White House Drug Czar Helps Pay for CIA-on-the-Hudson
In its latest update on NYC’s spying on Muslims, the AP reports the program is partially funded by the White House Drug Czar in grants associated with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program.
Some of that money — it’s unclear exactly how much because the program has little oversight — has paid for the cars that plainclothes NYPD officers used to conduct surveillance on Muslim neighborhoods. It also paid for computers that store even innocuous information about Muslim college students, mosque sermons and social events.
When NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly was filled in on these efforts, his briefings were prepared on HIDTA computers.
What the article notes but doesn’t emphasize–but which is the entire point of White House czar positions–is that there is little oversight over how these funds get used. Congress did not get to see a breakout of how the NYPD uses its “war on drugs” funds.
Congress, which approves the money for the program, is not provided with a detailed breakdown of activities. None of the NYPD’s clandestine programs is cited in the New York-New Jersey region’s annual reports to Congress between 2006 and 2010.
The problem with programs run by White House czars is that White Houses of both parties routinely argue that Congress has no legitimate oversight over them.
The White House, typically, refuses to comment.
The White House last week declined to comment on its grant payments.
And, as the AP has pointed out repeatedly in its reporting on this program, no one in New York City is exercising oversight either.
It’s unclear how much HIDTA money has been used to pay for the intelligence division, in part because NYPD intelligence operations receive scant oversight in New York.
The main point of the AP article is that the White House owns this ineffective, abusive spying, just as much as Ray Kelly.
But just as importantly, the use of Drug Czar funds for a program that is every bit as counterproductive and wasteful and stupid as the war on drugs symbolizes just how far those running this program have shielded it from any oversight.
Slightly OT, but the extent to which Ray Kelly has intimidated the NYC political class is clear
in this article from the AP. The Democratic mayoral candidates who don’t actually support the spying offer at most mild criticism, immediately followed by glowing praise for the NYPD, even using the same phrase “extraordinary job”.
I am so glad that you are on this story about the NYPD-on-the-Hudson.
I have been meaning to do some more research and writing about it. I’m glad to know that you are looking at it closely. Reading your posts from the past week has given me some new motivation. It takes a lot to shock me but the way the NYPD just assumed jurisdiction in my state really surprised me. Who is giving them this authority? It seems obvious that it comes from a federal level. Yet when bloggers started making assumptions about the involvment of Homeland Security in the nationwide crackdown on OWS protests and encampments, there was enormous pushback and accusations of conspiracy theory. (Even though it was not at all unusual to see an NYPD team with “Counterterrorism Unit” on the backs of their jackets at regular protest marches, which should be enough proof that something strange is going on, IMHO).
But look at this — NYPD snaking around in three states at least. And how unsurprising that the “war on drugs” money is playing a part. They should just rename it the “war on civil rights”. It amazes me how Democratic presidents are somewhat nonchalant about drugs during their campaigns and then become militant about it after they are elected. Why is that?
As an aside and purely speculation on my part — I don’t believe that Cory Booker had no knowledge of this. I just don’t believe his recent statements about it. I wonder if any journalists will get hold of McGreevey and Corzine to ask them about it.
@joanneleon: Make sure you look up his meeting with Imams yesterday. He gets closer to assuming some responsibility than he did in his first comments.
Actually the Obama admin is setting up domestic spying operations throughout the US under the cover of the drug war – they know exactly what is going on and this isn’t an isolated incident.
In a few minutes of googling I’ve found this at the LA HIDTA, which sounds like it is West Coast training to do exactly what is being done on the East Coast…and through the same HIDTA funding:
http://norcaltraining.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Middle-Eastern-Course-February-2012-LA-HIDTA.pdf
Also the law itself says that funds can be used for terrorism irrespective of whether drugs are involved – as long as the Obama admin approves:
http://law.onecle.com/uscode/21/1706.html
Here’s a quote from a 2005 HIDTA press release showing that HIDTA was intended merely to be a cover for domestic spying for all sorts of things not related to drugs:
http://hidtadirectors.org/pdf/Congressional_Support.pdf
Then there’s this from the Naval Postgraduate Institute, which shows HIDTA isn’t really about drugs and in fact calls on soldiers to be on staff at HIDTA sites:
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA427222
Also here’s this on Maryland doing the same thing, just with a different groups…and it again was funneled through HIDTA and onto Fed databases:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/are-we-safer/suspicious-activity/
Spying on Muslims doesn’t sound like a very effective way to reduce drug trafficking. So why would the Drug Czar’s office think this was a good way to accomplish their mission and help to get future funding for their office?
I wonder if the Drug Czar’s office did this because somebody else in the White House thought this was a good way to get unaccountable funds and pressured the Drug Czar’s office to play along.
@lysias:
Drugs and terrorism are both ‘automatic vote for programs targeting them’ for politicians. I would not be surprised to learn that the funds are going to the same pockets. (And they’re both pretty useless programs as far as actually accomplishing the goals they proclaim so loudly.)