[A-List] US corporate security state

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

New US security bill 'pays back the donors'

Julian Borger and Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday November 20, 2002
The Guardian

The triumphant Bush White House won a fresh victory yesterday when its
homeland security bill was passed by the Senate. The Democrats had suspended
their efforts to block the bill.

It will implement the biggest US government reorganisation in a half century
by folding into the new anti-terror department all or parts of 22 federal
agencies, including the coast guard, secret service and border patrol.

But there was controversy over the new bill, when it was discovered that
makers of leaky gas masks and potentially dangerous vaccines were shielded
from the threat of a lawsuit in clauses tucked away in the sweeping package
of legislation.

Seven provisions - which crept into the bill after the Republican victories
in the mid-term elections - were widely condemned for pandering to major
donors to the party, especially the drug industry.

The Bush administration says that the legal cover is necessary to encourage
drug companies to develop antidotes to smallpox and other killers without
fear of litigation.

Meanwhile the FBI admitted yesterday that a defunct watch list of people it
wanted to question over the September 11 attacks has "taken on a life of its
own" after being circulated to private companies who have used it to screen
customers.

Thousands of names were passed on to the private sector in an operation
codenamed Project Lookout, in an attempt to track those listed at a time
when it was thought further attacks could be imminent. The list included
many innocent citizens that the FBI thought might have information relating
to suspects.

Though the FBI scrapped Project Lookout more than a year ago, many of the
people named on it have since found it impossible to have their names
removed. According to the Wall Street Journal, many of those listed still
have difficulty renting cars or boarding flights.