Can't Be in Blackwater? Try InfraGard

This is, frankly, astonishing. Link to Progressive Mag article.

InfraGard. What the hell is InfraGard? Well, I've just done four entries for the History Commons using the Progressive article above, and it's very, very scary. Using a worst-case scenario, if you're some corporate yock who dreams about slapping on the body armor and shootin' him some street thugs and hippie radicals, then InfraGard is just what you need to join. Flip over for more, but read the article first.

For those of you who flipped without reading the article, here's the first bit I wrote for the Commons:

23,000 executives and employees of various private firms are working with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The group, called InfraGard, receives secret warnings of terrorist threats well in advance of public notification, and sometimes before elected officials. In return, InfraGard provides information to the government.

InfraGard members are asked to "keep their eyes open" for suspicious activities, and better yet, report "disgruntled employees" to the FBI. Visions of some corporate Guantanamo come to mind....

But there's more. InfraGard members are training with FBI and DHS officials for "emergency situations," where it seems they will indeed be given some quasi-official status to roust citizens and "protect infrastructure" in case al-Qaeda comes to call, or perhaps if the local hooliganry decides to phone in a bomb threat (remember Operation TIPS?). And even more interesting, one InfraGard member tells of meetings where they were told that they will be authorized to use "lethal force" without fear of prosecution.

Almost no one is reporting this. CommonDreams reposted the Progressive article, but other than that, the blogs seem quiet. Try a Google search for "InfraGard" and what you'll find is yea dozen Web sites for state chapters. InfraGard is everywhere. Your boss may be a member. YOU may be a member. (If you are, you should not only post about it, but e-mail me : purplesage23 at yahoo dot com).

This combines Ashcroft's vision of a Fourth American Reich with the worst of William Gibson's techno-dystopia. Why isn't this being reported?