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Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force http://fb.me/2fXfIYAVY
http://www.alternet.org/meet-contractors-turning-americas-police-paramilitary-force?paging=off
January 30, 2013 |
The national security state has an annual budget of around $1 trillion. Of that huge pile of money, large amounts go to private companies the federal government awards contracts to. Some, like Lockheed Martin or Boeing, are household names, but many of the contractors fly just under the public's radar. What follows are three companies you should know about (because some of them can learn a lot about you with their spy technologies).
L3 is everywhere. Those night-vision goggles the JSOC team in Zero Dark Thirty uses? That's L3. The new machines that are replacing the naked scanners at the airport? That's L3. Torture at Abu Ghraib? A former subsidiary of L3 was recently ordered to pay $5.28 million to 71 Iraqis who had been held in the awful prison.
Oh, and drones? L3 is on it. Reprieve, a UK-based human rights organization, earlier this month wrote on its Web site:
L-3 Communications is one of the main subcontractors involved with production of the USs lethal Predator since the inception of the programme. Predators are used by the CIA to kill suspected militants and terrorise entire populations in Pakistan and Yemen. Drone strikes have escalated under the Obama administration and 2013 has already seen six strikes in the two countries.
(More at the link.)
clarice
(5,504 posts)pscot
(21,037 posts)that has such people in it.
felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)The debate about guns should include a debate about the militarization of our police.
Lady Freedom Returns
(14,165 posts)antiquie
(4,299 posts)A couple of interesting articles, somewhat related, at Mother Jones.
Half of All Mass Shooters Used High-Capacity Magazines
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/high-capacity-magazines-mass-shootings
Six Things We Learned at the Senate's Big Guns Hearing
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/01/wayne-lapierre-gabby-gifford-senate-hearing