Host Paul Roland with live guests by phone: Christopher Simpson, Journalism Professor at American University in Washington, D.C. and Christopher Pyle, Professor of Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties at Mount Holyoke College. The program will focus on the vast expansion of electronic and telephone surveillance and "intelligence" gathering in historical perspective and in the light of the current controversy over whistle-blower Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency and the privatization of surveillance.
From the creation of the "National Security State" in the aftermath of World War II to the FBI's Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) to 9/11 and the "War on Terror," the use of police and intelligence agencies to monitor people and stifle dissent has continually expanded, aided by technological innovations and increased corporate involvement. Christopher Pyle disclosed the U.S. military's surveillance of the civil rights and anti-war movements and worked as a consultant to three congressional committees, including the Church Committee, which revealed widespread FBI and other intelligence abuses. He is the author of "Military Surveillance of Civilian Politics" and "Getting Away with Murder."
Christopher Simpson is the author of "Blowback." "The Splendid Blond Beast," "Science of Coercion" and "National Security directives of the Reagan and Bush Administrations" among other works.
- KBOO