This article from Foreign Policy essentially proves what many of us have already suspected. The ultimate in neo-feudalism is when the corporate sector and the government sector converge, and sadly in these United States this totalitarian marriage is what now dominates the landscape. This is a very worrying trend. From Foreign Policy:
Since 9/11, a quiet intelligence revolution has been brewing inside many of America’s leading companies. Hotel chains, cruise lines, airlines, theme parks, banks, chemical companies, consumer products manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and even tech giants have been developing in-house intelligence units that look and act a lot like the CIA.
These offices are staffed with former CIA, FBI, and military professionals who have close ties to the U.S. government and conduct global threat reporting by working through formal channels and informal networks around the globe. This is the privatization of American intelligence that you’ve never heard of. And it’s part of the innovative and growing business of political risk management.
Since 9/11, the private sector has been filling the gap. In-house intelligence units are the most pioneering examples, but they have plenty of company. There are now scores of open-source intelligence services, analysis shops, and consulting firms led by former high-level officials with names like Chertoff, Albright, Rice, Hadley, and Gates.
So when you think “convergence,” don’t just think about drones and spooks. There is a burgeoning convergence of intelligence and business. The CIA may not be getting into corporate espionage, but American companies are getting into intelligence. They’re just not talking about it much.
The results of the “war on terror” are in. We lost. Our culture and our economy are now almost entirely gone. Congratulations.
Full article here.
In Liberty,
Mike
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Thanks for highlighting this. Many people may not realise the severity of the situation highlighted in this article. The merging of state and corporate interest. “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” — Benito Mussolini
Also keep in mind that the technology to do this kind of surveillance also became dirt cheap when the pc started becoming more powerful and could match the power and capabilities of workstations and mainframes at a fraction of the cost. In addition the pc has development tools that make coding easy while other system’s development tools are extremely cumbersome and less powerful.