Digby: Did You Know that NSA Spymasters Are Involved in the War on Drugs?

[marmar]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/nsa-drug-war


from hullabaloo, via alternet:



Yesterday I posted a little tid-bit about the NSA proposing some years back to "re-think the 4th Amendment" in a once secret (now de-classified) document. I was reading it over again this morning and happened upon this little tid-bit:



So, for all those who worry about ham-stringing the government in its noble quest to protect us from the boogeyman, where exactly does this fit into the matrix of concerns? Are we all ok with the NSA doing secret surveillance of Americans' activities with a mandate to "stem the flow of narcotics into our country"?

Remember, this document was written long before any alleged terrorist plots featuring Mexican drug lords existed. This was about drug interdiction, period. That's not to say that in recent years the DEA and the National Security apparatus haven't pretty much merged under the umbrella of "narco-terrorism". But the NSA has been involved in the drug war for a very long time.

Is everyone comfortable with that, knowing what we know about how much information they're collecting?

[msanthrope]

1. Really don't have a problem with drug interdiction. I figure any pot Americans need

can be home-grown. No need to subsidize failed narco-states.

[truebluegreen]

3. Ever ask yourself why there are "failed narco-states"?

As someone who has lived in a country that could be considered a narco-state, I can tell you it and its inhabitants would be miles better off without the importation of the US's drug war. The US should fight (or better, give it up) its drug war on its own soil.

Nah. That wouldn't feed the insatiable maw that is the MIC and its fellow travelers.

[DURHAM D]

2. Why hasn't the NSA put a stop to human trafficking?

Or child porn?

[RainDog]

4. probably so they can sell to raise money

eliminate the competition, ala Contras and cocaine.

[RainDog]

5. The majority of money spent on the War on Drugs

..goes to defense contractors.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/09/world/la-fg-narco-contract-20110609

A Senate Subcommittee said the war on drugs is a failure.

U.S. can't justify its drug war spending, reports say

The reports specifically criticize the government's growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate fields of coca, operate surveillance equipment and otherwise battle the widening drug trade in Latin America over the last five years.

"We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports, which was released Wednesday.

The majority of U.S. counter-narcotics contracts are awarded to five companies: DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, ITT and ARINC, according to the report for the contracting oversight subcommittee, part of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Counter-narcotics contract spending increased 32% over the five-year period, from $482 million in 2005 to $635 million in 2009. DynCorp, based in Falls Church, Va., received the largest total, $1.1 billion.

[RainDog]

6. kick n/t

[bananas]

7. k&r nt