Security Administration.

There is little doubt that Accenture will be able to upgrade and improve the US-VISIT program better than any other company in the market. After all, Accenture has been working on this program since as far back as 2004, when it oversaw operational responsibility for the program known as Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT).

As Government Security News notes, “Since then, IDENT has become the largest biometric identity solution in the world, processing more than 300,000 encounters a day against a database of more than 130 million stored encounters. The average response time for users is under 10 seconds.”

However, what should be noted is that the IDENT program mentioned above not only processes encounters, but stores them as well. Indeed, the US-VISIT program itself is a process of comparing the information it collects with “a watch list of known or suspected terrorists, criminals, and wanted felons, and for possible violation of immigration laws.”

This should be alarming in its own right considering the fact that what constitutes a “known or suspected terrorist” has become so broad as to include fairly common religious beliefs and even such innocuous acts as paying in cash.

Nevertheless, with a response time that is averaged in time denominations like 10 seconds, information sharing in real-time will not likely be a difficult task for Accenture to complete. Indeed, the company has been quite successful in most of its other business deals with clients such as Aerospace and Defense agencies (i.e. NASA and the U.S. Air Force), international banks, Chemical companies (i.e. DOW Chemicals), the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Military, Spanish Ministry of Defense, Australian Military, U.S. Center for Naval Intelligence, international Finance Companies, international Utilities operations, International Governments (i.e. revenue generation and processing, etc.), police agencies the world over, and even national pension programs.

But what is so disturbing about Accenture, besides their international reach, is the fact that the Corporation has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Smart Grid Technology. The term Smart Grid, of course, is merely a politically digestible name for the technological control grid.

Accenture is by no means a small or insignificant company as the list of its clients clearly shows. The ability of the company to design, develop, and implement various sinister forms of technology at the behest of governments, militaries, and other major corporations is very real.

Regardless, the US-VISIT and the IDENT programs are only a piece of the puzzle.

For instance, the Secure Communities program (S-Comm), a biometrics identification system used by ICE, was once a program that was limited to immigrants (legal and illegal) who were booked for crimes by police.

Although S-Comm is a Federal program, it was announced by ICE in February 2011 that the S-Comm program would be integrated with 58 counties in California as part of what has been deemed an “information sharing nexus.”

Of course, California is not the only state where S-Comm is operational. Texas, Arizona, and Florida also have fully implemented the program, as well as 1,067 communities in 39 other states. By 2013, ICE expects to be able to respond “nationwide to all fingerprint matches generated through IDENT/IAFIS interoperability.”

But while many opponents of illegal immigration might first cheer the new Big Brother technology because of its potential for efficiency, we should all be careful against knee-jerk reactions. After all, none of these programs actually do anything to stop border crossing. Not only that, but it is inevitable that any law or technology used against illegals will also be used against American citizens.

S-Comm is case in point.

Recent documents obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests filed by a variety of organizations including the Cardozo Law School Immigration Justice Clinic, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, reveal that the S-Comm program will not be restrained only to criminal aliens, but that it will also be applied toward law-abiding American citizens. Indeed, the documents revealed that there had been extensive coordination on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security to do just that.

As Bridget Kessler of the Cardozo Law School Immigration Justice Clinic states,

These documents provide a fascinating glimpse into the FBI’s role in forcing S-Comm on states and localities. The FBI’s desire to pave the way for the rest of the NGI project seems to have been a driving force in the policy decision to make S-Comm mandatory. But the documents also confirm that, both technologically and legally, S-Comm could have been voluntary.

In reading Kessler’s statement, one comes across yet another program of similar scope and interest – the NGI or Next Generation Identification program. The NGI program,

. . . will be used to enhance the current database of fingerprints (IAFIS). Added to fingerprints will be full biometrics including palm scans, voice imprints, iris scans, facial recognition, and other body signatures that form a full identity dossier of every individual that can ultimately be analyzed and communicated in real time between local law enforcement agencies. This collated information essentially becomes the property of law enforcement agencies if your biometrics (and DNA) are picked up as latent imprints at a crime scene. This makes everyday movements part of a tracking grid that can be cross-referenced beyond the court of law, leading to false suspicions, interrogations, and arrests. (Source)

The contract doled out by the FBI for the development and maintenance of this program was awarded to none other than Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions. This is not surprising considering the fact that Lockheed Martin has been involved in developing the tools of the global high-tech security state for years, as well as being intricately involved in the weapons trade, war profiteering, and the military industrial complex.

Like most police state surveillance technology, the NGI program will be eased in slowly and incrementally. Indeed, the FBI states exactly that on its own website when it says,

This program will further advance the FBI’s biometric identification services, providing an incremental replacement of current IAFIS technical capabilities, while introducing new functionality. NGI improvements and new capabilities will be introduced across a multi-year timeframe within a phased approach.

As a result of the roll-out of both S-Comm and NGI, the Center for Constitutional Rights released a four-page fact sheet, part of which focuses on the potential for hacking and theft outside of the basic potential for abuse by law enforcement itself. The fact sheet reads:

The accumulation of information in such large databases creates targets for hackers, disgruntled insiders, and national enemies. Information collection projects like NGI greatly endanger national security and leave us vulnerable to identity theft. Using biometric link identifiers introduces the risk that information gathered for one purpose will be used for completely unrelated purposes, without our knowledge or consent, and in blatant violation of our privacy rights.

Yet the potential for abuse by the government and law enforcement itself should be much more frightening than the risk posed by your average run-of-the-mill hacker or identity thief. The fact sheet continues:

The government’s past unsuccessful plan to issue national IDs was met with forceful opposition. NGI is the FBI’s back-door attempt to advance its agenda to increase surveillance. With NGI, the FBI is extorting existing laws and systems to intrude into the lives of every-day people and offend the ideals of freedom, privacy and democracy that we think we can take for granted.

NGI, through S-Comm and its other components, turns local police into federal officers, potentially exposing us all to intrusive surveillance and tracking, to be targeted by government programs that we may not even know about.

Jessica Karp of National Day Laborer Organizing Network echoes this sentiment in her own statement. She says:

NGI is the next generation Big Brother. It’s a backdoor route to a national ID, to be carried not in a wallet, but in the body itself. The FBI’s biometric-based project is vulnerable to hackers and national security breaches and carries serious risks of identity theft. If your biometric identity is stolen or corrupted in NGI, it will be hard to fix. Unlike an identity card or pin code, biometrics are forever.

In addition to all of this information, the deceit practiced by the Federal Government in regard to the introduction and implementation of such technologies is well-known.

History and experience both have shown that government cannot be trusted to tell the truth regarding potentially dangerous technologies and surveillance policies – much less be trusted to operate these programs with responsibility.

As we enter a time of reduced civil liberties and Constitutional rights, the potential abuse of these technologies by government and their corporate connections has increased at the same rapid pace as the technologies themselves.

Mosquito Bioweapons: The History of Testing Inside the United States

Brandon Turbeville

Activist Post

December 25, 2011

 

With the recent announcement by UK-based biotechnology firm Oxitec that the company would be releasing thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes in Southern Florida as early as January, 2012, GM opponents, environmentalists, and a diverse group of Floridians have issued calls to suspend the experiment at least until further tests have been undertaken. Many are simply calling for informed consent protocol to be followed such as is required by law.

Yet, unfortunately, a great many of the responses to the GE (genetically engineered) mosquito release are missing the deeper agenda which is at work here. Undoubtedly, the sordid history of experimental tests involving mosquitoes, mosquito-borne illnesses, and uninformed and unwitting humans has been largely overlooked.

For instance, many of the articles I have read over the last few days dealing with this issue have made the claim that the release scheduled for early January would be the first ever of this type of experiment in the United States. This, however, is not the case; and considering the history of such testing -- specifically that conducted via the release of mosquitoes -- the American people should be very concerned.

I, myself, wrote a detailed article close to a year ago, entitled “Viruses and the GM Insect 'Flying Vaccine' Solution,” in which I chronicled the experiments that have taken place over the years both inside and outside of the United States involving mosquitoes and mosquito-borne illnesses, specifically Dengue Fever.

That being said, it has already been discussed in other recent presentations after my initial article in 2010 how, under the guise of eradicating Dengue Fever, GM mosquitoes were released into the environment in the Cayman Islands in 2009.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne, virus-based disease that has largely been non-existent in North America for several decades. Dengue Fever can morph into a much more dangerous form of the illness known as Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. Symptoms of Dengue Fever are high fever, headache, pain behind the eyes, easy bruising, joint, muscle and bone pain, rash, and bleeding from the gums. There is no known treatment for Dengue Fever besides adequate rest and drinking plenty of water.

 

Generally speaking, it is one specific type of mosquito, Aedes Aegypti, which transmits the virus.

The publicly given method for using these GM mosquitoes to eradicate Dengue Fever was that the genetically modified mosquitoes were “engineered with an extra gene, or inserted bacterium, or have had a gene altered so that either their offspring are sterile and unable to spread dengue, or simply die.” More specifically, the male GM mosquitoes are supposed to mate with natural females which produce larvae that die unless tetracycline, an antibiotic, is present. Without the antibiotic, an enzyme accumulates to a level that is toxic enough to kill the larvae.

It is important to note that these GM mosquitoes, known as OX513A, necessarily have to be of the Aedes Aegypti type in order to achieve the goals publicly stated by the developers. Therefore, the millions of male mosquitoes that were released into the open-air environment in 2009, and again in 2010, were all of the Dengue-carrying type.

It is also important to note that the company’s popular claim that the GM mosquitoes are sterile is patently false. They are not sterile. If they were, they would not be able to produce offspring with the tetracycline-dependent gene.

The OX513A mosquitoes were developed by a British biotechnology company named Oxitec, and their subsequent release was overseen by the Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) in the Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory.

Although Oxitec Limited was the developer who engaged in most of the groundwork for the GM insects, the project was not theirs alone. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, The PEW Charitable Trusts, and government agencies in the United States, England, Malaysia, and others were all involved in the development and promotion of the GM mosquitoes, along with Oxford University, an institution to which Oxitec is closely related. Indeed, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation even went so far as to award Oxitec part of a $20 million consortium grant with which to conduct the research regarding genetically modified mosquitoes.

What has been quite suspicious, however, is the fact that Dengue fever, which has been nonexistent in North America for decades, has begun to resurface in Florida. Initially, the fever was found in 2009, but by 2010 the cases had vastly increased. In July 2010, a CDC study was released to very little media attention indicating that about 10 percent of the population of Key West had been infected with Dengue fever. This had doubled from 2009 where 5 percent had been infected. One might wonder what caused a virus that had been almost entirely eradicated to suddenly reappear with such vigor. That is, one might wonder if the answer weren’t so blatantly obvious. Of course, official reports do not address whether or not the Dengue fever is connected to the millions of mosquitoes capable of carrying the fever which were released just miles away in the Cayman Islands.

While Dengue fever had been eradicated in terms of naturally occurring outbreaks in the United States, cases that were research-related and laboratory-generated have occurred in the country for many years. This is because Dengue fever has been of particular interest to the United States government, US Army, and CIA since at least the middle part of the 20^th century. There is a great deal of evidence suggesting that the biochemical research facilities at Fort Detrick were conducting tests on Dengue fever as a bio-weapon as far back as 1942. It is generally known that in the 1950s the CIA partnered with Ft. Detrick to study Dengue fever and other exotic diseases for use as biological weapons.

It is also interesting to note that, according to CIA documents, as well as a 1975 congressional committee, the three locations of Key West, Panama City, and Avon Park (and two other locations in central Florida) were testing sites for Dengue fever research.

As is generally the case, the experiments in Avon Park were concentrated in low-income neighborhoods, in areas that were predominantly black with newly constructed housing projects. According to H.P. Albarelli Jr. and Zoe Martell of Truthout, CIA documents related to the MK/NAOMI program revealed that the agency was using the Aedes Aegypti type of mosquito in these experiments as well. In one of these experiments, 600,000 mosquitoes were released over Avon Park; and in another, 150,000 insects were released in paper bags that were specially designed to open up when they hit the ground.

Truthout interviewed residents (or test subjects) of Avon Park still living in the area who related that there were at least 6 or 7 deaths resulting from the experiments. As quoted by Truthout, one resident said, “Nobody knew about what had gone on here for years, maybe over 20 years, but in looking back it explained why a bunch of healthy people got sick quick and died at the time of those experiments.” Truthout goes on to point out that around the same time of the Avon Park experiments “there were at least two cases of Dengue fever reported among civilian researchers at Fort Detrick in Maryland.”

In 1978, a Pentagon document titled, “Biological Warfare: Secret Testing & Volunteers” revealed that similar experiments were conducted in Key West by the Army Chemical Corps and Special Operations and Projects Divisions at Fort Detrick.

Like the current situation, U.S. government agencies teamed with NGOs, academia, and other organizations to conduct mosquito-related projects. Operation Bellweather, a 1959 experiment consisting of over 50 field tests, was conducted over several states including Georgia, Maryland, Utah, and Arizona, and Florida. Operation Bellweather was coordinated with the Rockefeller Institute in New York; the facility that actually bred the mosquitoes. What's more, the experiment was aided by the Armour Research Foundation, the Battelle Memorial Institute, Ben Venue Labs, Inc., the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the Lovell Chemical Company.

The military and CIA connections to Dengue fever outbreaks do not end with these experiments, however. It is widely believed that the 1981 outbreak in Cuba was a result of CIA and U.S. military covert biological attacks. This outbreak occurred essentially out of nowhere and resulted in over one hundred thousand cases of infection. Albarelli and Martell write:

American researcher William H. Schaap, an editor of Covert Action magazine, claims the Cuba Dengue outbreak was the result of CIA activities. Former Fort Detrick researchers, all of whom refused to have their names used for this article, say they performed ‘advance work’ on the Cuba outbreak and that it was ‘man made.’

In 1982 the CIA was accused by the Soviet media of sending operatives into Pakistan and Afghanistan for the purposes of creating a Dengue epidemic. Likewise, in 1985 and 1986, authorities in Nicaragua made similar claims against the CIA, also suggesting that they were attempting to start a Dengue outbreak.

While the CIA has characteristically denied involvement in all of these instances, army researchers have admitted to having worked intensely with “arthropod vectors for offensive biological warfare objectives” and that such work was conducted at Fort Detrick in the 1980s. Not only that, but researchers have also admitted that large mosquito colonies, which were infected with both yellow fever and Dengue fever, were being maintained at the Frederick, Maryland facility.

There is also evidence of experimentation with federal prisoners without their knowledge. As Truthout reports:

Several redacted Camp Detrick and Edgewood Arsenal reports indicate that experiments were conducted on state and federal prisoners who were unwittingly exposed to Dengue fever, as well as other viruses, some possibly lethal.

With all of the evidence that CIA and military tests have been conducted regarding Dengue fever, there is ample reason to be concerned when one sees a connection like the recent release of mosquitoes and the subsequent outbreak of Dengue fever in Florida, a traditional testing site for these organizations.

The response to the Dengue outbreak should also be questioned as aerial spraying campaigns were intensified. While these sprayings were claimed to be for the eradication of the Dengue-carrying mosquitoes, the number of people who contracted the illness actually rose.

Clearly, the announcement that experiments are being conducted involving genetically modified mosquitoes, mosquito-borne illnesses, and especially Dengue fever, should be met with great concern and heavy skepticism in regards to the true purpose of the experiments. Considering the track record of corporations, governments, intelligence agencies, foundations, and academia, there is no logical reason why anyone should trust any of these institutions with their progress and well-being.

Indeed, in light of this recently announced experiment, one should question just who is the test subject – the insect or the human.

Releasing Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Poses Unknown Risks To Florida

Brandon Turbeville

Activist Post

December 24, 2011

A recent announcement made by a UK-based biotechnology company known as Oxitec has caused quite a stir in some Florida communities as of late. This is because Oxitec plans to release 5,000 to 10,000 genetically modified mosquitoes over an as-of-yet undisclosed 36-acre block in the Florida Keys, most likely Key West near the Key West Cemetery. The experiment is being presented to the public under the guise of an attempt to eradicate mosquito-borne illnesses, specifically Dengue fever.

The mosquitoes have been genetically modified to survive only in the presence of tetracycline, a commonly used form of antibiotic, and the stated goal for these mosquitoes, which are strictly males, is that they will mate with natural females, pass on their tetracycline-dependent traits to the offspring, and then die themselves. The idea is that an entire generation of mosquitoes will die off as a result of this process.

What has environmentalists, GMO opponents, and a large variety of Floridians up in arms, however, are the numerous questions that such an experiment raises.

For instance, as Eric Hoffman of Friends of the Earth asks, “What are the ecological risks of released GE mosquitoes including the risk of disrupting food chains or providing a new ecological niche more dangerous insects to take the place of Aedes Aegypti (the type of mosquito believed to be associated with Dengue Fever)?” The fact is we simply do not know what kind of effects releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into a natural setting will have.

Furthermore, even if the experiment is successful, what would be the result of eradicating an entire population of mosquitoes? Mosquitoes are a food source for many types of fish, birds, and other insects, and removing them from the food chain would leave a potentially large gap for the creatures that rely on them for sustenance. In the end, we do not know what would happen to the delicate food chain if Aedes Aegypti are removed from the ecosystem.

Not only that, but eradicating the Aedes Aegypti type of mosquito might well leave the area open to invasion by other species who may, in fact, be much more dangerous to human health. For instance, the Asian Tiger mosquito, considered one of the most invasive species in the world, is known to be a carrier of both Dengue fever and the West Nile Virus. What would be the result of an Asian Tiger invasion into South Florida? An eradication of Aedes Aegypti might well provide us with an answer.

Another risk associated with the Oxitec experiment is the potential for the release of genetically engineered biting females into the environment. Since female mosquitoes are the mosquitoes which bite humans, Oxitec claims that its GE mosquito population is an all-boys club. However, due to the method by which the mosquitoes are sorted, the potential for release of female mosquitoes is very real.

As Hoffman writes, “The sorting is conducted by hand and could result in up to 0.5 percent of the released insects being female. This would raise new human health concerns as people could be bit by GE mosquitoes. It could also hamper efforts to limit the spread of dengue fever.”

Additionally, the fact that the mosquitoes are modified to die in the absence of tetracycline is also problematic. This is because tetracycline is a commonly used antibiotic in agricultural production and sewage treatment. Therefore, if there were some contamination of an area with this specific type of antibiotic, or if the existing levels are high enough in the first place, the GE mosquito population could potentially persist and co-exist with the natural mosquito population.

If these mosquitoes were to survive long enough, it would be possible that they could begin to develop and pass on traits that allowed them to live even in the absence of tetracycline, thereby creating the opposite effect of the experiment’s stated purpose. Indeed, who knows what the levels of tetracycline exists in the areas of Florida where the mosquitoes will be released? Have they ever been tested?

And what of it if they have been? Are we really to expect the mosquitoes to stay within the borders designated to them by Oxitec?

In line with this mode of thought is the question of whether or not the Dengue fever itself could begin to evolve and become more virulent and deadly as a result of the GM release. As Hoffman writes,

Concern also exists around the possibility of the dengue virus to evolve and become more virulent in response to the introduction of GE mosquitoes. The fact is that the virulence and spread of disease combined with mosquito population levels and behavior involve incredibly complex systems and [are] difficult to predict in advance. Significantly more research is needed on these and other potentially unintended consequences of the introduction [of] GE mosquitoes.

Researchers do not know much about the correlation between population levels of Aedes Aegypti and dengue fever infection in humans. According to a 2002 article in Science, the density of the Aedes Aegypti populations is at best weakly correlated with human infection rates. This is due to the fact that mosquitoes 'persist and effectively transmit dengue virus even at very low population densities because they preferentially and frequently bite humans.' Additionally, any introduction of GE mosquitoes that does not eradicate a population could lead to increased survivability of the dengue virus and increased risk of human infection.

The staggering costs of these eradication methods, and their extremely profitable potential for companies like Oxitec, should also raise questions regarding the Florida mosquito drop.

Because mosquitoes continually reproduce, it would be necessary to continually release GE mosquitoes into any given area where the extermination plans are being carried out. However, even Oxitec itself does not claim that continual release of the GE mosquitoes would lead to a population collapse, as the GE males were only half as successful at mating as the natural mosquitoes according to data that was provided via unpublished results from previous GE mosquito releases in the Cayman Islands. The truth is, no one knows for sure exactly what the results of continual or even one-time release would be.

It is for this reason that mosquito releases would likely occur every few months, or even every few weeks. Oxitec itself has suggested that, in order for any given project to be adequately carried out, at least 100 million mosquitoes must be stockpiled.

Interestingly enough, it should be noted that the continual release of GE mosquitoes as part of a mosquito-borne illness eradication program would lock any country or community that becomes a client of Oxitec into repeated payments to the corporation due to the fact that Oxitec’s mosquitoes are patented.

From Oxitec’s point of view, the release of GE mosquitoes is a money-making gift that keeps on giving. Especially since the mosquitoes would have to be released over and over in order to keep the population of natural mosquitoes down. If a country, state, or community decides to stop payment to Oxitec, or end the release of the GE mosquitoes, then the natural population of mosquitoes would likely rebound and with it would come the possibility of the increase of the prevalence of disease.

According to Eric Hoffman, Oxitec has never demonstrated or even commented as to the effects of halting the release of the mosquitoes after projects have already begun.

If governments are truly concerned about the prevention of mosquito-borne illnesses, they should take a look (if they are haven’t already) at some of the proven methods of reducing the contraction of these types of diseases.

It has been known for years that community education programs, insecticide-treated bed nets, window curtains, and water jar lids have a significant effect on reducing Aedes Aegypti populations and, hence, the potential for contraction of diseases like Dengue fever.

While the above-listed methods of disease prevention carry their own risks (constant exposure to insecticides, etc.), the risk related to releasing GE mosquitoes into an open and natural environment are much more frightening. This is, largely, because they are unknown, but also because their adverse effects can have drastic effects throughout the local, regional and perhaps even global ecosystem.

That is, unfortunate side effects are unknown for now.

If we don’t make our voices heard quickly, we may found out just what happens when unnatural creatures are turned loose on a natural habitat.

Unprecedented Lawsuit Reveals Bizarre Worldwide Banking Connections

Brandon Turbeville

Activist Post

December 19, 2011

 

On November 23, 2011, a lawsuit of unprecedented proportions was filed with the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit, filed by Neil Keenan who is acting as a representative of the Dragon Family, takes aim at a variety of well-known individuals and institutions that span the entire globe and encompass both the public and private sectors.

The Plaintiff, Neil Keenan, claims that he was entrusted back in 2009 with financial instruments which included Federal Reserve Notes worth $124.5 billion, two Japanese government bonds which have a combined face value of $19 billion, and a U.S. “Kennedy” bond which carries a face value of $1 billion by The Dragon Family, a group of very wealthy and reclusive Asian families.

According to the lawsuit, the accrued interest value of these instruments alone was $1 trillion back in 2009, when the alleged crime against Keenan (and hence the Dragon Family) occurred.

You can view the document here at Pacer.gov, for eight cents a page. Type in “Keenan, Neil” under the “Party Name” tab and reference “2011-cv-8500,” filed on November 23, 2011.

As reported by Dan McCue of Courthouse News Service, the only mainstream news organization to cover this lawsuit to date, “In his remarkable complaint, Keenan claims that the U.S. government [received] enormous amounts of money – delivered in gold and other precious metals – from the Dragon Family many years ago, and that the money was placed into the Federal Reserve System for the benefit and underwriting support of the dollar, ‘which was to become and currently remains the global reserve currency.’”

Keenan further describes the Dragon Family in his lawsuit by stating that:

The Dragon Family abstains from public view and knowledge, but, upon information and belief, acts for the good and better benefit of the world in constant coordination with higher levels of global financial organizations, in particular, the Federal Reserve System. 

During the course of its existence over the last century, the Dragon family has accumulated great wealth by having provided the Federal Reserve Bank and the United States Government with Asset assignments of gold and silver via certain accounts held in Switzerland, for which it has received consideration in the form of a variety of Notes, Bonds, and Certificates such as those described . . . that are an obligation of the Federal Reserve System.

However, the lawsuit does not merely target the Federal Reserve. Below is the list of defendants provided in the document filed with the U.S. District Court.

Daniele Dal Bosco

The Office of International Treasury Control

Ray C. Dam (individually, and as President of OITC)

David A. Sale (individually and as Deputy Chief of the Council for the Cabinet of OITC)

The United Nations

Ban Ki-moon (individually and as Secretary General of the UN)

H.E. Ambassador Laura Mirachian (individually, and as Permanent Representative of the Italian Mission to the U.N. in Geneva)

Italian Republic

Italian Financial Police

Silvio Berlusconi, Former Prime Minister of Italy

The World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum U.S.A., Inc.

Giancarlo Bruno (individually and as Head of the Banking Industry of WEF)

The incident that directly relates to Keenan’s lawsuit dates back to 2009, when two Japanese citizens were detained in Italy, and the bonds they were holding, which totaled $134.5 billion, were seized. The two men were Mitsuyoshi Watanabe and Akihiko Yamaguchi; the latter being considered Neil Keenan’s predecessor in acting as an agent of the Dragon Family.

This incident was reported early on by the mainstream media, even making its way up to Glenn Beck’s television show shortly after it occurred. However, the story quickly disappeared from the mainstream and has not reported on since. Here are some mainstream reports on the incident which are still available online.

Bloomberg News: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ayy1QKcwcGN0

Daily Kos:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/06/13/742096/-Japan,Italy,and-US,-134-Billion-in-US-Bonds-Smuggling-Case

Asia Times: http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15456&size=A 

Two articles from the Underground Investor:  http://www.theundergroundinvestor.com/2009/06/the-strange-inconsistencies-behind-the-134-5-billion-bearer-bond-mystery/

http://www.theundergroundinvestor.com/2009/07/possible-links-to-a-coming-bank-holiday-in-the-ongoing-134-5-billion-bearer-bond-mystery/

Even the alternative media has been largely silent on the story, with the exception of Benjamin Fulford, who has been releasing information related to the lawsuit in question and the surrounding events for some time.

What’s interesting about the Beck coverage, though, is how the level of money being discussed here is put into perspective. During his interview with Joe Wiesenthal, the editor of BusinessInsider.com, Beck put up a list of public, unclassified numbers of the amount of the U.S. bonds held by other countries. The list was as follows:

China – 763.5 billion

Japan – 685.9 billion

United Kingdom – 152.8 billion

Russia – 137.0 billion

Brazil – 126.0 billion

Keep in mind, the amount of money seized from the two Japanese men, was $134.5 billion worth of bonds. Compare this amount to the list above and one can see just how huge an amount of money is being discussed. The amount found in the possession of these two men is so large that, if all the bonds had come from Russia, it would only have $2.5 billion of U.S. bonds left.

Wiesenthal and Beck both commented on how large an amount of money this is – not just in monetary terms, but also in the ability to produce it. Even if it were a forgery, the capabilities to create such a large-scale replica would require technology most likely held by governments, not rogue counterfeiters. As Wiesenthal noted, “it would be the kind of technology you would expect only a government to have.”

At this point, we come to Yamaguchi, one of the men arrested with the U.S. Bonds, who is described in the lawsuit as Keenan’s predecessor and an agent of the Dragon Family. The two allegedly met as a result of the assistance provided by Keenan to Yamaguchi in finding a Cyprus bank for some of the financial instruments used by the Dragon Family. Keenan claims he was granted special power of attorney to act on behalf of the Dragon Family to place some of their assets in PPPs (Private Placement Investment Programs).

This is where the story takes yet another bizarre turn.

Keenan claims that after he took possession of the instruments at the heart of this lawsuit and, a month after the two Japanese men were detained, a man named Leo Zagami arrived on the scene. According to the complaint, Zagami, “ a self-described 33^rd Degree Freemason, who, as of April 2008, had reportedly claimed to be the leader of the breakaway faction of the Knights of Templar and high-level Freemasons centered around the elite of the Masons P2 (propaganda Due) Lodge in Monte Carlo.”  

Zagami also claimed to be a representative of the Vatican Illuminati and other European secret societies. He also claimed that he was trying to make contact with “certain Asian Secret Societies.

During meetings with individuals only described as “contacts,” it is claimed that Zagami told one of these contacts that the two Japanese men, Yamaguchi and Watanabe, had been set up and that he had inside information about the instruments that were seized.

Eventually, the mutual contact was introduced to Daniele Dal Bosco, a Vatican banker and associate of the P2 Masonic Lodge, as well as fellow defendant in Keenan’s lawsuit, whom Keenan was told “would be able ‘to cash the bonds seized by the Italian Treasury Police.’”

Keenan claims that he was in constant contact with Dal Bosco via Internet Skype and had agreed to meet in Italy. It is also claimed by Keenan that during the course of these conversations, “Dal Bosco represented that he was not only financial advisor to Zagami, but also to the Vatican, Vatican City, Rome, and the Treasurer to the P2 Masonic Lodge.”

Over time, Keenan claims, he came to trust Dal Bosco and turned the bonds over to him “for temporary safekeeping and custodianship.”

After the bonds were in Dal Bosco’s possession, the lawsuit alleges that Dal Bosco made off with them and attempted to sell them “in the global marketplace through stealth, conversion and bribery.”

Keenan also claims that as all of these events were unfolding, he was routinely offered bribes by high-level officials of $100 million to “release” the financial instruments without disclosing to the Dragon Family where they had gone.  The plan was to allow the instruments to be converted to a UN “Sovereign Program” which would be entirely, “under the auspices, protection and umbrella of the sovereign immunity enjoyed by the defendants.”

On a side note, it should be mentioned that within the 111-page document, Keenan makes an astounding claim, and one that should not be ignored if, for no other reason, because it is so large an amount of money with almost incalculable repercussions for the United States and its private central banking system. The document states:

During the course of its existence over the last century, the Dragon Family has accumulated great wealth by having provided the Federal Reserve Bank and the United States Government with asset assignments of gold and silver via certain accounts held in Switzerland, for which it has received consideration in the form of a variety of Notes, Bonds, Certificates such as those described in ¶ 2 that are an obligation of the Federal Reserve System. Upon information and belief, these bonds have values ranging in the many Thousands of Trillions of United States Dollars, a relatively small portion of which is involved in the claims giving rise to this action. Each of these currencies, such as the DFFI (Dragon Family Financial Instrument) involved in this action, was and remains duly registered within the Federal Reserve System and are directly verifiable by the Federal Reserve through its efficient verification system and screening process. [emphasis added]

Thousands of trillions is quite the sum of money. Although the amount of financial claims in this lawsuit is not anywhere close to the amount specified above, the fact that any individual, family, or institution would retain this large sum of money in U.S. Dollars is alarming, especially to the system which might be liable to pay it back.

If the amount of money listed is, as the lawsuit claims, easily verified through the Federal Reserve’s verification system, the revelation would be perhaps the biggest bombshell in the history of the Federal Reserve. Perhaps even in the history of private central banking itself.

Although the claims made by Keenan in this lawsuit can only be looked at as accusations at this point, one must wonder what the outcome of the case will be, even if it is unsuccessful in financial terms. One also wonders whether or not, if the trial is allowed to move forward, if this lawsuit will function much as the Jim Garrison JFK trial functioned many years ago. That is, a failure to procure a conviction or legal victory, but a clear documentation of the inconsistencies and official stories handed down to the public from on high.

Perhaps, if Keenan’s case and facts are in order, this trial will, at the very least, provide citizens all over the world a view through the window of the shadowy organizations of Freemasonry, banking, and government.

At this time, Keenan is seeking “the return of the stolen instruments, punitive damages and court costs on multiple claims of fraud, breach of contract and violation of international law.”

Keenan is being represented by William H. Mulligan Jr. with Bleakley, Platt & Schmidt of White Plains, New York.

I encourage every reader to read David Wilcock’s article, “CONFIRMED: The Trillion-Dollar Lawsuit That Could End Financial Tyranny,” published at Divine Cosmos, for an excellent and in-depth breakdown of the lawsuit discussed in this article.

Cashless Voice Recognition System Now Being Converted to Analyze Behavior

Brandon Turbeville

Activist Post

December 15, 2011

In 2011, it is scarcely even possible to keep up with the new methods of surveillance and control being introduced by governments, corporations, and universities on what seems like a daily basis. I, myself, have had quite a time over the last few months trying to keep track of them all.

Indeed, in just a matter of months, we have seen the implementation of the Google Wallet Smartphone app in places like New Jersey and New York transportation systems, as well as the development of implantable microchips that can both react to -- and control -- the human brain. Not only that, but we have recently witnessed the introduction of vein scanners to the general public for the purpose of payment and identification.

However, with a recent announcement made by Homeland Security News Wire, it appears we can add one more strand in the web of the high-tech security grid that is being built before our eyes.

According to Homeland Security News Wire, research teams from all across the United States are hard at work developing a new voice recognition software that can analyze and determine whether or not a person is drunk, angry, or lying.

Dr. Julia Hirschberg, a computer science professor at Columbia University, is described in the article as being one of the researchers working on such a program. Her project involves the creation of a computer program that can “deconstruct an individual’s speech pattern to see if they are being honest by searching for cues like volume, changes in pitch, pauses between words, and other verbal signs.”

So far, Hirschberg’s team claims they have been able to tell whether or not an individual is lying with 70% accuracy.

The technology being developed by Hirschberg is similar in scope to the “emotion detectors” set to be implemented in Western airports, which claim to be able to translate subconscious eye movements, dilated pupils, biting, nose wrinkling, heavy breathing, pressing lips together, blinking, swallowing, and other facial movements into mathematical algorithms capable of predicting potential “terrorist” activity or emotions such as anger and resentment.

Another speech analysis research program, being conducted by Shrikanth Narayanan, a University of Southern California engineering professor, is set to develop a system that can analyze “an individual’s emotions using by using mathematical algorithms that scan hundreds of vocal cues like pitch, timing, and intensity.”

Although Narayanan claims that some emotions are difficult to determine, he says that anger is relatively easy to spot. He is also at work on a program that will be able to determine if an individual is drunk. However, that program, according to the report, has not progressed as far as the one focused on anger.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the research, particularly of Hirschberg’s programs, is the source of funding.

Interestingly enough, Dr. Hirschberg recently became the recipient of $1.5 million dollars by virtue of a grant from the U.S. Air Force to work on algorithms to analyze Arabic and Mandarin speakers. The grant also includes a directive to analyze English speakers, a very important tool if one is intent on tracking and tracing American citizens.

Of course, a $1.5 million grant from the Air Force simply means a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. taxpayer. So, ironically, the American people are funding the Big Brother control grid with their own money, but, unfortunately, with the level of knowledge currently held by the general public, that irony is likely to be lost forever.

In addition, Dr. Dan Jurafsky, a Professor at Stanford University whose research focuses on “the understanding of language by both machines and humans,” recently headed a study of the ability to analyze short conversations for qualities like friendliness and flirtatiousness. Dr. Jarufsky, whose research is quite similar to that of Dr. Hirschberg and Dr. Narayanan, was awarded a fellowship from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, an organization that is a major supporter of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as numerous overseas and domestic programs that focus on “Sustainability” and “Population and Reproductive Health.”

However, programs that recognize voice prints are already in existence on the private market. Like the Google Wallet apps and the vein scanners that I have discussed previously in other articles, voice print recognition-based software is nothing new.

Indeed, in an article published in the New York Times, entitled “Software That Listens for Lies,” Anne Eisenberg writes that programs have been in place at call centers for some time with the ability to alert operators to potentially irate customers holding on the line.

Similar to the other forms of biometric identification, voice print software is also available for online payment. In what is being termed “Voice Biometric Technology,” a product created by VoiceVault (known as VoiceAuth), now allows shoppers to add items to an online shopping cart via their smartphones and subsequently make payments on the phones using their voice as an authorization program.

As seen in part one of the demonstration video below, once the product is brought up on the screen and the checkout steps have been taken, a randomly generated numeric code appears on the screen. At this point, the user must read the numeric code into the phone and the VoiceVault software will analyze and confirm the user’s identity based on their voice print, as seen in part two.

Another company, Perceive Solutions Inc., has also developed voice recognition software. However, Perceive Solutions Inc.’s version of the technology goes beyond the applications seen in VoiceVault’s version and it is also more indicative of the direction this technology will be headed once it is fully implemented in society.

Perceive’s software not only recognizes voice prints based on those voices already programmed into the system for authentification purposes, it allows for voice recognition and categorization of voices not yet entered into the system by the user.

Essentially, the software allows for users to receive calls or record the voices of others (by whatever means available) and then program those voices into the system for future recognition. This can easily be done without the other party’s permission or their knowledge. 

 

 The demonstration video below for the Voice Biometrics Software program offers a better understanding of how this works.              

            

 

Also, be sure to visit Perceive Solutions’ website to view the logo of the company. The all-seeing eye seems to be an increasingly popular symbol these days.

Nevertheless, it is important to understand that the technology on the scale of that being produced by Perceive Solutions is simply another brick in the Berlin wall of the high-tech security state. With these programs, each and every login serves as a data mining operation. Even better, it functions at the pleasure of the plebs who use it voluntarily, and not the result of a security state snooping project directed by force. Users of these programs unwittingly register and categorize themselves, so the majority of the work is essentially done for the technocratic authoritarians who wish to implement such a system in the first place. All the controllers need to do is introduce the surveillance net and the prey will take the bait and ensnare themselves.

Not only that, but the fact that this technology is able to catch voice prints from unwitting victims should also give rise to great concern about its use if it were to fall into the wrong hands – namely, those in the U.S. Corporate Government who would use it to document and spy on its own citizens, something that it has become rather open about as of late. Indeed, there is little doubt that this is the ultimate purpose of the technology to begin with.

With this in mind, imagine a surveillance state with the capability to record conversations held online or over the telephone. Now imagine that this surveillance state possesses the capability to record the voice prints of those conversations and store them in a database. Combine this technology with the incessant and voluntary online chatter by virtually every person in the country, digital accounts, palm scans, vein scans, blood databases, and Patriot Act snooping powers and, by now, you should be getting the picture of humanity’s future.

All of these capabilities are not only possible in the current system, they are readily available and they are being utilized. Never mind the fact that the private sector has had this type of technology for some time but, governments -- particularly the United States -- have had far more sophisticated systems for many years.

It is absolutely true that any system released and introduced to the general public has been obsolete for at least several generations and voice print recognition technology is no exception.

As a society, we have shown no signs of resisting this obvious encroachment on our basic freedom and, unfortunately, we have only helped to enslave ourselves that much more.

If the American people do not sever their gross attachment to convenience and gadgetry, there will be no hope for us in the future. For those of us who do value liberty and privacy, we must make our voices heard . . . even if they are being recorded.

Follow this link to hear Brandon Turbeville's interview with Sean Anthony of Flow of Wisdom Radio. Or watch Part 1 in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2drxi5pH2U 

Australia Embraces Technocracy with Biometric Employee Time and Attendance System

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
December 11, 2011


In the global race to see which industrialized nation will lead the way in the implementation of the most oppressive police state the world has ever known, Australia has been making silent but steady gains for years. With those aware of the march toward totalitarianism usually preoccupied with the developments in the United States and the UK, Australia can often go overlooked. Yet, not to be outdone, the land down under has managed to enact carbon taxes, militarize police, end gun ownership, and rival even England in terms of forced political correctness. Although Australia might not be the leader of the pack, it refuses to be left out.

Every now and then, there are signs that Australia is attempting to take a brief lead over both of its fascist national comrades. For instance, in an article published in the Sunday Telegraph on December 4, 2011, Rosie Squires describes how many Australian employers are introducing a fingerprinting program in order to monitor employees and “save costs.”

The new fingerprint scanners will be taking the place of time clocks, trust, responsible hiring, and, apparently, competent supervisors. No longer will the employees of companies such as Qantas, Dan Murphy’s, Breville, and Unomedical be able to clock in and out of work in the traditional manner. In order to prevent employees from “arriving late or slacking off,” the workers will now be forced to render some of their most private information to their employer via the new scanners.

The new technology, PeopleKey, will be used not only to clock employees on their way in and out, but also to monitor their progress over the course of the workday, as well as other potential incidents of “slacking off” like using the bathroom or daring to engage a fellow employee in conversation.

A spokesman for Dan Murphy’s, a chain of liquor stores, stated, “Like many major retailers, Dan Murphy’s has found electronic clocking in and out to be a reliable method of recording staff hours, as well as enabling store managers to know which team members are on site for health and safety purposes.”

Invasion of the Vein Scanners for Cashless Society

Brandon Turbeville

Activist Post

December 8, 2011

 

 

In an article I wrote in late October 2011 (“NJ Transit Ushers In Cashless Society With Google Wallet App For Smartphone Payment), I detailed a new policy being implemented at New Jersey Transit stations and Newark Liberty International Airport Rail Station, as well as in Penn Station and the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. At the time, I deemed the program, “the most recent Orwellian Big Brother policy under the guise of greater traveler convenience; a cover story for privacy intrusion that is becoming more and more popular when attempting to introduce the hi-tech police state security grid.”

Essentially, the new procedure being introduced is a wireless payment program that allows passengers to wave their smartphones in front of a special sensor in order to purchase a ticket for travel. The sensor is located on the ticket vending machine and both the train and bus tickets are accessed via Google Wallet – an app that provides for wireless payment capabilities. In the article mentioned above, I argued that the implementation of such technology is the foreshadowing of the coming cashless society which itself will play a major role in the totalitarian police state control grid being established right before our eyes.

Unfortunately, however, the police state and the cashless society have moved beyond the use of smartphones and other pieces of hard technology by which to establish themselves as the new normal in the minds and the culture of an entire generation.

Taking the cashless control grid one step further, an article published on August 8, 2011 in Technology Review, entitled “Beyond Cell Phone Wallets, Biometrics Promise Truly Wallet-Free Future,” explains that major corporations are not even waiting for the “digital wallet” to catch on. They are actually moving forward with a system that will allow for an individual to swipe their palm, not their phone, in front of a digital recognition device in order to gain access to various buildings, pay for merchandise, or otherwise identify oneself.

 

Although the technology known as Near Field Communication (NFC), allows users to completely bypasscredit cards and cash with their phones, it has been slower to catch on in the United States than it has in someareas of Asia -- Japan in particular. Nevertheless, the convenience-obsessed American public will no doubtflock to it in large numbers as soon as it becomes more widely marketed and available. 

 

The new system, known as PalmSecure, is not Near Field Communication, however. PalmSecure requires no tangible hardware on the part of the user, so phones are not necessary. All it requires is that the user wave his/her hands in front of an electronic reader and the small device reads the unique pattern of veins by way of near-infrared light.

The new biometrics-based method of payment and permitted access is one that from miles away could easily be seen coming. In fact, many, including myself, have been warning of the dangers of this type of technology for some time. Yet the calls of convenience combined with the advertisement of better security will likely make the new system even more palatable to the general public. Where the NFC methods have not caught on as quickly as some might have wished, biometric approaches are likely to be more successful.

Indeed, this new type of technology, even this specific product, is already being introduced all over the United States.

For instance, New York University’s Langone Medical Center has already implemented the vein scanners in some of its medical facilities. Manufactured by Fujitsu, the scanners are being placed in the hospital under the guise of greater convenience (the marketing gift that keeps on giving) and faster access to medical records. Health histories, insurance forms, and other documents are all handled electronically and at a much faster pace with the help of the new vein scanners.

As Jonathan Allen reports for Reuters:

The initial set-up for a new patient takes about a minute, the hospital said, while subsequent scans only take about a second.

"We can then just ask one question: ‘Has your insurance changed?’ Birnbaum [Bernard Birnbaum, the vice dean and chief of hospital operations for the center] said. If ‘no,’ you don’t have to fill out a single form.”

Currently, the program is optional and Birnbaum claims that only around 1% of the patients have objected. Unfortunately, in 2011, this is completely believable.

It should be noted, however, that almost every element of any control grid begins by being optional when it is first introduced to the target population. But, as more and more individuals acquiesce to the system, the more inconvenient and, subsequently, the harder it will become for the rest of us to opt out. Eventually, the ability to opt out will be removed altogether.

Although NYU’s program has received more attention than most of the other vein scanner stations, it is important to remember that it is not the only one of its kind. It is merely one of the first to be implemented at a hospital in the Northeast. Several other hospitals have already introduced the system and more will likely follow.

Schools, too, have begun to implement the Fujitsu systems. For instance, the Pinellas County School District in Florida recently announced that it was introducing the system in order “to identify students and thereby reduce waste and the threat of impersonation.”

With the new scanners, the students are able to have their meals deducted from their account, upon scanning their palms, as they march single file in the feeding lines during lunch time. Of course, this type of technology is not new to Pinellas County. The students have been finger scanning in order to gain access to their lunch for years.

Obviously, the introduction of the Fijitsu vein scanners in the NYU hospitals and the Pinellas County School District are simply more examples of how gradualism is used in order to condition the public into accepting these technologies as a fact of life. Particularly if the younger generation can be trained to accept palm scans even for the most basic and common goods and services, they and the generation that comes after them will never think to question the greatly enhanced digital control grid when it is rolled out into the general social sphere.

Not only will an entire generation come to accept the scanners as normal, it is almost guaranteed that they will eventually come to demand them. Indeed, it is not likely that we will have to wait for a younger generation to be fully indoctrinated for something of this nature to occur.

As Christopher Mims glowingly writes for Technology Review,

If the slow rollout of NFC holds any lessons, it’s that breaking the monopoly of the existing payment system is difficult, especially when merchants bear the cost. But a biometric identification system could be a unique identifier that might justify its additional expense for some vendors. If you think waiving your phone to pay for something is convenient enough to convince you to go to one coffee shop versus another, imagine how thrilled people will be to simply raise their hand?

If this is indeed the case, then those of us who value privacy and freedom better start raising our voices.