4th Amendment to the US Constitution: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
On Friday, April 19 in Watertown, Massachusetts during the manhunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspect police and federal agents spent the day raiding people's homes and performing searches. Police were filmed pushing people from their homes at gunpoint, marching the residents out with their hands raised in submission, and entering the homes to perform their searches.
As I watched this from afar I could not help but flash back to the Persian Gulf War (August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991) which the Pentagon claimed was the first space war. It was during that time that the US Space Command "field tested" their entire space warfare technology system. They pre-identified all of Iraq's military targets in advance with space satellites. In the first 2-3 days of the war some 95% of those targets were bombed, essentially ending the war. But the "war" would last for several more weeks as cruise missiles (at $1 million each) and other weapons were expended and aerospace corporations were working round-the-clock to replace them. The Space Command checked out many other aspects of their "yet to be put into action" war-making high-tech do-dads during that show.
While I know nothing about the guilt or innocence of the two young men accused in the Boston Marathon bombing, it does seem clear to me that at the very least this incident offered Homeland Security the opportunity to do a field test and they made full use of it.
We saw the latest in domestic surveillance technology being used. We saw massive coordination of local, state, federal police/military forces - all now indistinguishable from one another - they looked like one huge invading army.
We most dramatically saw the field test of plans to shut an entire major city down - locked down under military control.
On December 31, 2011, Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. The act authorizes the military to detain, indefinitely and without trial, anyone it deems to be a terrorist or supporter of terrorism, including any US citizen.
We saw these same militarized police forces suppress the non-violent Occupy movement all over the US just last year. The American people should be careful what they cheer for. Next they might come for you.
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