The Defense Security Service (DSS) has been around for many years. Its mission included conducting background investigations on defense contractors' employees and on-site inspections of facilities to ensure compliance with DoD security requirements and standards.
A second agency, far more secretive and lesser known, is the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) created in 2002 with the responsibility of making DoD counterintelligence efforts more effective and, according to its own officials, is limited to analysis of counterintelligence data from other agencies.
While there have been occasional "lapses" and leaks in the DSS, those in the CIFA are far more worrying.
CIFA has already overstepped its charter by putting together a database of peace activist, anti-administration and anti-war protestors and demonstrators.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) has recommended the disestablishment and consolidation of the DSS and CIFA. Officially it is being called a merger. In reality it is a CIFA attempt to take over the DSS whose assets include more than 4.5 million defense contractor employees' background investigations. CIFA has already requested access to these files on many occasions in the past - without justification or explanation - and was turned down.
This merger will eventually give CIFA access to these files as well as control of DSS's 280 field investigators - giving it a capability it currently claims it does not have.
According to defense analyst and washingtonpost.com blogger Bill Arkin, who first brought CIFA's domestic spying to light, "we are creating an American military secret police that is clearly acquiring way too much information and way too much power".
Texas believes that deploying its already thinly spread police to arrest tourists for having a drink is more important than dealing with the constant, increasing tide of illegals crossing its border with Mexico every day, the terrorist sleepers already known to be established in this country, or keeping an eye on our own home-grown terrorist groups, anti-government militias, white supremacists, and various other hate groups.
The CFIA/DSS merger indicates that the DoD is similarly short-sighted and this merger will greatly expand DoD's domestic spying capabilities.
Some say this is for our own safety and security, and for national security.
Where is the safety and security issue in raiding a hotel bar and arresting a harmless, innocent tourist who may have had one too many when those police officers should be on the street preventing crime, meeting their responsibilities in Homeland Security, and living up to their motto "to protect and to serve"?
Where is the DoD's justification for domestic spying under the guise of national security? There can be no legitimate reason for CFIA to have access to the DSS security files of people who have already been thoroughly investigated for various levels of security clearances and Special Access Programs (SAP's).
DoD would only be wasting more time, money, man-hours and resources by duplicating what the National Security Agency (NSA) has already been doing for years.
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