Ever hear of the government program Main Core?

[cali]

From 2008:

<snip>

According to several former U.S. government officials with extensive knowledge of intelligence operations, Main Core in its current incarnation apparently contains a vast amount of personal data on Americans, including NSA intercepts of bank and credit card transactions and the results of surveillance efforts by the FBI, the CIA and other agencies. One former intelligence official described Main Core as “an emergency internal security database system” designed for use by the military in the event of a national catastrophe, a suspension of the Constitution or the imposition of martial law. Its name, he says, is derived from the fact that it contains “copies of the ‘main core’ or essence of each item of intelligence information on Americans produced by the FBI and the other agencies of the U.S. intelligence community.”

<snip>
http://www.salon.com/2008/07/23/new_churchcomm/

More:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/25/main_core_new_evidence_reveals_top

http://www.christopherketcham.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The%20Last%20Roundup,%20Radar%20Magazine.pdf

From Wiki:

Main Core is the code name of a database maintained since the 1980s by the federal government of the United States. Main Core contains personal and financial data of millions of U.S. citizens believed to be threats to national security.[1] The data, which comes from the NSA, FBI, CIA, and other sources,[1] is collected and stored without warrants or court orders.[1] The database's name derives from the fact that it contains "copies of the 'main core' or essence of each item of intelligence information on Americans produced by the FBI and the other agencies of the U.S. intelligence community."[1]

The Main Core database is believed to have originated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1982, following Ronald Reagan's Continuity of Operations plan outlined in the National Security Directive (NSD) 69 / National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 55, entitled "Enduring National Leadership," implemented on September 14, 1982.[1][2]

As of 2008 there are reportedly eight million Americans listed in the database as possible threats, often for trivial reasons, whom the government may choose to track, question, or detain in a time of crisis.[3]

The existence of the database was first reported on in May 2008 by Christopher Ketcham and in July 2008 by Tim Shorrock.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Core

[Catherina]

1. Not until your thread. This is news to me. WTF/

According to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, "There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously." He and other sources tell Radar that the database is sometimes referred to by the code name Main Core. One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

Christopher Ketcham writes for Harper's, GQ, and Mother Jones, among other publications.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080831101327/http://www.radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2008/05/government_surveillance_homeland_security_main_core_01.php

WTF/

[cali]

3. The more digging I do, the more alarming it becomes.

[Catherina]

4. How did you hear of it?

I'm too perturbed to dig into it right now.

[cali]

8. I've been googling NSA programs, CIA programs, Military defense programs, etc.

[Catherina]

9. I wish there was an easy way to keep track of your threads

I'll be looking for them. Courage.

[snot]

15. Ditto!

[Rex]

6. J Edgar Hoover had thousands and thousands of files

on America citizens at the FBI. Some were there just because he didn't like that particular citizen. His spirit lives on in our State of Surveillance. We saw it as the police abused citizens during OWS. TIA is real, it exists and is doing the job they built it to do. The DHS is the nightmare creation of this state of spying. I bet they have a huge amount of files on citizens that has nothing to do with crime and everything to do with political affiliation.

[Catherina]

10. Exactly my friend.

I've been thinking of OWS since this broke. When it was happening and we swore occupiers were being targeted, pseudo Left journalists were mocking and ridiculing the whistleblowers, even having online fights with journalists of more integrity. You are so right in what you wrote especially this part "everything to do with political affiliation".

Overseas this is getting even more outrage because because people, governments even, just understood how vulnerable they are trusting these US services and expecting even minimal privacy. Political activists overseas are furious, as well they should be. This is just one article. Then there are nonpolitical researchers, scientists, business competitors who worry about industrial espionage.

What you wrote my friend. What you wrote.

Dissidents in Asia worry about US sharing PRISM data
Reuters, SINGAPORE, BEIJING and WASHINGTON

Dissident and opposition groups in Asia, including those supported by the US, are voicing concern over reports that Washington may have monitored and collected their conversations and e-mails.

Some of these groups include legitimate political parties, others are dissidents given US assistance, but they are worried that data collected by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI from US Web giants like Google, Facebook and Yahoo could some day be used against them.

“We share a lot of sensitive data, election-related data, using Google Docs,” said Ong Kian Ming, a member of parliament for Malaysia’s opposition Democratic Action Party.

“That’s definitely something we are concerned about because we don’t know what kind of messages are being tracked and who these messages would be given to,” Ong said.

...

There was no word whether US agencies were sharing such gathered information with allied governments, but British and US newspapers have suggested that the NSA has handed over information on Britons gathered under PRISM, the name of the eavesdropping program.

...

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/06/12/2003564585

[dgibby]

2. Here's the problem, imo:

What constitutes a threat to security and who gets to decide that? Depending on what party's in power, just posting on DU could get you flagged as a threat. Can't begin to tell you how disturbing I find all of this, and I don't give a rat's ass who's doing it. It's unconstitutional and it needs to stop.

[Catherina]

5. I couldn't agree with you more. n/t

[econoclast]

7. Program name is a little odd

As a general rule they try to assign random names to these kinds of projects

Examples - Echelon. Prism

The idea being that if someone comes across the program name in some budget document or somewhere...the name gives away nothing about the program.

So a giant database program called Main Core seems a bit too pat. Maybe more like the kind of thing they set up as bait to see who comes sniffing around.

Not that i doubt for a minute that such a thing might exist. But if it does its probably called Hubcap or Wingtip or somesuch.

Fit me for a size 7 5/8 tin foil hat.

[leftstreet]

11. +1 At least they didn't name it 'hard' core

[RC]

12. By the time you get your hat thick enough to stop their mind waves, it will be too heavy

to hold your head up

This information collection shit on everyone just because they exist, must be stopped. No way is it constitutional.

[Laelth]

13. Who wants to bet that ALL DU posters are on that list?

Hard to know whether to laugh or to cry.



-Laelth

[TheKentuckian]

16. I would, I'm willing to bet there are some exceptions.

[snot]

14. K&R'd & bookmarked.

[roamer65]

17. Hi Agent Mike!

[Autumn]

18. cali, you have had some good stuff on this. You should put it in your journal

so it can be found easier.

[Progressive dog]

19. It's on all the Obama conspiracy sites

Infowars, Right Side News, Daily Paul--Main Core is where FEMA gets the names to put in the concentration camps (so this isn't a new theory, just never went away). It's featured prominently, along with the birther stuff.