US Department of Art & Technology
Office of Political and Economic Insecturity
Abe Golam, Director
golam@usdept-arttech.net
http://www.usdept-arttechn.net

MEMORANDUM

To: Randall M. Packer, Secretary

From: Abe Golam, Director of the Office of Political and Economic Insecurity

Re: Ashcroft Remix, Or, Why The Attorney General Lost His Senate Race
To A Dead Man


Mr. Secretary:

In its 94-year history, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been
many things – the defender of its exorbitant budget, the guardian of
governmental secrets, and the tireless debaser of civil rights and
civil liberties for all Americans.

On September 11, a stunned nation turned once again to the trained
men and women of the FBI, and asked: "how could you miss this too?"
Americans everywhere spent the hours, days, and most of the first
weeks after the attack wondering what the FBI's Strategic Information
and Operations Center with Director Mueller could have been thinking.
Even today, nine months later, it is difficult to convey the degree
of unprofessionalism, finger-pointing, and circus-like atmosphere we
witnessed in those first, 24-hour days of non-stop CNN propaganda. We
saw central figures in the US administration coil in uncertainty as
they tried to make heads or tails of the horrible terrorist attacks.
We saw them HIDE their tails between their legs as their heads could
only stop and wonder what went wrong and who was asleep at the wheel.
Consequently, there was only one action taken by our leaders, and
that was to save their asses, to intensely focus on their own
personal agendas and personal safety so as to assure the survival of
the Christian race.

From the first moments our "justice" department spent together,
plotting the largest deconstruction of civil liberties in our
nation's history, they understood that the mission of American
justice and law enforcement had changed, that they would now be able
to use the logic of nothing to fear but death itself, to strip
citizens of their unalienated rights as alien beings in an alienated
country. In a few short days, and with the help of our Congress, we
all became disenfranchised artists. We became victims of the USA
Patriot Act.

That day, in those early hours, the protection of the Christian elite
and their oil-garchy brothers the world over, became the central goal
of the law enforcement agencies and national security mission of the
FBI. And from that time forward, the leadership of the FBI and the
Department of Justice began a concerted effort to free the field
agents so that they could pry into the personal lives of
non-Christian-believing liberals and Al-Qaeda terrorists who threaten
the integrity of what they refer to as "our God-fearing United States
of America." The US Attorney General himself, who less than a year
before September 11 had lost his incumbent Senate seat to a dead man,
has been quoted as saying that he believes "the brave men and women
on the front lines" need to be able to follow through on their
mission to rid the world of pleasure-seeking, libertine artists, and
that under the guise of the much-ballyhooed "war on terrorism," soon
the FBI agents charged with this very serious mission, would be freed
"from the bureaucratic, organizational, and operational restrictions
and structures that hindered them from doing their jobs effectively."

As we have heard recently, FBI men and women in the field are
frustrated because many of their internal restrictions have hampered
their ability to fight terrorism. The adminstration claims that the
current investigative guidelines have contributed to that
frustration. In many instances, they insist, the guidelines bar FBI
field agents from taking the initiative to detect and prevent future
terrorist acts unless the FBI learns of possible criminal activity
from external sources. Now that the Attorney General has essentially
cleared the way for FBI agents to pry in the personal lives of anyone
suspected of being a terrorist, what does this say about our top law
enforcement agency's ability to begin suspending the civil rights of
those citizens who publicly identify themselves as vocally disruptive
and antagonistic artist-organizers? Who will defend the first
amendment rights of these artist-organizers whose own steadfast
mission is to use the global computer networks to democratically
build an opposition to the administration's homophobic, Christian
elitist, oil-garchy agenda?

The Attorney General insists that under the current guidelines, FBI
investigators cannot surf the web the way average citizens can. He
also insists that agents cannot simply walk into a public event or a
public place to observe ongoing activities. It's true that they
cannot plant themselves in progressive political organizations so as
to cause internal strife and thus undermine the attempts of these
liberal thinking citizens to create viable alternatives to the
Christian elite way of life. He is frustrated by this - even though
these citizens are clearly practicing their first amendment rights.

Using the "war on terrorism" as a metaphor for war on everything
un-Christian and liberal minded, the Attorney General's guidelines
and procedures relating to criminal investigations and national
security have been high on the list of action items for reform.
Beginning in the 1970s, guidelines have been developed to inform
agents of the circumstances under which investigations may be opened,
the permissible scope of these investigations, the techniques that
may be used, and the objectives that
should be pursued. These guidelines provide limitations and guidance
in conjunction with requirements and safeguards imposed by the
Constitution and help solidify the legal framework established by
federal statutes enacted by Congress. Promulgated for different
purposes and revised at various times, the guidelines currently cover
FBI investigations, undercover operations, the use of confidential
informants, and consensual monitoring of verbal communications.

The guidelines defining the general rules for FBI investigations, for
example, were first issued over 20 years ago. They are there for a
reason and need to stay in place lest we begin sliding down that
slippery slope toward total Christian fundamentalist oil-garchy. Do
we want a nation run by faux-CEOs of corrrupt companies like Enron,
Harken and Halliburton? For as we know, beyond the axis of evil is
the evil of access. Mr. Secretary, there is a cancer on the soul of
America and something must be done about it.

The assault on civil liberties has already begun in full force.
First, the Attorney General authorized the FBI to waive the
guidelines, with headquarters approval, in whatever cases they see
fit to prevent and investigate terrorism. That authority has been
used, but the AG says he is disappointed that it was not used more
widely. He says his experience over the past few months reinforces
his belief that greater authority to investigate more vigorously
needs to be given directly to FBI field agents. But what fields are
these agents covering and how does this relate to the open source art
hack mentality of many a net artist? Artist-(h)activists beware!

Second, the AG directed a top-to-bottom review of the guidelines to
ensure that they provide front-line field agents with the legal
authority they need to protect the Christian elite and their
oil-garchy brethren who have since mutilated the US economy, from
future terrorist attacks. He insists that that comprehensive review,
devised in secret meetings with the reigning oil-garchy, showed that
the guidelines mistakenly combined "timeless objectives" - what we
essentially know to be the enforcement of the law and respect for
civil rights and liberties - with "outdated means."

What does the Attorney General mean by the term "timeless
objectives"? Are the "timeless objectives" of the dead man he lost
his Senate race to still impeding his ability to rid the world of
un-Christian artists and their libertine lovers?

Just this past month, Attorney General Ashcroft announced
comprehensive revisions to the Department's investigative guidelines.
As revised, the guidelines reflect four overriding principles, three
of which I'll highlight here.

First, the "war against terrorism" - whether foreign or domestic - is
the central mission and highest priority of the FBI. This principle
is stated explicitly in the revised guidelines, and it is facilitated
and reinforced through many specific reforms. The guidelines
emphasize that the FBI must
not be deprived of using all lawful authorized methods in
investigations, consistent with the Constitution and statutory
authority, to pursue and prevent terrorist actions. But what
constitutes domestic terrorism? At what point, Mr. Secretary, does
the vocal dissent filling up this
memorandum, mean we are no longer "with" the Christian oil-garchy but
are now "with" the terrorists?

Second, terrorism prevention is the key objective under the revised
guidelines. The AG states that it is the Justice department's
philosophy not to wait and sift through the rubble following a
terrorist attack but to intervene early and investigate aggressively
where information exists suggesting the possibility of terrorism, so
as to prevent acts of terrorism.

Is this memorandum's verbal assault on the Christian elite, including
those Supreme Court Justices who gave the election to George Bush,
suggesting something along the lines of art-terrorism? Can terrorism
be used as an aesthetic concept within a rhetorically-charged
narrative to "bring down a government" while celebrating the
non-violence of past leaders such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King?
And can this desire to "bring down a government" be absolutely
equated with the extremist
Christian right wing agenda to "bring down the government" of William
Jefferson Clinton, the most "covered" libertine lover in all of US
political history?

The new guidelines advance this "strategy of prevention" by
strengthening investigative authority at the early stage of
preliminary inquiries. Also, even absent specific investigative
predicates, FBI agents under the new guidelines are empowered to
scour public sources for information on future terrorist threats.

Public sources where you, Mr. Secretary, as a private citizen, are
free to speak, believe, and assemble, in any way you damn well please.

Third, the AG insists that unnecessary procedural red tape must not
interfere with the effective detection, investigation, and prevention
of terrorist activities. To this end, the revised guidelines allow
Special Agents in Charge of FBI field offices to approve and renew
terrorism enterprise investigations, rather than having to seek and
wait for approval from headquarters. The guidelines expand the scope
of those investigations to the full range of terrorist activities
under the USA Patriot Act. These major changes will free field agents
to counter potential terrorist threats swiftly and vigorously without
waiting for headquarters to act.

The new guideline reads, "For the purpose of detecting or preventing
terrorist activities, the FBI is authorized to visit any place and
attend any event that is open to the public, on the same terms and
conditions as members of the public generally."

This, of course, includes the Internet. Your Big Christian Brother is
watching you.